The lower house of the Dutch parliament is set to discuss a law that would allow for the extension of temporary lease agreements. Proposed by the Dutch Minister for the Environment Stientje van Veldhoven, the law would prevent tenants from eviction if their contract expired during the state of emergency. Van Veldhoven also called upon housing corporations and other parties involved to be flexible with tenants who cannot currently afford to pay their rent. Some some deputies feel the law doesn’t go far enough. Paul Smeulders (GroenLinks party), Sandra Beckerman (SP) and Henk Nijboer (PvdA) have called on the government to offer more extensive tenant protection by banning rent increases. All eviction of homes must be delayed, they say, and a temporary lease contract can not be canceled during the state of emergency, even for the purpose of demolishing the building.
