Is my rent too high? How to know for sure

Short answer: whether your rent is too high doesn't depend on what your neighbours pay or on what rents cost on average in your city, but on the points of your home. If your home falls under the rent rules, those points come with a legal maximum basic rent. If you pay more, your rent is too high and the Huurcommissie, the Dutch rent tribunal, can lower it. The free huurprijscheck shows you in a few minutes.

Which rent counts: what is the basic rent?

Only your basic rent counts: the rent without service charges and without gas, water and electricity. Your tenancy agreement usually says which part is basic rent and which part is service charges. If you pay one all-in amount, the basic rent has to be taken out of it first. So don't look at the total you transfer each month, but at the basic rent.

How do points set your maximum rent?

Your home gets points under the points system, officially the woningwaarderingsstelsel. Points come from, among other things, the floor area, the energy label, the WOZ value, the kitchen, the bathroom and any outdoor space. Each number of points comes with a maximum basic rent. The government adjusts those amounts every year on 1 January. For some homes, such as a listed building, a newly built mid-rent home and, from 2027, a home whose points for the WOZ value are capped, a surcharge is added to that maximum.

Two limits from the 2026 and 2027 tables: at 143 points the maximum basic rent is € 932.93 in 2026 and € 959.71 from 1 January 2027, at 186 points € 1,228.07 and € 1,263.32. More points means a higher maximum rent, fewer points a lower one. Which year counts for you depends on the route described below: if you have the rent your tenancy started with assessed, the date your tenancy started counts; if you send your landlord a proposal, the start date of that proposal counts. A proposal you make now takes effect in 2027.

Is there a maximum for my home at all?

That depends on the number of points and on when your tenancy agreement was entered into, not on whether your landlord calls the home free sector. If your tenancy agreement was entered into on or after 1 July 2024, the maximum applies up to and including 186 points, even if your home was let as free sector. If it was entered into earlier, the maximum applies in any case up to and including 143 points. If your rent at the start of that agreement was not above the rent limit that applied at the time (the liberalisation limit), the maximum also applies with more points.

Right around that limit there can be a lot to gain. A home that comes out just under the limit is sometimes let as free sector while a maximum rent does apply.

I pay € 1,100 for a small studio. Is that too much?

You can't tell from the rent and the floor area alone. A small home gets few points for its floor area, so the chance that your rent is bound by a maximum is higher. But the energy label and the WOZ value can make a big difference in points. What is certain: if your tenancy agreement was entered into on or after 1 July 2024, the maximum basic rent under the table at 186 points is € 1,228.07 in 2026 and € 1,263.32 from 1 January 2027; only with a surcharge as described above can the maximum be higher. Whether your € 1,100 is too high depends on the points of your home, and the huurprijscheck counts them for you.

Where does counting often go wrong?

• The energy label. Not every label counts. A simplified label doesn't count, even if it says it is valid until 2030. If the label doesn't count, the year of construction sets the points, and that often gives fewer points. How to check this is explained on the page about the huurprijscheck.
• The floor area. It is measured on the inside, from wall to wall, and not every square metre counts. Hallways and the low part under a sloping roof, for example, don't count.
• The WOZ value in a building that hasn't been split. If you live in a building that hasn't been formally divided into separate units in the land registry, the WOZ value of the whole building isn't simply that of your home.

My rent is too high. What can I do?

The result of a check is a calculation, not a decision: your landlord doesn't have to do anything with it yet. To actually get your rent lowered, there are two routes.

1. Your tenancy started less than six months ago. Then you can have the rent your tenancy started with assessed. If the Huurcommissie lowers it, the lower rent applies from the first day of your tenancy, and you get back what you overpaid. How that works is explained in Reclaiming rent.
2. You have lived there longer. Then you first send your landlord a proposal to lower the rent. If they don't agree, the application can go to the Huurcommissie. If the Huurcommissie lowers the rent, the lower rent applies from the start date in your proposal, not for the period before it. You are entitled to a refund of what you overpaid from that date.

How much difference can it make?

Nationally, tenants won 1,050 points cases at the Huurcommissie in 2025, and in those cases the rent went down by € 450 a month on average. Those are outcomes for other tenants, not a forecast for your home: what is possible for you depends on your points, your rent and the date of your tenancy, and the Huurcommissie decides.

Can my landlord evict me if I apply for this?

No. Your landlord may not evict you for this. And will my rent go up because of it? No: in the worst case, your rent stays as it is.

Do it yourself or have it done?

You can do it yourself: count the points yourself, send the proposal to your landlord yourself and file the application with the Huurcommissie yourself. Then you also handle the contact with your landlord yourself.

You can also leave it to me. You do the huurprijscheck, send your tenancy agreement and your latest rent increase letter, and sign the authorisation. I handle everything with your landlord and, if needed, at the Huurcommissie, and once your landlord knows you have legal support, things stay businesslike. You pay afterwards, only once your landlord has agreed to my proposal or the Huurcommissie has ruled that your rent goes down. What it costs is on the prices page.

In short
Your rent is too high if your basic rent is above the maximum that belongs to the points of your home. Under the table, that maximum at 143 points is € 932.93 in 2026 and € 959.71 from 1 January 2027, at 186 points € 1,228.07 and € 1,263.32. Whether a maximum applies to your home depends on the points, on when your tenancy agreement was entered into and, for an agreement entered into before 1 July 2024, on your rent at the start. Within six months of the start of your tenancy, you can also get back what you overpaid.

Want to know whether your rent is too high? Do the free huurprijscheck; you see the result straight away.

Sources

• Volkshuisvesting Nederland, Maximum rent limits for self-contained homes from 1 January 2026: the maximum basic rent per number of points, with € 932.93 at 143 points and € 1,228.07 at 186 points.
• Volkshuisvesting Nederland, Maximum rent limits for self-contained homes from 1 January 2027 (in Dutch): € 959.71 at 143 points and € 1,263.32 at 186 points.
• Huurcommissie, Huurprijscheck: the Huurcommissie's calculation tool for the maximum rent.
• Huurcommissie, Policy book on the points system for self-contained homes: how points are counted, including the energy label and floor area.
• Huurcommissie, Rent reduction based on points (in Dutch): a proposal to the landlord first, the ruling states the date the lower rent takes effect, and the limits of 143 and 186 points for agreements entered into before or from 1 July 2024.
• Dutch Civil Code, article 7:249: assessment of the starting rent within six months.
• Dutch Civil Code, article 7:254: a proposal to the landlord first when asking for a rent reduction.
• Transitional Act for the new Dutch Civil Code, article 208e (in Dutch): tenancy agreements entered into before 1 July 2024 keep the old rules; up to and including 143 points, the maximum has also applied to them since 1 July 2025.
• Rental Prices (Housing) Decree, article 8a (in Dutch): a surcharge on the maximum rent, among others for a listed building and a newly built mid-rent home; from 1 January 2027 article 8b is added, for a home whose points for the WOZ value are capped.
• Huurcommissie, Annual report 2025: 1,050 points cases decided in the tenant's favour, on average € 450 a month lower.