Rent Allowance Problem? Ask for Free Legal Advice

Questioner

Hello! I googled around and came across this page. I really hope you can help me, because I have no idea what to do. Last July I had my studio in The Hague sublet because I was going to study abroad for a semester (Sept-Jan). Normally I am entitled to housing benefit. The tax authorities sent me a letter in November, stating that I had to report the income of my subtenant. Of course I could not respond at all because I was abroad, otherwise I would have done so. I came back in February and received a letter stating that my housing benefit had been stopped and that I had to pay back the housing benefit. After that I had to send proof of my contract with the subtenant and the payments. Last week I received a letter stating that they do not have sufficient proof that I had a subtenant. Now I still have to pay back the housing benefits, unless I write an objection. I have never done this before and it also gives me a lot of stress. I would like to write a letter with strong arguments and I hope you can advise me on how best to do this?

Lawyer

Contract and registration in the municipality's registration system should be sufficient. What I don't quite understand is that you would not receive an allowance if you did not have a subtenant, after all, by subletting you have additional income. In any case: you can always appeal to an independent judge who does not look at it differently than the service itself. If you wish, I can assist you by looking into a few things, for example the legal rules, policy rules and case law. Please contact me for this.

Lawyer

For the rent allowance, all incomes of people registered at the same address are added together. This only changes when the (sub)tenant lives in independent housing. Your situation is therefore legally much more complicated than my colleague Ferwerda thinks. You can object to the decision of the Tax Authorities, BDT Allowances department, within 6 weeks. This term is fatal. Given the chaos at the BDT, I advise you to do this by registered letter (the electronic route is not yet open). I also advise you to contact a specialized lawyer as soon as possible. There are only a few people with expertise in this area.