Introduction
Dutch rental and lease law governs the relationship between landlord and tenant, and differs sharply according to what is let. Residential space, retail business premises and other business premises are subject to their own regimes, each with its own degree of tenant protection. Disputes usually concern termination and ending the lease, defects and maintenance, or the service charges and the deposit. Which regime applies often decides the outcome in advance.
Which regime: residential or business premises
Residential space enjoys the strongest protection: the landlord can terminate only on the grounds stated in the law. For business premises the distinction between retail business premises (Article 7:290 of the Dutch Civil Code, DCC, such as shops and catering) and other business premises (Article 7:230a DCC, such as offices and storage) is decisive: the first category has term protection and a closed system of termination grounds, the second mainly protection against eviction. What is decisive is the contractually agreed intended use of the let property, not the label the parties attach to the agreement; the Supreme Court confirmed that this intended use determines whether the 290 regime applies (Supreme Court 6 March 2026, ECLI:NL:HR:2026:356).
Termination and ending the lease
A valid termination requires the right ground, the right period and the right form. For residential space the list of grounds is exhaustive; a common ground is the landlord's urgent own use, where the court weighs the interests and fixes the moment at which the lease ends (Supreme Court 18 February 2022, ECLI:NL:HR:2022:270). For retail business premises the court reviews, among other things, the balancing of interests and the offer of compensation. A party that terminates too early, on the wrong ground or with defective reasoning will not have the termination upheld.
Defects, maintenance and service charges
The landlord must make the property available and keep it in a state that allows the agreed use (Article 7:204 DCC). The enjoyment to be provided covers not only the property itself but also its accessibility, reachability and appearance, so that an impairment of these can constitute a defect (Supreme Court 27 April 2012, ECLI:NL:HR:2012:BV7337). Where there is a defect, the tenant can claim repair, a rent reduction (Article 7:207 DCC) or damages. Around service charges and the deposit, settlement disputes regularly arise; setting off alleged damage against the deposit is subject to limits.
What decides the outcome
The outcome is rarely decided by a single rule, but by the classification of the let property, compliance with the formal termination requirements, and the substantiation of the defects or the loss. A party that establishes the applicable regime early chooses the right route and prevents a claim from foundering on a formal error.