A tenant sends you a screenshot of the rent price check: what's changing 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 worked out their own home's points and wants to know why their rent is higher than the figure on their screen. You recognise this type of email straight away, because it's not the first one this month. And with the announced change to the WOZ cap (the ceiling on how much a property's official valuation, or WOZ value, counts towards its WWS score), things aren't about to get any quieter.

Since the Wet betaalbare huur (Affordable Rent Act) came into force, the points calculation is no longer an internal working document. Tenants do their own sums, 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 standard. If your point calculations aren't in order, you'll feel it in your inbox straight away.

WWS (the Dutch dwelling points system) points in 2026: what applies now and what's coming

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 A screenshot from before that date, or a calculation based on outdated property data, will already show a different figure to the current situation.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

On top of that, a structural change is on its way. On 16 June 2026, the minister announced that three adjustments to the WWS would go ahead: a rent surcharge for properties capped by the WOZ cap, heavier weighting for small national heritage properties (rijksmonumenten), and the scrapping of the five-point deduction for lacking outdoor space. The decision has been with the Council of State since early July. The intended start date is 1 January 2027, but that date only becomes fixed once the decision has been published in the Staatsblad (the Dutch Government Gazette).

The WOZ cap stays, a surcharge is added on top

This is where a lot goes wrong in the reporting, so be sharp about it in your own communication. The WOZ cap isn't disappearing. The rule that limits the WOZ value's share in the points calculation to 33% once a property passes 186 points simply continues to exist. What changes is that capped properties get a surcharge on their maximum rent, while still falling within the regulated mid-market segment.

For your portfolio, that means two different routes. For new lettings after the start date, you can move straight to the new maximum. For sitting tenants, you can only get there through the annual permitted rent increase, and that can take several years. A tenant who fills in the rent price check after January 2027 will therefore see a maximum that you're not yet allowed to charge under an existing contract. That's exactly where the confused emails come from, and exactly where you can have your answer ready now.

How to prepare your point calculations and your answers

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

Also prepare a short standard response for the screenshot emails. Three elements are enough: first check whether the tenant used the Huurcommissie's (the Dutch rent tribunal's) rent price check and with which property data, explain which points calculation 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 for as soon as the decision is published in the Staatsblad. Not before, because until then, 1 January 2027 is an intention, not a right. If you're already calculating with the new maximum in offers or rent increase proposals, you may have to reverse that later.

The question from that Tuesday morning email keeps coming back, in ever more variations. The difference between a complaint to the Huurcommissie and a reassured tenant rarely lies in the points calculation itself, but in how quickly and concretely you can explain the difference. An up to date calculation per property and a clear standard response cost you half a day's work. You'll earn that half day back with every screenshot still to come.