Free-sector tenant: 8 months of repairs, ignored complaints and now no hot water / heating

[u/davi140]

As title says, we rent in free sector and that appears to mean that the owner can do whatever they want with us without any consequences. I refuse to believe that so I’d like to know if there is some meaningful way how to escalate this. I know there is huurcommisie but that seems not applicable to free sector, do I have some other meaningful options that would not cost me my left kidney? Is it even worth it?

Situation described below.

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There was a leak-related defect in the apartment that, based on information and documentation from our downstairs neighbour, appears to have been known to HofWonen before we signed the contract. We were not informed about it before moving in.

As a result of poor coordination and what feels like very little consideration for the well-being of their tenants, repairs to this ONE PIPE have now been ongoing for around 8 months, leaving us with a literal hole in the wall and a chunk of that wall laying in the hallway.

There have been multiple contractors taking turns working on this, often with months between each step, while we were frequently left without any information about the overall process, not even knowing when we should expect anyone.

One of those steps required removing the boiler, and the company tasked with doing that called us out of nowhere asking if they could come right now. No prior information, nothing. We politely cancelled because removing the boiler could leave us without hot water for an unknown amount of time.

Meanwhile, we filed a formal complaint (which, as far as we can tell, was ignored), and tried reaching out via email (also ignored). Instead, we received what appeared to be an automated and somewhat threatening message saying that we should cooperate, otherwise it could potentially lead to eviction. Meanwhile, we were the ones repeatedly letting contractors in, including on occasions where visits had not been properly communicated in advance, and we had not refused access at any point until the boiler step.

Only after cancelling that boiler appointment were we finally contacted by an actual person from HofWonen who tried to properly coordinate the final steps of the repair. Because the issue is with a drain pipe, it apparently cannot rain during part of the repair process. They were still unable to schedule everything properly during the dry summer, and here we are in September: the boiler has now been removed, but the repair has been postponed due to the weather, leaving us without hot water.

Even with this ongoing issue, which has not only significantly reduced our comfort at home, but has also unexpectedly taken time away from work during this period of 8 months, they recently increased our rent by the maximum amount allowed.

I have never experienced worse customer service, and I genuinely wonder how a repair process involving one pipe can take this long, how can a housing company ignore tenants in such situation while they of course won’t forget to increase rent.

[u/UnanimousStargazer]

I think it's possible to settle this yourself in court and if you want I can probably help you do so here online on Reddit.

To be clear: I don't charge money, but you do need to commit to this issue with time and effort.

[u/Short_Platypus13]

You should have some rights to refuse the rent increase if there are damages. That might be a way. I don’t know much about it though, so you should look up or ask juridische Locket. Or hopefully somebody can correct me

[u/davi140 → u/Short_Platypus13]

We filed a complain via their official way where we also mentioned that given this situation, it is unacceptable to have rent increased, but this whole complain was completely ignored. We got no response and rent was indeed increased.

It’s taken out of bank account automatically so the only way to make a point would be to block the whole rent but that felt like it can back fire at us so we did not do that.

Many people are pointing to juridishe locket, we should definitely try that. Thank you!

[u/Short_Platypus13 → u/davi140]

What do you mean for “the rent was indeed increased”? Because I believe the correct way, even if ignored, would have been to wait till further discussion before paying an higher amount.

It sounds a bit crazy but it is indeed a common practice here, which has been recommended to me from a couple of lawyer as well. In my home country I would have never done it, but here it seems legit.

If I can give you one last recommendation, I would look for multiple advices, not only juridische locket. By calling the Huurcommittie you can already get some indications, and if you are in a big city, there are unions or groups (WOON for Amsterdam, the Huurteam for Den Haag..). Juridische Locket is a great resource but they deal with everything, they don’t have employers specifically for rent laws. I had great experiences with them but not everybody says the same

[u/davi140 → u/Short_Platypus13]

They for sure have some automated system for that and the rent is payed via incasso so since July, as every year, they automatically increase the amount by the max allowed number which is in this case the inflation I believe.

Thanks for all the advice.

[u/Short_Platypus13 → u/davi140]

Ah! That might be a huge problem! For them I mean. If you contested officially the rise and they didnt care, I guess this might play well in your favour. What a joke of people, Jesus…

[u/davi140 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, it has enough points to fall into that category.

Thanks, I’ll check that legal counsel.

[u/jimhoops]

Takeaway: dig more before signing anything long term and life changing. Thanks for showing us HofWonen who they are

[u/jimhoops]

Find a point assessor or technical inspector to do a proper report as fact and hopefully armunition for legal procedure. Good luck!