Wonen, Buren
Particulier
Good afternoon,
I am contacting you due to some problems between my landlord an me.
I live in a student house in Eindhoven since Aug. 2017, with a front wall made of entirely single glazed windows, poor sound and warmth isolation, no proper toilet- but instead a "sanibroyeur"- and there have even been rats in and above my room for more than half a year (Nov.2017-Aug.2018). The hallway, kitchen and bathroom are shared with 1 to 3 or 5 other people, eventhough they should be shared with only 1.
From autumn till spring, it is freezing in my room, which makes me be sick too often and even missing from my workplace too much. I have complained about this to my landlord already multiple times, in written form as well, and my housemates can verify the situation. Now, when I moved in he had mentioned he would take care of the windows and he suggested that we turn on the heating slightly higher. To that I replied it should only be a short-term solution, as the warmth does not stay in my room and it would cause costs I would not like to be charged with, as it is not my fault nor do I really benefit from it. He then kept promising to repair the windows.
However, that never happened and now he is 1) charging me with a total of 169 Euros for the extra service costs of the past two years, 2) he had notified me about a rent increase starting in July two months in advance, which I did not agree with due to the poor maintenance of the house, 3) he increased the monthly service costs of my room, but only notified me one week before the actual increase date. Also please note that for a room of 37 square meters with almost zero heating I had to pay 600 Euros in the beginning and now 650, while the rent was not lowered while I had to live with rats and while their feces were littering my room and bed.
Since the last rent increase, I have been transferring the amount of the increased rent, yet *without the extra 20 Euros of the increased monthly service costs* (as I was notified too late and still disagree with that) to my landlord's account. I still have my objections for the extra 169 Euros for the service costs of the past two years, as well. I also suggested either a rent decrease or paying the increased rent *only after* proper maintenance regarding at least the window facade of my room. Now, my landlord disagrees with all that and has been threatening me with additional charges, due to me not paying the extra costs and he mentions there will be even more charges, as his dealing with my situation costs him time and money. He even requested that I move out, due to the problems being caused.
All in all, I wonder if this is all legal, as in the case of disagreement, I do not think I have to be charged more for my objection. Instead the huurcommissie should be notified or some common ground should be found. I would be thankful, if you could help me out regarding the policies and my rights and if it fair to him to charge me with all these extra costs and even increase the rent, given the situation I described. He now gave me a deadline until the 28th of August to pay all extra costs, or more will occur, he said, so it would be great if I could hear from you as soon as possible.
PS: Please feel free to respond in Dutch, in case that is more convenient.
I am contacting you due to some problems between my landlord an me.
I live in a student house in Eindhoven since Aug. 2017, with a front wall made of entirely single glazed windows, poor sound and warmth isolation, no proper toilet- but instead a "sanibroyeur"- and there have even been rats in and above my room for more than half a year (Nov.2017-Aug.2018). The hallway, kitchen and bathroom are shared with 1 to 3 or 5 other people, eventhough they should be shared with only 1.
From autumn till spring, it is freezing in my room, which makes me be sick too often and even missing from my workplace too much. I have complained about this to my landlord already multiple times, in written form as well, and my housemates can verify the situation. Now, when I moved in he had mentioned he would take care of the windows and he suggested that we turn on the heating slightly higher. To that I replied it should only be a short-term solution, as the warmth does not stay in my room and it would cause costs I would not like to be charged with, as it is not my fault nor do I really benefit from it. He then kept promising to repair the windows.
However, that never happened and now he is 1) charging me with a total of 169 Euros for the extra service costs of the past two years, 2) he had notified me about a rent increase starting in July two months in advance, which I did not agree with due to the poor maintenance of the house, 3) he increased the monthly service costs of my room, but only notified me one week before the actual increase date. Also please note that for a room of 37 square meters with almost zero heating I had to pay 600 Euros in the beginning and now 650, while the rent was not lowered while I had to live with rats and while their feces were littering my room and bed.
Since the last rent increase, I have been transferring the amount of the increased rent, yet *without the extra 20 Euros of the increased monthly service costs* (as I was notified too late and still disagree with that) to my landlord's account. I still have my objections for the extra 169 Euros for the service costs of the past two years, as well. I also suggested either a rent decrease or paying the increased rent *only after* proper maintenance regarding at least the window facade of my room. Now, my landlord disagrees with all that and has been threatening me with additional charges, due to me not paying the extra costs and he mentions there will be even more charges, as his dealing with my situation costs him time and money. He even requested that I move out, due to the problems being caused.
All in all, I wonder if this is all legal, as in the case of disagreement, I do not think I have to be charged more for my objection. Instead the huurcommissie should be notified or some common ground should be found. I would be thankful, if you could help me out regarding the policies and my rights and if it fair to him to charge me with all these extra costs and even increase the rent, given the situation I described. He now gave me a deadline until the 28th of August to pay all extra costs, or more will occur, he said, so it would be great if I could hear from you as soon as possible.
PS: Please feel free to respond in Dutch, in case that is more convenient.
You can apply to the huurcommissie or kantonrechter because of common huurvermindering or special huurvermindering due to huurgebreken within time limit of six months after you have discoverd them and wrote to youre landlord. The rent may be on to high side considering the facts you named so the huurcommissie can lover the rent, the rent may be reduced because of gebreken. You must tell better wright the Landlord you withhold a reasonable share of te rent ( opschorting ) as long as the gebreken are nor repaired/ hersteld. ( rats are a serous situation couls cause damage to your health . You and your room mates may need some help . I am specialist in huurrecht.