“Sometimes I feel guilty that I am now a slum landlord”

What exactly is this? How did you come to this decision?
“In 2014 I bought a house in the Bos & Lommer district of Amsterdam. House prices were at their lowest point at the time: so I bought it for € 128,000. Unthinkable now! But I was so proud to have bought my own house. First in my family someone had succeeded, that was a great feeling. Two years ago I was able to pay off the house completely. The main reason I wanted to keep the house was a gut feeling I had. What if my relationship ever ended and I ended up on the street? Then I would still have my own place to fall back on.

In addition, house prices have risen so much and the housing market in Amsterdam is so overheated that it would be difficult for me to find a house. In fact, I would never again be able to afford a house in Amsterdam on my own. Having kept my apartment gives me a sense of security. Also financially. While I once bought it for € 128,000, the house is now worth more than three tons.”

But if you had sold your house, you could have put it into a new home.
“That’s right, we bought our current home together for € 410,000. If I had sold my other house, I could have bought a more expensive home with the equity. Now we live in Osdorp, a suburb of Amsterdam. With more money I could have bought something closer to the center. But neither of us wanted to part with my other house.”

How much do you earn by renting out your previous home?
“We ask € 1300 per month and that is excluding gas, water and light. This gives us about € 1000 profit every month. We now put this completely in the mortgage of our current home. We also want to refurbish this house, because it could use a renovation.”

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How much tax do you pay on renting out your home?
“Few. The house officially ends up in box 3: it is therefore seen as savings. At the tax authorities you have something like the additional loan scheme. If you have sold an old home with a lot of equity, you may not deduct mortgage interest on that equity. So you have to put that surplus value into a new home. This additional loan arrangement also applies to us, even though we have kept this house. We are not allowed to deduct mortgage interest on those three tons of equity, so we have entered these three tons as debt in box 3. This cancels it out, so we don’t pay tax on it.”

That’s a bit strange for someone who is for fair taxes, isn’t it?
“Yes, it is contradictory. I hope they also address this in politics. But as long as it is possible for large companies such as Blackstone and certain Princes of Orange to earn a lot of money by renting out properties, I will do it too. Yes, it is hypocritical and the guilt gnaws at me daily. I have therefore considered participating in a scheme from the Municipality of Amsterdam: you can make your rental home available to people who work in healthcare, for example.”

So the tenant of your home is a healthcare worker?
“Well no. In the end, we chose not to. If I had, I could have charged a lot less rent. Because we were completely broke when we bought our new home, I could use the money well. But if the current tenant moves out, I will definitely consider it again.”

Will there come a time when you do want to sell your previous home?
“I don’t know if I’ll ever do that. I like to err on the side of caution. Even if the market collapsed, I wouldn’t want to sell it. It has nostalgic value for me.”

How does your environment react to your decision to rent out?
“Very mixed! Some friends think I deserve it, they say I worked hard enough to pay off the house and it’s just a bit of luck. But there are also among those less supportive responded. That’s annoying. I try to explain it, but yes – it is also hypocritical what I do. But then I think again: why should I only ask a few hundred euros for it if Prince Bernhard pays millions earned?”

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