A landlord in Amsterdam has been ordered to pay back seven tenants more than €50,000 after incorrectly claiming that a shared house was subject to “free market” rent of €4,400 a month.

Instead, a rent tribunal this week ruled that the rooms as small as nine square metres were worth a fraction of this and has reduced the rents to between €150 and €250 a month.

The city council-funded organisation Woon – which assists renters and small home owners associations – has urged other tenants at the address in Buitenveldert to come forward, saying it can assist them in bringing their rental contracts to be tested by the tribunal.

“We have heard from a few residents that the landlord is still guilty of charging rental prices that are too high and offering temporary rental contracts, something that is not allowed by law,” said Woon in a press release.

The ruling is the latest in a string of tribunal cases in which landlords have been ordered to slash rents. Rooms in houses in which tenants share bathrooms and kitchen facilities are covered by the same points system as regular rental housing, and cannot be rented for more than the maximum rent allowed by the points.

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Currently, cases can only be judged if tenants go to a rent tribunal but from next January, municipalities will be able to enforce infringements and issue fines to landlords.

Reports this week suggested that although agents – makelaars, in Dutch – are banned from charging both the landlord and the renter for their fees, dubious charges are still being imposed.

Some have been fought through lengthy court action. Change, a developer and management company which has been ordered to refund tenants five years of incorrect and excessive service charges, will reportedly no longer be active in Amsterdam from next year.

Since July 2023, landlord intimidation and discrimination has also been part of administrative law and municipalities will be setting up enforcement teams from January. Woon is encouraging more people to report infringements, including when they feature in advertisements on Funda, Kamernet and Pararius or other brokers.

“Expats are [often] seen as a walking wallet,” said Gert Jan Bakker, a consultant on landlord behaviour at Woon.