The ban on temporary rental contracts, introduced last July, may be heading for the bin after a majority of MPs questioned the impact, the AD has reported.

Housing minister Mona Keijzer is also known to oppose the ban because, she says, it is making the shortage of housing worse.

Many small landlords are selling their properties because of higher taxes, more rent controls and the ban on two-year contracts. The ban also applies to renting out a room in your home to someone else as a paying guest.

Landlords have been faced with many legal changes in the past few years and people “are not renting their space because they are worried, to put it bluntly, that they will never get rid of their tenants,” Keijzer said.

She has welcomed parliament’s call for a re-examination of the law and said she will send a briefing to parliament about her plans to strengthen the position of landlords next month.

Changing the taxation rules would be complicated, and there is no majority in favour of reducing rent controls. However, a majority of MPs are in favour of a rethink of rental contract lengths.

Temporary contracts are still allowed if the owner wants to rent the property to their children, and if couples want to test out living together for a period of a year without giving up one of the properties.