People renting homes outside the rent-controlled sector will no longer face rent increases based on inflation, housing minister Hugo de Jonge said on Friday.

Currently landlords can put rents for properties costing over €763 per month by the previous year’s inflation plus 1%. Inflation is currently running at between 14% and 17%, depending on the way it is calculated.

‘We don’t want people to end up being evicted or to face such high rents that they can barely make ends meet,’ De Jonge said.

The minister is now in the process of amending the current rules on private sector tenancies so that rent rises reflect wage developments plus 1% rather than inflation.

De Jonge said in April that he planned to take steps to protect private sector tenants against extreme rent rises next year.

Ground rent

However, in Amsterdam this week, a proposal from the VVD, Volt, Denk and JA21 parties to limit inflation-linked rises in ground rent (erfpacht) to 4% instead of around 8% has not been taken up by the administration.

The levy is paid by citizens who own properties on council land and is generally linked to inflation.