Renting in the Netherlands: who pays for the boiler?

The rule, and why it is narrower than you think

Dutch law does not split repairs by cost or by who caused them. It splits them by a list. The Besluit kleine herstellingen — the decree on minor repairs, an annex to article 7:240 of the Civil Code — names the jobs that are the tenant's. Everything not on that list is the landlord's.

That matters because the list is closed. It is not examples; it is the whole set. A landlord who tells you that the boiler is yours because you used it is not applying Dutch law.

Here is the one line from that decree that decides most drain arguments, in the original Dutch:

What is actually yours

The tenant's list is made up of small, frequent, low-skill jobs. In plumbing and heating terms that comes down to roughly this:

1. Bleeding the radiators when they gurgle or stay cold at the top.
2. Topping up the system pressure when the boiler shows low water pressure.
3. Replacing tap washers and shower hoses.
4. Clearing a blockage in the pipework inside your home, as far as you can reach it.
5. Keeping drains and traps clean and free of hair, fat and food waste.

What is the landlord's

Everything structural or expensive. The boiler itself — repair and replacement. Pipework inside walls and floors. Radiators. The flue. Leaks that are not caused by you. Anything that needs a certified engineer, which in practice includes every job on a gas appliance.

There is a second reason a landlord cannot leave a boiler broken: the Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving sets requirements for heating installations in a home, and those are the owner's duty, not the occupant's.

What to do first

Report it in writing, even if you also call. An email or a message through the landlord's portal creates a date, and the date is what counts if it drags on.

1. Write down what you see or hear, since when, and the error code on the display if there is one.
2. Report it to the landlord or the housing association in writing, and keep the message.
3. If there is no heating or hot water at all, say that explicitly — it raises the urgency of the report.
4. If nothing happens, the Huurcommissie is the route for rented homes. It is a Dutch-language body, but it exists for exactly this.

Where we come in

Often the fastest thing is a phone call before you agree to anything. From the symptom and the error code we can usually say whether this is a repair or the end of the boiler's life, and whether it is the kind of job that falls on the tenant at all. That is a two-minute conversation, in English, and it costs nothing.

If the landlord asks you to arrange it, we can invoice them directly.

Questions

My landlord says I have to pay because I used it. Is that right?

No. Dutch law splits repairs by a closed list, not by use. Wear from normal use is exactly what the landlord's side of the list covers. The only way a repair moves to you is if you damaged it — and that means damage, not use.

The boiler is old but still works. Can I ask for a new one?

You can ask, and the answer usually depends on whether it can still be repaired safely and economically. Age alone is not a legal trigger. What does count: repeated breakdowns, parts that are no longer available, or a safety fault.

I have a service contract in my name. Does that change it?

It can change who you call, not who pays for a repair that is the landlord's. Read what the contract actually covers — many cover annual servicing only, and leave replacement out entirely.

Can you speak to my landlord in Dutch for me?

Yes. That is often the quickest way through: we describe the fault in Dutch, in the terms a landlord or housing association expects, and you get the outcome in English.

Talk to us about it

If water is coming in, call. For anything else a WhatsApp message works better — you can send a photo of the label, the error code or the wet patch, and you get an answer you can read back. English is fine.

Call +31640115625 WhatsApp All our English pages

What applies in your case is in your tenancy agreement. This page explains the general rule under Dutch law and is not legal advice.