Housing corporations are to take the Dutch government to court to try to overturn its plan to freeze rents for social housing tenants for the next two years.

Aedes, the umbrella organisation for social housing providers, said the decision by housing minister Mona Keijzer went against an earlier agreement to allow rents to go up by 4.5% from July 1 this year.

The rent freeze for 2025 and 2026 was included in the spring budget deal following negotiations between the four coalition parties. Keijzer backtracked on her initial plan to extend it to private tenants after coming under pressure from landlords.

Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right PVV, had pressed for the measure to ease the cost of living for low-income households, who have been hit by high inflation.

Aedes said freezing rents would jeopardise its plans to build 30,000 new corporation houses a year under an earlier agreement with the cabinet. But talks between the organisation and Keijzer this week broke up without agreement.

Agreement “trashed”

Aedes’ chair, former home affairs minister Liesbeth Spies, said taking legal action was an “exceptional” step, but it was necessary to protect the quality of social housing. The organisation said it would be unable to insulate 1.6 million homes if the rent freeze went ahead.

“The minister’s signature under a complete package of agreements to deal with the housing emergency is binding,” Spies said. “Can we still regard the government as reliable if it puts those agreements out with the rubbish?”