All service costs are normally specified in your rental agreement. Tenants pay monthly advance payments for service charges. After each calendar year, the payments are settled, based on the actual and specified costs.
Discussion with Rockfield – 2 aspects – May 2026
- Not agreed service costs
- Reasonable costs for agreed services
Before 2023, Rockfield did not specify part of the service charges in the rental agreements. Legally, this means that the service charges were not agreed with the tenant. From 2023, Rockfield has – in consultation with and after review of !WOON – changed the contracts and did specify the service charges. They asked existing tenants to sign an addendum to approve the list of service charges.
Not all tenants signed and not all of the agreed costs are specified or reasonable. We have initiated court cases for 55 tenants in The Lofts and one for 400 tenants in the other Cohesion buildings. This resulted in negotiations with Rockfield. We have reached partial agreement, see below for more details.
I haven’t joined these lawsuits, what can I do?
These cases were started years ago. Since then, many tenants have asked us for information. We said: wait for the result of the court case. We will try to make the result count for all tenants and years. That didn’t work so far. Rockfield has asked us to specify who has objected to (part of) the charges. So now we will collect a new list. If you did not take part in the above mentioned procedures, but would like to object some of the charges specified below, you can register now. There are no costs involved, the work of !WOON is funded by the Amsterdam City Council to help tenants. Depending on your situation it could bring you up to a couple of hundred euro’s per year.
-> Please click this link and fill in the form before May 14. We will try to reach an agreement with Rockfield. If this fails, we may initiate a new lawsuit.
(see more details below)
What happened in the court cases
In a court case in The Lofts (Spaklerweg) tenants were refunded the initially unspecified € 55 membership fee. Since 2023 contracts have changed and costs are specified. Rockfield appealed, but we expect a settlement soon. Another case was started, together with the residents’ committees in Don Bosco, Little Manhattan, Stunest and Wembley. The initial negotiations didn’t succeed, and we took the case to court for 400 tenants.
In response to the summons, the negotiations continued. For the participants who did not agree to the service cost specification Rockfield offered compensation and an adjustment of the service charges in the future. This part is about to be concluded, those involved will be informed by mail. We think this is a good deal, but it is up to the individual tenant to agree or to continue the procedure.
What are the remaining discussion points about service costs?
Rockfield has specified and justified most service costs. So far we disagree on whether the following items can be charged and what the amount should be:
- Events &Community: We believe that Events&Community should be optional. (average € 40 per year)
- Service Plan: We think this service should be optional. Secondly, we haven’t received a specification of the costs for the repairs falling under Service Plan. (average € 80 per year)
- House Management: part of tasks performed by the community manager are landlord duties. (estimated average € 30 per year)
- 24-hour services: Maintenance of building installations is part of the rent and should not be charged in the service costs. Exception is a subscription for 24-hour services, where the landlord may charge 20% of these costs to tenants. Rockfield has delivered contracts, but we still have questions. (average € 30 per year)
- Administration fees upon departure: If Rockfield discovers damage in the flat when a tenant is moving out, they charge a maximum of € 65 administration fee, on top of the damage itself. We argue that the check-out procedure is landlord duty and tenants may not be charged the related costs.
What if I am not (yet) in a procedure?
We have asked Rockfield to settle the remaining dispute on service costs for all tenants and all years. This could avoid many new procedures. So far they did not agree. They have asked us to supply a list of tenants who object to the costs. Interested? Please click this link and fill in the form before May 21. We will try to reach an agreement with Rockfield. If this fails, we may initiate a new lawsuit.
What could this bring me?
If you moved there before 2023 and haven’t signed for the detailed list of services, you may be eligible for the a similar agreement that claimants in the procedure received. Depending on your contract and situation this could be a monthly refund of € 30 to € 55 per month for past years.
If you moved there in 2023 or later or did sign the addendum, you agreed to the services. In this case the possible refund will be lower. It is difficult to estimate the exact possible compensation amount at this moment. The discussion is about € 300 per year, the result could be between € 0 and € 150 per year.
Our intention is to reach an agreement about reasonable service charges for all tenants, including a compensation for past years. Preferably without further legal procedures. This will of course also depend on Rockfield.
How do I know if I agreed to the services?
You agreed to Rockfield’s services if you signed a list that looks like this:
You can look for it either in an addendum in your tenant portal or your rental agreement.
Artikel delen: