The complaints committee secretary: role, tasks, time limits and an annual plan

What the secretary does, and what the regulations say

Dutch housing associations are bound by the complaints regulations that the minister has designated for all housing associations (Housing Act, article 55b(3)). Those regulations mention the secretary in three places. The board provides the complaints committee with a secretary, who is not a member and has no vote (article 3(10)). The members and the secretariat are bound by confidentiality (article 11(1)). And the secretary keeps a copy of all records and documents for five years after a ruling (article 11(3)).

The regulations assign the other steps to the committee: acknowledging receipt, passing on documents, inviting the parties to the hearing, the register and the annual report. The committee decides who does that work. Set it out in a job description, including what stays with the chair. Some committees speak of a secretary, others of an official or clerk to the committee. Either way, the secretary supports the committee and is not a member.

In Dutch government, a person or committee is appointed to handle and advise on complaints (General Administrative Law Act (Awb), article 9:14). The Awb does not mention a secretary. In that case, set out the secretariat's tasks in the decision or rules that established the committee.

The work at each stage of a complaint

Below, for each stage, is what the designated regulations require, with the time limit and the article. If your committee uses its own version, check the time limits in your own regulations.

1. 1

   Receipt and admissibilitywithin 14 days

   The complainant receives written acknowledgement of receipt, stating the date of receipt and whether the complaint is admissible. The acknowledgement refers to the regulations on the housing association's website, and may ask the complainant for documents supporting the complaint. If the committee will not consider the complaint, the complainant is told as soon as possible, in writing and with reasons.

   Regulations, article 5(2) and article 6(1) to (4)

2. 2

   Hearing both sides on papertime limit set by the committee

   The complainant receives a copy of the acknowledgement, and the housing association a copy of the complaint. The committee asks the housing association for its position and all relevant documents, within a time limit the committee sets itself. Whatever one party submits is copied to the other, so that the committee and both parties have the same case file.

   Regulations, article 6(6) and article 7(6)

3. 3

   Preparing the hearingwithin 3 weeks

   Within three weeks of receiving the documents from both sides, the parties are told the date and time of the hearing, in principle with all the documents enclosed. There must be at least five working days between the invitation and the hearing. If the committee invites anyone else, the invitation says who.

   Regulations, article 7(2) and (3), article 8(4) · Preparing and chairing a hearing →

4. 4

   The hearingat least 3 members

   The committee sits with at least three members, including the chair and a member appointed on the nomination of a tenants' organisation. The hearing is not public. The parties may challenge a member, and a member may withdraw. The regulations do not require a record of the hearing, but the advice is also based on what was said there. A careful record therefore helps the committee write it.

   Regulations, article 8(2), (3) and (4), article 9(2)

5. 5

   The advicewithin 3 weeks

   Within three weeks of the hearing, the committee issues its written advice to the board of the housing association and to the complainant. The deliberations are not public, and the committee decides by majority vote. The committee decides who writes the draft.

   Regulations, article 9(1), (3) and (5) · Writing the advice →

6. 6

   The board's decisionwithin 1 month

   Within one month of receiving the advice, the board announces its decision in writing to the complainant and the committee, with the advice enclosed. If the board departs from the advice, it gives reasons. Keep track of whether the decision arrives: the housing association states in its annual report how many times it did not follow the advice.

   Regulations, article 9(6), (7) and (9), article 13(3)

7. 7

   Register and archivekeep for 5 years

   For each complaint, the register records the number and subject, as well as, among other things, inadmissible complaints and the grounds, referrals to a housing association, the time taken and the gist of each piece of advice. The secretary keeps all records and documents for five years after the ruling.

   Regulations, article 11(3) and article 13(1) · The annual report →

For an urgent complaint, the chair may decide that the committee departs from the procedures and time limits in the regulations (article 10). In government, different time limits apply: with a complaints advisory committee, the administrative authority deals with the complaint within ten weeks of receipt, with an extension of no more than four weeks (Awb, article 9:11). The annual plan further down works with both.

The secretary's working day in Adminio

Adminio is software for complaints committees. The secretary starts the day in the caseload: for each case file, the next step, whose turn it is and the time limit. As soon as a complaint comes in, Adminio automatically produces the intake analysis and the case file preparation. Adminio sends reminders to the parties automatically on behalf of the secretariat, and replies by email go straight into the case file. This leaves the secretary time for the substance of the cases, and capacity for more of them.

Below is a working day in nine steps, with screenshots from Adminio. The screenshots show the Dutch interface. The committee in them is fictional, as is case KC-2026-00041 about a leak at a housing association. Click an image to enlarge it.

What a complete case file preparation looks like

Adminio drafts the case file preparation automatically as soon as a complaint comes in, and links it to comparable advice from complaints committees and the relevant statutory provisions from its legal knowledge base. The committee starts every case with an organised file of around two pages, rather than a pile of documents. Below is the complete case file preparation for the fictional case KC-2026-00041 from the screenshots above. Underneath are the comparable rulings and the statutory provisions, each with a link to the source.

The case, the names and Documents 1 to 14 are fictional. The two pieces of advice from the South Holland Housing Complaints Committee are real and public. The statutory texts are unofficial English translations. The committee always makes the assessment itself.

If something is missing, you see it straight away

Adminio does the reading and gets everything ready. The committee weighs the case and decides.

