The government’s plan to freeze social housing rents for two years will be “virtually impossible” to apply to private landlords, broadcaster NOS reported on Tuesday.

Last month, MPs voted to freeze rents for tenants in properties costing under €900 a month, against the wishes of housing minister Mona Keijzer. Housing corporations, which provide around two million social housing units, will receive a compensation package worth approximately €1 billion.

However, compensating private landlords, who own a further 500,000 rent-controlled homes, will be far more complex. According to NOS, it will be up to Keijzer to decide how to proceed, but no funding has yet been set aside.

Vastgoed Belang, which represents smaller landlords, said its members would prefer a rent increase to financial compensation, citing the administrative burden.

But allowing private landlords to raise rents would create a two-tier system within the social housing sector, which insiders say would be “impossible to explain”.

Meanwhile, housing corporations have already announced plans to take the government to court over the freeze, arguing that it will prevent them from meeting obligations such as increasing housing supply and improving energy efficiency.

Keijzer has pledged to present her plan to solve the problem to parliament within two weeks.