Reality check for my rent
Hi, let me start with this, I tried reading up on Huurcommissie, but I might be too stupid to get it. I'm an expat who moved to NL a year ago and I'm still learning Dutch so I had to read via a translator, so that might not help either. A dutch colleague of mine recommended the subreddit as it helped him before, so here I am.
So with that out of the way, here is my problem, I live in a smaller town close to Utrecht, when I moved here in 2023 August, I was happy I found a place to stay as I was close to becoming homeless, due to not finding a rent for 3 months (The company I moved here with, helped with temporary accommodation, but I had to send in applications to over 300 places before I got 2 viewing opportunities and I just picked the better option as I was out of time). Today my Landlord told me he wants to increase the rent by 60 Euro, which is not much, I could take it, going from 1600 to 1660 Euro, but this gave me the push to try to look into the pricing of my rent.
I checked the calculator at Huurcommissie, and I tried to complete everything as factual as possible, where I was not sure, I gave the benefit of the doubt and I just picked whatever option gave more points, but overall I think my estimate is close to reality. It got about 177 points or close to 1100 Euro. This was a shock to me as I thought what I'm paying is fair price.
Here are some detailed about the place:
- 60 square meters
- Bedroom + Living Room/Kitchen + Bathroom + Storage Room and a small hall
- Kitchen is well equipped, combo microwave oven, fridge, fume hood, cabinets, etc
- Bathroom is also fully complete, it has a bathtub and a shower separately, a wall mounted toilet, etc
- Other then that, everything came unfurnished but with laminated floors
- It has a garage to it, though I do not own a car (I know that does not matter) and a bike parking space
- Small balcony
- It is part of an apartment complex, it's not a house
- It has an Energy Label A, and it was constructed recently in 2007
- The WOZ value in Jan 1st 2023 was 284.000 euro.
- It's not in Utrecht but close to, and based on the rules in the calculator it does count as being close to Utrecht but it does not match the other requirements so it did not get points for that.
- As a complete irrelevant fact, the landlord is very nice.
Now my huge dilemma is that I'm not sure how this whole thing works or if it's even worth it in my case. I'm an Expat, I have two cats, an okay paying job, and I'm planning to move out of here, hopefully in my own place, in about 2 years or so. I'm terrified that if I attempt to get a fair price on this property, I will be kicked out eventually because my contract of 1 year is up, so now it's on a "month to month" basis. I do not think I have good chances of finding a new place in 1-2 months. Plus the 60 Euro a month for the next 24 months would add up to 1440 Euro, I'm sure it would be more expensive to move out if I get kicked out because of this (I have furniture now, but no car to move it with so I would need a moving company, etc).
Is it reasonable to bite the bullet and let this whole thing go? I'm looking mainly for a reality check here as I'm unsure how NL works still, could the landlord retaliate somehow? get me kicked out soon after? is requesting a review of my rent anonymous or public towards the landlord? can I even request a review of the rent or 1660 Euro is reasonable for this property?
Thanks in advance for anyone who would give their two cents on my situation.