Free service charges check

Is my annual statement correct?

Have your statement to hand. We go through it item by item against the Rent Tribunal's policy book, show what may not be charged and what you are likely to get back, and produce the objection letter you have to send first.

The step almost everyone skips

You have to object to your landlord in writing before the Rent Tribunal will look at anything. Skip that and your application is ruled inadmissible, however right you are about the figures. This tool produces that letter for you, with the legal basis and the three week period in it.

Where the money usually sits

Not only in items that are flatly not allowed, like major maintenance, the owners association fee as a lump sum, or vacancy losses. Just as often it sits in the allocation key and in the caps: a caretaker is 70 per cent for the residents and 30 per cent for the landlord, communal laundry equipment is capped at five euros per home per month, and administration costs have both a floor and a ceiling.

And there is a second half to the story that no calculation can replace: always ask for the invoices, the allocation key and the statutory itemisation form. If your landlord does not supply those to the Rent Tribunal, disputed items are set at zero or at the statutory standard amount. That nearly always works in your favour.

A note for internationals

The letters this tool produces are in Dutch on purpose. They go to a Dutch landlord or to the Rent Tribunal, and the legal wording has to be exact, so you can send them as they are. Everything you need in order to understand what you are sending is explained here in English.

Wondering whether your basic rent is too high as well? Try the rent points check, or see all our tools at all checks.