Your rented home

Saving energy can be very simple and does not cost much money. Closing your doors, taking shorter showers, and turning off appliances are examples of this. If you add up all these measures, it saves a lot on your energy bill! For more information, visit the page on energy saving or the websites of Regionaal Energieloket and Milieu Centraal.

As a tenant, making modifications to your home can be difficult. The landlord will largely have to pay for them: insulation, a heat pump, or solar panels fall under their responsibility. Therefore, it is important that your landlord receives something in return.

You can persuade your landlord by making agreements about the rent price. For example, propose that you will pay the maximum rent increase for a few years. With a subsequent tenant, your landlord can charge more for the house anyway, and the house also increases in value due to the sustainability measures. On the other hand, as a tenant, you can earn this money back because your energy bill will be lower once, for example, your house is insulated. Solar panels yield a return of 7% per year for your landlord, and you can make agreements with him or her regarding their use. As a tenant, you naturally benefit in other ways from a more sustainable home, such as having better living conditions, like less dampness or a warm floor.

It can help to point out the existence of subsidies to your landlord. You can even calculate the project, its costs, and its yields in advance. In many cases, the outcome will exceed your landlord's expectations: making a home sustainable has rapidly become cheaper in recent years.

By making your property portfolio more sustainable, you develop real estate that is ready for the future. The value and quality increase significantly, making it attractive to tenants. By insulating your home, you save a lot of energy and improve the Energy Index (EI) and the energy label. This will lead to an increase in the value of your property. For the tenant, a well-insulated home is a comfortable and healthy place to live. Moreover, the tenant can save significantly on gas consumption, which is a welcome bonus in view of rising gas prices.

Two subsidy schemes are available for private landlords to make homes more sustainable. First, as a private landlord, you are eligible for the ISDE subsidy if you purchase a solar water heater or heat pump for your property. You must then submit a commercial subsidy application. Furthermore, in April 2022, the Subsidy Scheme for Sustainability and Maintenance of Rental Homes (SVOH) was introduced. This subsidy scheme offers private landlords the opportunity to apply for a subsidy to make their rental homes—with a rent price below the deregulation threshold (€879.66 in 2024)—more sustainable.