Free sector or not? The line at 144 and 187 points

In short
Whether your home is free sector depends on the points of your home and on the date your tenancy agreement was entered into, not on what your landlord says or the label in your agreement. If your agreement was entered into on or after 1 July 2024, a maximum rent applies up to and including 186 points. 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. Only from 187 points is your home free sector. If your agreement was entered into earlier, your rent at the start also counts.

Short answer: your home isn't free sector because your landlord says so or because your agreement says so. What counts are the points of your home under the points system, and the date your tenancy agreement was entered into. For an agreement entered into on or after 1 July 2024, the line is at 187 points. Do the free huurprijscheck. In a few minutes you'll see whether your rent can go down.

What decides whether my home is free sector?

Your home gets points under the woningwaarderingsstelsel, the Dutch points system for rental homes. Points come from, among other things, the floor area, the energy label, the WOZ value (the municipal property value), the kitchen, the bathroom and any outdoor space. Each number of points comes with a maximum basic rent: the rent without service charges.

According to the Huurcommissie, the Dutch rent tribunal, the first thing to look at is the date the agreement was entered into. That isn't the date your tenancy starts, but the day on which both you and your landlord had signed. That date decides whether the new rules from 1 July 2024 apply to you. A label such as "free sector" in the advert or in the agreement doesn't change that.

The three groups since 1 July 2024

If your tenancy agreement was entered into on or after 1 July 2024, the Huurcommissie places your home in one of three groups:

• Up to and including 143 points: social rent. A maximum rent applies. Under the table, it is € 932.93 at 143 points in 2026 and € 959.71 from 1 January 2027.
• 144 up to and including 186 points: mid-rent. A maximum rent applies here too. At 144 points it is € 939.73 in 2026 and € 966.70 from 1 January 2027, at 186 points € 1,228.07 and € 1,263.32.
• 187 points or more: free sector. No maximum rent applies.

So the difference between 186 and 187 points is large: one point less and a maximum applies. That is why counting precisely pays off. A typical example: a simplified energy label doesn't count, even if it says it is valid until 2030. The year of construction then sets the points for energy, and that can give fewer points.

Which year counts?

The amounts go up every year on 1 January. According to the Huurcommissie, the year of the reference date counts, and that depends on the route. If you have the rent your tenancy started with assessed, the date your tenancy started counts. If you send your landlord a proposal to lower the rent, the start date of that proposal counts. That date is at the earliest the first day after two full calendar months: for a proposal made on 10 January, that is 1 April.

My agreement is from before 1 July 2024. What then?

Then the old rules apply, with one important addition. According to the Huurcommissie, for such an agreement your rent at the start decides whether your home is regulated. If that rent was not above the liberalisation limit of the year in which your tenancy started, the maximum rent applies, even with more than 143 points. That is how the overview by Volkshuisvesting Nederland puts it. For a tenancy that started in 2022, that limit was € 763.47, in 2023 € 808.06 and in 2024 € 879.66. Was your agreement signed in one year and did your tenancy start in the next? Then it can make a difference which date you take, because the Huurcommissie also mentions the day of signing in its policy book.

If your rent at the start was above that limit, your home has in principle stayed free sector. Except if your home falls in the social sector, which according to the Huurcommissie means up to and including 143 points. Then, since 1 July 2025, you can still ask for a rent reduction based on points. If your home has 144 up to and including 186 points, it stays free sector under such an agreement.

Exceptions you should know

• A surcharge on the maximum. For some homes, the landlord may charge more than the table: for example 35% for a national monument with an agreement entered into on or after 1 July 2024, 15% for a municipal or provincial monument and 10% for a newly built mid-rent home. According to the Huurcommissie, such a surcharge doesn't turn a mid-rent home into free sector; only the maximum rent goes up. The landlord has to show that the surcharge applies.
• A national monument with an agreement from before 1 July 2024. Then the home doesn't get a percentage on top, but 50 extra points. Because of that, such a home can end up in the free sector.
• Capped points for the WOZ value. If a home has 187 points or more without that cap, the points for the WOZ value may as a rule not be more than 33% of the total. Below 187 points the cap doesn't apply. If a home drops below 187 points because of the cap, it gets 186 points and falls in mid-rent. From 1 January 2027, the landlord may charge a surcharge for such a home.
• Rent that is short-term by nature. According to the Huurcommissie, it can't rule on a tenancy agreement that is short-term by its nature. Whether that is the case, it decides case by case.

And a room?

The limits in this article are about self-contained homes: a home with its own entrance and its own kitchen, washing facility and toilet. If you share one of those facilities with others, or if three or more people live there who don't form a lasting household together, your accommodation is usually not self-contained according to the Huurcommissie. A room has its own points and its own table.

My home turns out not to be free sector. What can I do?

1. Your tenancy started less than six months ago. Then you can have the rent your tenancy started with assessed. Your application must reach the Huurcommissie within six months of the start date of your tenancy; that deadline can't be extended. If the Huurcommissie lowers the rent, the lower rent applies from the first day of your tenancy. How to get that money back is explained in Reclaiming rent.
2. You have lived there longer. Then you first send your landlord a proposal to lower the rent, with a points count attached, at least two calendar months before the start date you propose. If your landlord doesn't agree, you can apply to the Huurcommissie up to six weeks after that start date. If it lowers the rent, the lower rent applies from the start date in your proposal, and you are entitled to a refund of what you overpaid from that date.

Want to know first whether your rent is above the maximum? Read Is my rent too high?

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 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. I work on a no cure no pay basis. 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. The worst case? That the Huurcommissie doesn't rule that your rent goes down. Then everything stays as it is, and you pay me nothing.

Want to know whether your home really is free sector? Do the free huurprijscheck. In a few minutes you'll see whether your rent can go down.

Sources

• Huurcommissie, Policy book on the points system for self-contained homes, July 2026 (in Dutch): the sectors and the date of entering into the agreement (§ 1.3), self-contained or not (§ 1.4), the WOZ cap and 186 points (§ 2.11.7), surcharges and national monuments (§ 2.13), short-term tenancies, deadlines and reference date (chapter 3) and the liberalisation limits per year (annex 2).
• Huurcommissie, Rent reduction based on points (in Dutch): the limits of 143, 144 to 186 and 187 points, agreements from before 1 July 2024 and 1 July 2025, the proposal and the deadlines.
• Volkshuisvesting Nederland, Maximum rent limits for self-contained homes from 1 January 2026 (in Dutch): € 932.93 at 143 points, € 939.73 at 144 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, € 966.70 at 144 points and € 1,263.32 at 186 points.
• Transitional Act for the new Dutch Civil Code, article 208e (in Dutch): tenancy agreements entered into before 1 July 2024 keep the old rules; since 1 July 2025, a tenant with such an agreement can still ask for a rent reduction based on points if, on the basis of its points, the home falls in the social sector.
• Volkshuisvesting Nederland, Rent liberalisation limits up to 1 January 2028 (in Dutch): the liberalisation limit per year, with € 763.47 in 2022, € 808.06 in 2023 and € 879.66 in 2024.
• Rental Prices (Housing) Decree, articles 8a and 8b, version from 1 January 2027 (in Dutch): the surcharges for monuments and new builds, 50 points for a national monument with an older agreement, and from 2027 the surcharge for capped WOZ points.
• Dutch Civil Code, article 7:249 (in Dutch): assessment of the starting rent within six months.
• Dutch Civil Code, article 7:254 (in Dutch): the application up to six weeks after the proposed start date.