This page contains important information about your tenancy agreement. This includes your rights and obligations as a tenant of the room. If the information you are looking for is not included, or if something does not apply to your agreement, please refer to our page about types of tenancy agreements.
Rent
One of the most important things in the rental contract is the rent. Legally, your rent can only be adjusted once a year and can only increase by a percentage set by the government. In the Netherlands, there is also a points system to determine the maximum price of your home. Unfortunately, many landlords charge more for a room than they are actually allowed to. Would you like to know if you are paying too much rent? Then do the check. If you disagree with your rent, you can go to the rent assessment committee to have your rent reduced. For advice on reducing your rent, please contact the Housing Hotline or your local rent team.
In addition to your rent, you also have to pay for utilities and service charges. These are the costs for gas, water, electricity, etc. These costs are always paid in advance. This means that you will often pay too much or too little. That is why the landlord must provide an annual overview of the costs incurred. You must be able to view this overview and you must be able to get a refund for any money you have overpaid. What if your landlord does not want to give you a statement of the costs or does not want to refund your money? Then contact the rent assessment committee.
In the case of all-inclusive rent, the costs for utilities and rent are not separated, as this is prohibited by law. The rent assessment committee can start a separation procedure for you, which will give you the basic rent and costs for utilities separately. Would you like to know how this works? You can ask for advice from your rent team or the Housing Hotline.
Terms
Another important part of the tenancy agreement is the terms described in the contract. These specify the duration of your contract, how long you may stay after your contract ends and how far in advance you must terminate your contract in order to stop paying rent once you have moved out.
A minimum period of one month applies for terminating the lease. If you terminate the lease, you must continue to rent the accommodation for at least one month. This means that if you want to move out on 1 April, you must terminate the lease before 1 March because you have a one-month notice period. If this is not specified in your contract, you can assume a period of one month. For the landlord, the notice period is at least three months. For each year that you have rented the property, the notice period is extended by one month up to a maximum of six months if you have a permanent contract. This means that you can continue to rent the property for at least three months if the landlord wants to terminate your contract. In addition, a landlord cannot simply terminate the lease because they want to sell the property, for example. More information.
- This does not apply if you are living in anti-squatting accommodation.
- If you are living in a room in a shared house, you are on a trial period for the first nine months. After that, the three-month notice period applies.
- Do you have a short-stay contract? Then you cannot terminate the contract prematurely.
Does your contract not meet the requirements? Please contact Housing hotline.
Your obligations as a tenant
Dutch law protects you as a tenant, but you will only receive that protection if you comply with the tenancy agreement yourself. In other words:
- Pay your rent on time
- Behave like a “good tenant” (for example: do not cause too much nuisance)
- Carry out “minor maintenance”, see the List of minor repairs
- Leave your room in the correct condition when you move out
- Use the property as intended (for example: do not use your room as an illegal café, cannabis plantation or similar)
- Have your landlord carry out urgent maintenance
To avoid problems, it is wise to make an “inventory” of your room at the beginning of the rental period, preferably together with the landlord. This shows the condition of your room when you moved in. You can do this, for example, by making a description and taking photos. In that case, the landlord can never demand that you remove, for example, a panelled wall that was already there when you rented the room.
Do you have legal questions about your contract, or are you unable to resolve an issue?