MPs have voted to press ahead with legislation to expand rent controls to cover more homes in the Netherlands, two days after housing minister Hugo de Jonge published his finalised proposals.

MPs had the option of ruling the legislation controversial, which would have meant it would be put on ice until a new coalition government had been put together. But both the far-right PVV and Pieter Omtzigt’s NSC voted to continue with the draft bill, even though both parties had expressed doubts.

The proposal will now be processed by both houses of parliament and could become law as early as this summer, De Jonge said earlier.

The legislation will hike the current maximum rent in the rent-controlled sector from €879 per month to €1,123 – based on the number of points a property is worth.

At the moment landlords have free choice in deciding the rent of property which is calculated to be worth more than 143 points in the regulatory system. Homes with fewer points are classed as social housing with a maximum price of €879 per month and only open to people on low incomes.

Ministry officials estimate the rent of some 300,000 homes will go down an average of €190 when a new tenant moves in, and that 113,000 additional homes will become rent-controlled.

The changes should benefit international workers, particularly in the bigger cities, where landlords often charge high rents for tiny houses although the new rules will only apply to new tenancies.

The Dutch private landlords association Vastgoed Belang, said the government was making a “fatal mistake” in pressing ahead with the legislation. “A majority of MPs seem to think you can solve the problems on the housing market without the sector being ready to invest,” said chairman Jack de Vries.

Landlords claim the regulations will lead to them selling up, because it will no longer be profitable to rent property out if rents are lowered.

However, despite reports that a wave of sales of smaller apartments is already underway, the Kadaster land registry office said last week that landlords are selling fewer properties than in recent years. However, small landlords are selling more property to owner-occupiers than they buy, particularly in the bigger cities.