A growing group of tenants from corporations and private landlords from all over the Netherlands will not pay the proposed rent increase this year. The action group 'We Refuse the Rent Increase' supported by Bond Precaire Woonvorm (BPW) finds this undemocratic, irresponsible and unacceptable and calls on all tenants to participate in the fight for affordable housing and housing security.

Housing costs too high

More and more people are having trouble with rising rents. According to the NIBUD, more than 25% of all tenants were already in a pinch before the corona crisis due to too high rents and have too little left for necessary living costs. This number is growing by the day, now that many people are also losing their insecure (flexible) work and income in the corona crisis. An example of this is Hannah. She lost her normal source of income because of Corona 80%. Hanna: 'I worked in the hospitality and events sector with a flex contract. Now I have temporary help from the government, but I don't know how to continue after that. People are talking about a recession. And my landlord raises the rent to the maximum. It seems like everyone has to hand in because of Corona except the landlords. That's impossible?!'

Not just together

Individualizing problems to pay the rent means that a large group of people cannot participate. The Minister is talking about customization, but in many cases this means being forced to sign a payment arrangement, which means that you end up just at or below the social minimum for a long time. That's not a solution. We do not want rent increases and a mountain of debt, but rent waivers and rent freezes. Affordable housing for everyone starts with at least freezing the rent as a generic measure for all tenants.

Stop the rent robbery

The construction of social rental housing has become much less since the introduction of taxes on social rent, such as the landlord levy. The first 3 months of the annual rent go directly to the government. In the free sector, rent (price) protection is very difficult. Free market rents are unaffordable, uncertain and inaccessible and are not an alternative to widely accessible and affordable public housing.

Housing crisis is policy

This political policy is causing a housing shortage, rents that are too high and a mega-housing crisis. This has far-reaching negative effects on human lives, but also on our society as a whole. More than 10 billion euros has already been stolen from (social) tenants via the landlord levy. Money that cannot be used for new construction, sustainability and necessary rent reduction. What legitimacy does Minister Ollongren have if she raises rents in the middle of the home-work and corona crisis and ignores three passed motions for rent freeze?

Time for action,

More than 800,000 tenants are in trouble because of too high rents. There are several petitions and numerous calls that have raised this problem with landlords and politicians, but Minister Ollongren does not give a damn and many landlords 'just' implement the rent increase. So it's high time to press the emergency button for affordable housing yourself! Tenants of corporations and private landlords from the North, South, West and East of the Netherlands will therefore not pay the rent increase. They turn off the direct debit and transfer the same rent as in the month of June. This is how they object collectively. Do you also want to participate? In that case, cancel your rent before 31 July and withdraw your authorization from your landlord so that you do not give permission for the rent increase.

Strong together for housing security.

You can join this growing movement by sending an email to stopdehuurhuur@gmail.com and join the facebook group: We refuse the rent increase. This way you will be kept informed of follow-up actions.

We recommend everyone to roadmap before refusing the rent increase, read carefully and housing security toolkit from BPW. This explains, among other things, how the refusal of the rent increase works and how you can take action for housing security and affordable rents.

END OF PRESS RELEASE.

Note to the editor: For more information or contact with concerned tenants, please contact

Abel Heijkamp from BPW via 06-47686543 stopdehuurhuur@gmail.com – www.bondprecairewoonvorm.nl