The student, Daniel Vallejo Gonzales, had been paying 150 euro basic rent per month. According to the points system used by the rent assessment committee the rent should not have been more than 109.12 euro at most. His room is only 8.5 square meters and he himself cannot set the heating, which is located under the floor. Given that there were two more serious defects in the communal part of the house (no handrail along the stairway and loose tiles in the bathroom), the basic rent was retroactively set at 43.65 euro.

Student Eindhoven accommodation agency, which is part of Magis Vastgoedbeheer, has informed Vallejo Gonzales that he will be refunded the amount paid in excess. Meanwhile a handrail has been installed, and the bathroom wall will be repaired as soon as possible, says Bart Schillings, director of Magis.

A fellow member of Daniel Vallejo Gonzales’ household also has proceedings pending against Student Eindhoven. TU/e student Yasemin Vardar is paying 375 euro, whereas the committee says that this could be 310 euro at the most. Her case is coming up for trial before long. Vardar hopes that she will get her money back, but also that her action will make a difference for others. “I hope that next year’s students will have better options than we”, she writes in an e-mail to Cursor.

For that matter, the rent assessment committee has stated that the two lodgers have probably been paying too many service charges as well. For gas/water/light, Internet, maintenance, furniture et cetera, they are paying about 200 euro. Gonzales and Vardar are considering looking into this also. However, they can only do so in July, when the agency is to present a final account of the service charges. (SK)

Cursor is curious to find out if there are more tenants who have started proceedings against their accommodation agency, or are considering this. Do let us know via cursor@tue.nl.