What additional costs can be charged when renting (out) a home?
Renting out your property is no small feat: finding a suitable tenant, organizing viewings and setting up the rental agreement are all part of the process. You will also have to decide on the rental price and whether you want to charge any extra costs. It is of course undesirable to incur costs that are not covered in the rental agreement. There are several types of extra costs that you can charge the tenant with. Be aware that specific rules and legislation exists for each type of extra costs. To help advertisers, Kamernet provides a handy overview about the types of extra costs.
General extra costs
Advertisers have the possibility to fill in the space of extra costs when creating their advertisement. However, only legally permissible extra costs are allowed, such as the security deposit or the costs for gas, water and electricity. This last type of costs usually falls under the category of service costs. Service costs can include the costs for internet, cleaning and a provision advance for the electricity bill. Other types of additional costs are for example municipal taxes.
Inventory costs
Do you want to rent out a property with the inventory of the previous tenant still there? Then you can ask the new tenant for a reimbursement. The new tenant will pay for taking over the inventory. Be aware that the new tenant does not have the legal obligation to take over the inventory. The previous tenant will have to remove the inventory if the new tenant is unwilling to do so. Are there utilities intrinsically connected to the property, such as a built-in kitchen or a built-in closet? These types of costs will be automatically be calculated in the new rental price. It is in that case not allowed to charge the new tenant with acquisition costs.
Key money
Key money is a payment that the tenant makes to the landlord in exchange for the key. It is illegal to ask for key money. Charging such costs to the tenant yields an unreasonable benefit for the landlord. You cannot include key costs in the rental agreement. If a tenant has paid key money, then he can go to court to reclaim the costs. To do this, it is necessary to have proof of the payment.
Deposit
A bond is a security deposit a tenant pays at the start of the tenancy. The bond may be used to cover for rent, damages or other costs at the end of the tenancy. It is legally allowed to ask for a bond, unless the amount asked is unreasonably high. The law does not provide an exact number, but legal jurisprudence states that a bond of maximum three times the monthly rent is still reasonable. If the property is not damaged and there is no outstanding rent due, then the landlord has to transfer to bond back to the tenant after the rental agreement has ended. The tenant does not have to pay statutory interest over the bond.
For more information about additional costs and fees, please read the articles of the Dutch Rijksoverheid:
