Following intervention by the Sub-District Court, around fifty tenants renting storage space at Royal FloraHolland in Aalsmeer will pay a lower rent index per 1 January 2023. These tenants, including buyers, traders, and exporters of horticultural products, brought a lawsuit due to rent indexation of 10.3% implemented in 2023. My colleague, Maxime Lasschuit, and I represented the tenants in these proceedings and argued the case on their behalf.

Sub-District Court corrects rent index

The indexation was based on the agreed Consumer Price Indexation (CPI) as published by the CBS (Statistics Netherlands). However, 2023 was an exceptional year in which energy and food prices rose sharply, partly due to the war in Ukraine. The CBS later indicated that actual inflation was lower than the figures suggest.

This is because consumers with an ongoing energy contract do not enter into a new contract but continue their current contract at lower prices. The CBS published corrected index figures in mid-early 2023 but formally maintained the older inflated index figures.

The CBS also switched to a new method as of 1 June 2023 to better reflect inflation.

The Sub-District Court ruled that it is unacceptable to index based on more than the actual inflation (the old method and outcomes) and corrected the rent index in accordance with the correction published by the CBS, making it 8% in this case rather than 10.3%.

Sub-District Court also finds compensation proposed by FloraHolland insufficient

FloraHolland offered the tenants a one-time ‘cashback’ discount in 2023 to avoid a lawsuit, meaning they did not have to pay 2% of the rent increase. The Sub-District Court found this 2% concession insufficient. The court also found that the high percentage set of 10.3% would be detrimental to the tenants in coming years.

Are you a tenant facing an excessive rent increase?

This ruling sets an important precedent that can be applied to comparable situations. If you are a tenant and think that your rent increase is excessively high and would like to know if this rent increase or its calculation would hold up in court, please feel free to contact me or Maxime Lasschuit. We are happy to look into it and represent you in court.