Newsletter #7
New Year's wish
We wish all readers of our newsletter a healthy, prosperous 2023 and, above all, a comfortable, safe and affordable home. Also in 2023 we are committed to a multi-year rent freeze! Will you compete again in the new year?
Success 2022
The number of registrations for participation in our rental campaign skyrocketed in 2022, and the registrations for 2023 are continuing steadily. The number of tenants who have successfully refused the rent increase exceeds our expectations. From all over the country we receive messages from tenants who followed our action and definitely do not pay a rent increase in 2021! We warmly congratulate these tenants on this success, and hope that they will participate again next year and share their knowledge and experience with fellow tenants.
Did you not have immediate success and did you submit a petition to the Rent Assessment Committee? The chairman of the Rent Assessment Committee almost always finds the landlord's proposal reasonable and therefore decides in favor of the landlord. After receiving such a negative chairman's ruling, we therefore advise you to object to that ruling.
Manual WWDH - our toolbox
In 2023 we will continue to refuse the rent increase with even more tenants. WWDH has made a manual for (new) local WWDH solidarity networks, this is downloadable on the website. Anyone who wants to take action locally with other tenants for a rent freeze can read in this manual how to build local solidarity in a local network. Setting up or being part of a solidarity network and collectively carrying out the action is the most promising way towards refusing the rent increase and a multi-year rent freeze. See which solidarity networks already exist or are being set up and read more about our working method on the website.
In addition to the manual, WWDH has a PowerPoint presentation on how to get started locally. On request (by e-mail) we can provide that presentation online for any local solidarity network. Make use of this so that all kinds of questions can be answered immediately.
App groups
Active tenants of WWDH work together on the rental action within solidarity networks. They inform each other back and forth via app groups in Whatsapp or Signal. Look at on this ticket which app groups already exist or are being set up. This number is expected to increase in 2023. If you would like to be added to such an app group, let us know by e-mail. If there is not yet a local network in your municipality, we will check whether there are already sufficient registrations or we will try to actively increase this number. Take the initiative yourself by urging your neighbors to sign up for our campaign and distribute flyers in your neighbourhood, village or city.
In addition to local app groups, there are also national app groups that active tenants can join. At the moment we have an app group for tenants in the private rental sector, a media group that deals with social media, these newsletters and the website, and a FAQ (frequently asked questions) group that answers questions. In short, it is possible to participate in different app groups. If you are interested in one or more app groups, send us an email.
We are also setting up a coordination group. To ensure that everything runs smoothly within a local solidarity network, we work with a local coordinator: the connecting link between the local group and the national organisation. We gather these local coordinators in a national coordination group. On Tuesday 10 January we will hold a first online meeting with the coordination group from 20:00 – 21:30. You can participate via https://meet.jit.si/wijweigerendehuurverhoging
Register by email.
National action meeting
On Saturday, January 28, we are organizing a physical meeting for tenants who want to actively participate in the WWDH campaign. You can register via email. More information and a registration form will follow later on the website.
Location: Apeldoorn, Café Nova, Markstraat 20
Date: 28/01/23
Time: 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Flyer campaigns will start again in 2023
In Enschede, the kick-off of a series of flyer campaigns in Overijssel will take place on Saturday 7 January. In the spring, flyer campaigns are regularly held in numerous towns and villages in this province. These actions will be announced in advance in the local media through our standard press release. Last year this working method proved to be effective, resulting in many new registrations. If you also want to organize (a series of) flyer campaigns, read how you can best do this with the help of your local network in our manual. For questions, please contact: info@wijweigerendehuurverhoging.nl
The flyers are free to encourage distribution and make them accessible to everyone. Promotional material such as flyers, posters and stickers can be ordered via The Red Lap.
Free Rental Sector
The WWDH rental campaign was and is primarily intended for tenants in the social rental sector. Tenants in the liberalized rental sector have no security of tenure and are at the mercy of the landlord. It is understandable that tenants in the liberalized rental sector also join WWDH. Together with these tenants, we will come up with plans in 2023 to put a stop to rent increases there as well. Interested tenants in the free rental sector can participate in the WWDH app group Free Rental Sector. If interested, send us an e-mail.
Residential consultation hour WWDH Amsterdam
In Amsterdam, the local solidarity network has set up a local residential consultation hour. Tenants can go there every Monday afternoon between 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm in the Lydia community center at Roelof Hartplein 2b. It looks like more residential consultation hours will be set up by WWDH in 2023. More about that in our next newsletter.
Questions about overdue maintenance, service costs or the energy label?
Many tenants report to us that they also have complaints about overdue maintenance or that there are serious defects in the home. In that case, at the request of the tenant, the Rent Assessment Committee can decide on a substantial rent reduction until the defects have been rectified. Do you want to walk this road in 2023? Then look at our frequently asked questions on our website.
We also receive a relatively large number of questions about service costs and the energy label. We have also added 2 questions about this to our frequently asked questions page on the website.
Vacancies
Of all tenants who register, no fewer than 20% indicate that they also want to become active for WWDH. WWDH will therefore start a call team in 2023 to approach those tenants and see together how they can or want to use their knowledge and experience. Vacancies for volunteers at a national or local level will soon be published on our website. We are currently looking to expand our national coordination group and strengthen our call team, media team and FAQ tam. For the FAQ group we are looking for tenants with some knowledge of tenancy law and experience in answering tenant questions. You are also very welcome if you are interested in participating in order to acquire that knowledge and experience.
Donate
Participation in our rental campaign is free, and with a little bit of luck can quickly yield tens, if not hundreds of euros. In addition to the many hours of volunteer work, maintaining our website and making promotional materials available free of charge is only possible through donations. We therefore ask tenants who have successfully refused the rent increase to donate part of the money saved. Donate via the website.
Bond Precaire Woonvormen
The action campaign of Wij Weigeren de Rent Increase is made possible in part by the Bond Precarious Housing Forms. In addition to the fight for lower rents, do you also want to make a case for housing security for everyone and make a sustainable contribution to the wider housing movement? Become a member of the BPW now!
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