More homes desperately needed in Amsterdam Photo: Depositphotos
Amsterdam is cracking down on landlords who leave their homes empty, almost doubling penalties for not reporting a building vacant.
The city said in a press release that the ‘experimental’ policy is likely to run from December this year until the start of 2025, if it is passed as expected by a council vote.
Currently, home owners are obliged to register with the city if their building is empty for more than six months. Under 2016 legislation, the council has powers to order landlords of office buildings and homes to take a tenant if a building is empty for more than 12 months – under threat of a €7,500 penalty.
The city can also then determine the maximum rent.
Fines
The new rules will mean that people who do not report their home or office vacant for six months, face a fine of €4,500 for private home owners (up from €2,500) and €9,000 for professional renters (up from €5,000 currently).
Zita Pels, deputy mayor charged with housing, said it was important to stimulate owners to rent out their property right now. ‘There is a high housing shortage in our city,’ she said in a press statement.
‘We have too few homes and many are unnecessarily vacant. I am pleased that we can now tackle this better. In this day and age, it is impossible to understand why homes would be empty. So we are going to ensure that homes are there again to live in.’
The rules are being introduced under the city’s crisis powers, after discussion with local areas within the city.
Thank you for donating to DutchNews.nl
The DutchNews.nl team would like to thank all the generous readers who have made a donation in recent weeks. Your financial support has helped us to expand our coverage of the coronavirus crisis into the evenings and weekends and make sure you are kept up to date with the latest developments.
DutchNews.nl has been free for 14 years, but without the financial backing of our readers, we would not be able to provide you with fair and accurate news and features about all things Dutch. Your contributions make this possible.
