A tenant emails a screenshot of the rent price check: this is what changes to WWS points in 2026

It's Tuesday morning, and among the repair requests sits an email with an attachment: a screenshot of the rent price check. The tenant has recalculated their home and wants to know why their rent is higher than the figure on their screen. You recognise this type of email immediately, because it's not the first one this month. And with the announced change to the WOZ cap, things aren't about to get quieter any time soon.

Since the Affordable Rent Act (Wet betaalbare huur) came into force, the points count is no longer an internal working document. Tenants calculate it themselves, share screenshots in resident groups, and expect you to explain the difference within a day. This isn't an incident you can manage away with an extra mailbox, it's the new normal. If your points counts aren't in order, you'll notice it straight away in your inbox.

WWS points in 2026: what applies now and what's coming

First, the facts you need today. As of 1 January 2026, the maximum rent thresholds per point have been indexed by 3.65%. A screenshot taken before that date, or a calculation based on outdated property details, will therefore already show a different figure than the current situation. That accounts for a good share of the "why doesn't this add up" emails.

There's also a structural change on the way. On 16 June 2026, the minister announced plans to proceed with three adjustments to the WWS (Woningwaarderingsstelsel, the housing valuation points system): a rent surcharge for homes constrained by the WOZ cap, a heavier weighting for small listed national heritage buildings, and the removal of the five-point deduction for lacking outdoor space. The decision has been with the Raad van State (the Council of State) since early July. The intended start date is 1 January 2027, but that date is only confirmed once the decision has been published in the Staatsblad (the Dutch government gazette).

The WOZ cap stays, but a surcharge is being added on top

This is where a lot of reporting gets it wrong, so be precise in your own communication. The WOZ cap isn't disappearing. The rule that limits the share of the WOZ value (the government-assessed property value used for Dutch property tax) in the points count to 33% once a home would otherwise score above 186 points simply stays in place. What changes is that capped homes get a surcharge on the maximum rent, while remaining within the regulated mid-rent segment.

For your portfolio, that means two different routes. For new lets signed after the start date, you can move straight to the new maximum. For sitting tenants, you can only reach it through the annual permitted rent increase, and that can take several years. So a tenant who fills in the rent price check after January 2027 will see a maximum that you're not yet allowed to charge on an existing contract. That's exactly where the confused emails come from, and exactly where you can already prepare your answer.

How to prepare your points counts and your answers

Start with your own data, not the standard letter. Map out which homes in your portfolio are currently hitting the WOZ cap, because only that group will be affected by the surcharge. If you have listed national heritage buildings under 40 square metres, or homes without outdoor space that lose points for it, the count itself will change there. Record, for each home, which data and which reference date the last points count was based on, so you can always set a tenant's screenshot against your own calculation.

Also put together a short standard reply for the screenshot emails. Three elements are enough: first check whether the tenant used the Huurcommissie (the Dutch rent tribunal) rent price check and with which property details, explain which points count and reference date you use, and state that the announced change only takes effect once the decision is final, and even then only applies immediately to new contracts. That answers nine out of ten questions without any custom work.

And schedule a recalculation as soon as the decision is published in the Staatsblad. Not before, because until then, 1 January 2027 is an intention, not an entitlement. Anyone who already uses the new maximum in offers or rent increase proposals may have to reverse that later.

The question from that Tuesday morning email will keep coming back, in ever more variations. The difference between a dispute at the Huurcommissie and a reassured tenant rarely lies in the points count itself, but in how quickly and how concretely you can explain the difference. An up to date count per home and a clear standard reply cost you an afternoon's work. You'll earn that afternoon back with every screenshot still to come.