What it gives the secretary

The secretariat's work shifts from searching, retyping and counting to checking and steering. The time saved goes into the substance: careful preparation of the hearing, good letters to the parties, and capacity for more cases.

What Adminio does, and what stays with the secretariat and the committee

The secretary's year

Alongside the cases themselves, the secretariat has fixed dates in the year. For a housing association, these come from the regulations and the Housing Act.

• The register. The committee keeps a register of the complaints received and discusses it periodically within the committee and with the board (article 13(1)).
• The annual report. Each year, the committee reports to the board and to the tenants' organisation (article 13(2)). The housing association states in its own annual report the number of complaints to the committee and the percentage of advice not followed (article 13(3)). It submits that annual report before 1 July (Housing Act, article 38(1)). So agree when the housing associations need your figures. There is more on this in the guide to the complaints committee's annual report.
• The rotation schedule. Members are appointed for four years, and each can serve no more than three terms. The rotation schedule is published on the housing association's website and on the committee's (article 3(6)). Six months before a membership ends, the committee notifies the board and the tenants' organisation (article 3(8)).
• Facilities and fees. The board provides the facilities the committee needs and sets the members' fees (article 12).

How many hearings there are in a year depends on the number of complaints. We compared the annual reports of more than forty housing association complaints committees in the Netherlands, supplemented by the annual reports of the participating housing associations. Together, these committees received around 4,120 complaints. For the 18 committees where we could check, 28 per cent of complaints ended with advice. The other complaints were forwarded, not considered, withdrawn or resolved, or carried over into the following year.

Annual plan for the secretariat

Choose the rules that apply to your committee, who runs the secretariat and roughly how many complaints you expect. The plan lists the fixed dates for each month, with the article or a note that it is your own arrangement. Below that, the time limits for each complaint are set out as a list of steps. If you enter a date of receipt, the plan calculates the dates.

Nothing you enter is stored anywhere, not even in your browser. So print or copy the plan before you close the page.

External or internal secretariat

The regulations state that the board provides the committee with a secretary (article 3(10)). They do not say where that secretary works. Of the 9 regional housing association complaints committees whose secretariat we could check, 5 have an external secretariat: an agency or an independent secretary. In 4, one of the participating housing associations provides the secretary. One secretary works for two committees.

Both models are used, including by large committees. What matters in either case is that the arrangements on tasks, access and cover are in writing. The annual plan above lists them under arrangements for the secretariat.

The independence of the secretariat

The complaints committee is independent (article 2(4)). Its deliberations are not public, and each member votes without instruction or prior consultation (article 9(1) and (4)). The secretariat sees every case file and, depending on the working method, the drafts of the advice too. The confidentiality rule in article 11(1) applies to the secretariat. Beyond that, the regulations say little about the secretary's position. With five arrangements, the committee can secure that position, whether the secretariat is external or internal.

1. Instructions from the committee only. Record that, for the committee's work, the secretary takes instructions only from the chair or the committee. In Dutch government, the administrative authority may give the committee only general instructions (Awb, article 9:14(2)).
2. Separate case files. Keep case files and correspondence in an environment that only the committee and the secretariat can access, with the committee's own email address.
3. No cases about the secretary's own department. If a complaint concerns the secretary's department or a direct colleague, have a deputy handle the case. The Awb has a similar rule for whoever handles a complaint: no one involved in the conduct complained of (article 9:7(1)).
4. Confidentiality, internally too. What the secretary reads in a case stays within the committee, including towards their own organisation or agency (article 11(1)).
5. A deputy. Agree who takes over during illness or holidays, so that time limits keep running.

In Adminio, the case files sit in the committee's own environment. The committee is the data controller and Adminio is the processor. The housing association sees only its own cases in its own portal, and the members' deliberations sit in a separate section that the parties cannot see.

What the Future-Proof Rent Tribunal Act changes for the secretariat

A housing association tenant who has complained in writing to the association about something it did or failed to do can, for now, still ask the Rent Tribunal (Huurcommissie) for a ruling (Rental Prices (Housing) Implementation Act, article 4(5)). The regulations require the board to point the complainant to this option when announcing its decision (article 9(8)). The Future-Proof Rent Tribunal Act (Wet toekomstbestendige huurcommissie) will abolish that procedure. The House of Representatives passed the bill on 21 April 2026 and the Senate on 29 September 2026. According to the Dutch government, the Act will enter into force on 1 January 2027. Until then, the current rules apply.

Frequently asked questions

This page and the plan are general information, not legal advice. The screenshots are from Adminio. The committee shown in them is fictional, as are the cases and names. The figures come from the public annual reports of Dutch housing association complaints committees, reviewed in September 2026. You can read more about the committee itself in The complaints committee: is it mandatory, and which rules apply? A shorter overview of the role is in The complaints committee secretary: what the role involves and who should do it. Sources (in Dutch): Decree designating the complaints regulations for housing associations, annex, Housing Act, articles 38 and 55b, General Administrative Law Act, chapter 9, Healthcare Quality, Complaints and Disputes Act, articles 15 and 17, Rental Prices (Housing) Implementation Act, article 4, Senate, Future-Proof Rent Tribunal Act and Dutch government, Senate approves the Future-Proof Rent Tribunal Act (29 September 2026). Updated: 1 October 2026.