Everyone on the heat pump, lower rents, a simpler system for housing benefit. Quite a few new measures have been spread over tenant and buyer this week.
Minister Hugo de Jonge (Public Housing and Spatial Planning, CDA) presented Thursday Affordable living, the third of six programs to make housing more accessible. In addition to all kinds of measures that affect the landlord and investor, such as a higher transfer tax, there are also many plans that affect tenants, buyers and first-time buyers.
Most of the measures are not really new: they were already in the coalition agreement, were announced earlier, or were prepared by the previous minister who dealt with housing, Kajsa Ollongren (D66). For example, the disappearance of the tax-free donation (‘jubelton’) and the introduction of ‘purchase protection’, so that you can no longer buy a house and then rent it out.
What other changes does the cabinet have in store for tenants and buyers?
Current debt determines
The fact that student debt is included in the amount you can borrow to buy a house is a thorn in the side of many first-time buyers. It significantly lowers their maximum mortgage amount, while they barely intervene in the owner-occupied market due to the high house prices.
Student debt is not always reported fairly – although buyers are legally obliged to do so and mortgage lenders (provided they have permission) have been allowed to request data from the Education Executive Agency since last year.
The cabinet is making the student debt less of a hurdle by current debt to be decisive in a mortgage application instead of the original debt. Nibud will issue advice on this after the summer. On the basis of this, the cabinet will determine when the new rule will take effect.
Also read: Buying a house with student debt? It remains difficult
Bidding log required
The scarcity on the housing market leads to abuse: buyers report discrimination, favoritism between brokers and unclear sales processes. Buyers without a purchase broker are at a disadvantage. Vereniging Eigen Huis opened a hotline for unfair bidding practices in 2021 and received more than 600 complaints in a few months.
The government wants to put an end to this by making a bidding log mandatory. This contains all bids on a house: the amount, time of delivery and any reservations. After the sale, buyers and sellers can see for themselves how the price and award have been established. They are no longer dependent on the (sometimes mistrusted) information of the broker. At the beginning of this year, trade associations indicated in an improvement plan that they would start working with the bidding log. The obligation would come into effect in 2023 or 2024; there will be a letter to parliament about this before the summer.
The cabinet is also exploring the possibility of a rental register, in which all rental contracts are registered. In this way, the government keeps track of the number of temporary rental contracts – a practice that the cabinet wants to get rid of.
Also read: Tackling Shady Brokers: Does a ‘Bid Log’ Help?
Mid-rent is coming back
An earthquake in tenancy law: the cabinet wants to regulate a much larger part of rental housing. At the moment the social rent limit is 763 euros – above that the rent is free. The cabinet wants to set that limit at 1,000 or 1,250 euros. This means that the points system, with which the rent is determined on the basis of the quality characteristics of the home, will be stretched from 142 to at least 187 points. Landlords can only charge a rent that they determine themselves for homes with more points.
In theory, it means a lower rent for many tenants. But how the plan will work in practice remains to be seen. De Jonge has yet to determine the boundaries. It is also not yet clear whether the policy applies to sitting tenants.
In any case, rental properties whose contract expires from 2024 will participate in the points system. This also includes new-build homes that are rented out from then on. In addition, municipalities are given the opportunity to designate areas where houses may only be sold if the landlord adheres to the points system.
Rent allowance simpler
The rules for housing benefit are extremely complicated due to the many standards and exceptions. A separate arrangement applies for each tenant. For tenants it is therefore quite a study to know where they stand. An example: the allowances are calculated on an annual basis, so if you start earning more during the year, you can expect a refund from the tax authorities. It can be thousands of euros, resulting in debt.
The government is therefore going to simplify the rules. The housing benefit is dependent on income and no longer on the actual rent. Calculations will be made with a ‘standard rent’. Aedes – the association of housing associations – and the Woonbond are concerned about this: if the standard rent is lower than the actual rent, people will suffer. This change will happen step-by-step over five years, starting (presumably) in 2024.
The rules are also becoming broader. From now on, young people between the ages of 18 and 21 are entitled to an allowance for a home up to EUR 442 per month, after which it may also be a more expensive home. Initially, that limit was 23 years. In addition, the maximum rental limit will be abolished. Currently, only people with a rent of up to 763 euros will receive housing allowance, in the future also people with a higher rent. The bill to reform the housing allowance will be submitted to the House of Representatives at the end of this year. De Jonge aims to have the law take effect in January 2024.
Heat pump required
From 2026 it will be mandatory to install a hybrid heat pump if the central heating boiler breaks down. Ministers De Jonge and Rob Jetten (Climate, D66) announced this together this week. Home owners can also opt for connection to the heat network or a fully electric heat pump. For this, the subsidy will be increased from 20 to 30 percent of the total costs; The cabinet is allocating 150 million annually until 2030. A hybrid heat pump costs about 5,000 to 7,000 euros, more than twice as expensive as a central heating boiler. An exception is made for houses that are unsuitable. By 2050, all homes must be gas-free.
Low income, lower rent
Since 2016, housing associations have been obliged to take the income of tenants into account when allocating social housing. The cabinet is going to tighten this regulation so that the people with the lowest incomes live in homes with the lowest rent. Aedes points out the danger of segregation.
The cabinet will also look into the possibility of lowering the rent for people with a low income in social housing. These measures should come into effect in 2024.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of 21 May 2022
#raining #housing #plans #tenants #buyers #starters