The Dutch Rent Points System (WWS) in 2026

The points system (woningwaarderingsstelsel, or WWS) is how the Netherlands decides what a rented home is worth. Each home is scored on its size, its energy performance and its fittings, the score is a number of points, and the number of points fixes both which segment the home is in and the maximum rent that may be charged for it.

This page explains what the WWS measures, how the point total maps onto the three 2026 rent segments, and why the exact maximum for a specific home is a job for the official huurcommissie check rather than a rough calculation. Every euro figure below is a 2026 amount and is re-set each 1 January.

Information last verified on 22 July 2026. This page provides general legal information about Netherlands law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.

What the points system measures

The WWS scores a self-contained home (zelfstandige woning) on a set of features, and the rubric lives in Bijlage I of the Besluit huurprijzen woonruimte. The largest single component is space: the floor area of the rooms counts one point per square metre, and other areas such as storage, an attic or a garage count three quarters of a point per square metre.

On top of area, the rubric awards or deducts points for a handful of further categories:

• heating, which adds points per heated room;
• the energy label (energielabel), which adds points for an efficient home and takes points away for the least efficient ones;
• the kitchen and the bathroom (sanitair), scored on their size and quality;
• the property value used for municipal tax, the WOZ-waarde, which adds points subject to a cap so it cannot dominate the score;
• outdoor space and shared areas, with uplifts for a listed monument and for qualifying new-build homes.

Two points are worth stressing rather than listing every cell. First, the rubric is detailed and technical, so a self-scored guess is easily wrong, usually on the low side, because the WOZ value, the exact label and the precise measured area are easy to get wrong. Second, the scoring rubric and the money table are two different instruments: the features-to-points rubric is the Besluit huurprijzen woonruimte, while the points-to-euro maximum-rent table is set separately in the Uitvoeringsregeling huurprijzen woonruimte, under the delegation in artikel 14 of the Besluit.

From points to segment and maximum rent

Once a home has a point total, that total does two things at once: it places the home in a segment, and it fixes the maximum monthly rent.

In 2026 a self-contained home scoring up to 143 points is social housing with a maximum rent of EUR 932.93 per month, a home scoring 144 to 186 points falls in the regulated middenhuur band up to EUR 1,228.07 per month, and only a home scoring 187 points or more is free-sector where the rent is not capped by the points.

The euro figure attached to each point comes from the 2026 maximum-rent table in the Uitvoeringsregeling, and it is not a flat rate per point. Across the scale the value in that 2026 table runs from roughly EUR 6.26 to EUR 6.67 per point, so the table has to be read row by row rather than multiplied out. A few anchor rows for 2026 show the shape:

Note that EUR 932.93 is the 143-point social ceiling, and the middenhuur band starts one point higher at 144 points and EUR 939.73. There are two regulated boundaries to keep apart, the 143-point social ceiling and the 186-point liberalisation line, and a home is only genuinely free-sector, with an uncapped rent, from 187 points.

Why the points system now bites

Before July 2024 the points system mainly capped social rents, and anything above the old boundary was free-market. The Wet betaalbare huur changed that, and it is the reason a pre-2024 explanation of the WWS is now misleading.

Since the Wet betaalbare huur took effect on 1 July 2024 the woningwaarderingsstelsel (the points system) is largely mandatory rather than a cap a tenant must invoke, it now also regulates the middenhuur band up to 186 points, and from 1 January 2025 gemeenten can fine a landlord who charges more than the points allow.

So the WWS is no longer only a shield a tenant has to raise. A landlord who lets a regulated home above the points maximum is charging an unlawful rent, and from 1 January 2025 the gemeente can enforce that with a fine. The important consequence for a tenant is what this does not mean: a tenant is never penalised for a home being scored above its rent. The home is corrected downward, and it is the landlord who is exposed, so there is no question of being evicted for being over the points.

Getting an accurate figure for your home

Because the score turns on measurements and values that are easy to get wrong, a reliable maximum rent for a specific home comes from the official source, not from a rough sum. This is an area where the published tables give the framework but only an assessment gives the answer for a particular home.

The huurcommissie publishes an official points and rent check (huurprijscheck) on its website, which walks through the features and returns a point total and the corresponding 2026 maximum rent. That check is the practical starting point, and where a landlord disputes it the huurcommissie can make a formal assessment. In other words, the published 2026 tables set the framework, but only a huurcommissie assessment or, ultimately, the subdistrict court (kantonrechter) fixes the maximum rent in an individual case, and the points depend on features of the home that a quick estimate does not measure.

If the check shows the rent is above the maximum the points allow, the routes to correct it run through the huurcommissie. A new tenant can use the starting-rent test (aanvangshuurprijstoets) within six months under artikel 7:249 BW, and a sitting tenant can propose a rent reduction under artikel 7:254 BW. Both are covered on the rent tribunal page, and the yearly increase caps that apply on top of the points maximum are on the rent increase page. The wider tenancy framework, including contract types and the deposit (waarborgsom), is on the tenancy law page and the tenant rights overview.