Renting in Netherlands: the rules

Since the Wet vaste huurcontracten (Permanent Rental Contracts Act) came into force on 1 July 2024, a residential tenancy is open-ended by default. A fixed-term contract of up to two years is only allowed for groups named in a decree: students moving to another municipality for their studies, people who must live somewhere temporarily for work or while their own home is renovated, people leaving care or in a social crisis, 'second chance' tenants after an earlier eviction, successors of a deceased tenant, divorcing parents who need a home near their children, temporary workers on the Wadden Islands, and status holders coming from asylum reception (Civil Code (BW) art. 7:271(2); rijksoverheid.nl, 2026). If the landlord does not tell the tenant in writing, one to three months before the end date, that the contract ends, or if a new contract follows straight on, it becomes open-ended. The tenant can always leave early. Temporary contracts signed before 1 July 2024 run on under the old rules.

Other forms with less protection still exist: campus contracts tied to enrolment, youth contracts for under-28s and contracts for large families (these end when you no longer belong to the target group), tussenhuur with a 'diplomatenclausule' (diplomat clause), where an owner or tenant who is temporarily away lets the home and returns on a fixed date (BW art. 7:274(2)), temporary lets of empty buildings under the Leegstandwet (Vacant Property Act), lets that are short by nature such as holiday homes, and hospitaverhuur (renting a room in the landlord's own home). Anti-squat (antikraak) is not a tenancy at all but a loan-for-use agreement (bruikleen) with no rent protection and usually two to four weeks' notice (Woonbond, 2026).

Since the Wet goed verhuurderschap (Good Landlordship Act) of 1 July 2023, the landlord must put every tenancy in writing and give the tenant written information on their rights and duties, the deposit, service costs, the landlord's contact details and, since 1 January 2024, the municipal reporting point for landlord abuse. Tenancies are not registered with any authority.

For contracts from 1 July 2023 the waarborgsom (deposit) may be at most two months' basic rent (kale huur, rent without service costs); for older contracts the cap was three months (BW art. 7:261b; Wet goed verhuurderschap). There is no official deposit scheme: the landlord holds the money.

The landlord must pay the deposit back within 14 days of the end of the tenancy. Only four things may be deducted: unpaid rent, unpaid service costs, damage the tenant is responsible for, and an unpaid energy performance fee. If there is damage or money owed, the landlord has 30 days to return the rest and must give a full written cost breakdown (BW art. 7:261b(3)–(4)). Deposits above the cap, late returns and vague deductions can be reported to the municipal reporting point; a disputed deduction goes to the kantonrechter (district court).

Many free-sector landlords also ask for a guarantor (a parent or employer) or for proof of income, which the law neither requires nor forbids. Fees for drawing up the contract and sleutelgeld (key money) are not allowed (rijksoverheid.nl, 2026).

Every self-contained home and every room gets a points score under the WWS for size, facilities, energy label and WOZ value (the municipal property valuation). From 1 January 2026, up to 143 points is social rent with a maximum of €932.93 a month; 144 to 186 points is regulated mid-rent (middenhuur) with a maximum of €1,228.07; 187 points or more is the free sector, where the starting rent is free (rijksoverheid.nl, 2025-11). Each extra point between 143 and 186 adds roughly €6.90 to the maximum. Under the Wet betaalbare huur (1 July 2024) the maximum is binding on all landlords for contracts from that date; rooms always fall under the social ceiling. New-build mid-rent homes can charge up to 10% above the points maximum for 20 years if building starts before 1 January 2028. The government's Huurprijscheck tool calculates the points.

The Huurcommissie can test the starting rent if the tenant applies within six months of the contract start and can lower it back to the first day. In the social and mid-rent segments the rent stays regulated after that: the tenant can propose a reduction to the points maximum at any time and take it to the Huurcommissie if the landlord refuses, and since 1 January 2025 municipalities can order a landlord to lower an excessive rent and fine them. In the free sector the test only helps within six months and only if the home in fact has 186 points or fewer (Huurcommissie, 2026).

Rent may go up once a year, with a written proposal at least two months ahead (BW art. 7:252). Maximum increases for 2026: social rent 4.1% from 1 July 2026 (or €25 if the rent is under €350; higher-income households in corporation homes up to €50 or €100 more); mid-rent 6.1%; free sector 4.4%, whatever the contract says (rijksoverheid.nl, 2025-12). The free-sector cap is the lower of inflation or wage growth plus 1% and runs until 1 May 2029. In April 2026 the housing minister announced five changes intended to keep landlords from selling: a WOZ-based rent surcharge, dropping the five-point penalty for homes without outdoor space, more points for small listed buildings, temporary contracts for all students and a longer new-build surcharge, aimed for 1 January 2027. As of September 2026 none is law yet, and the law itself is due to be evaluated by 1 July 2027.

A tenant can end an open-ended tenancy at any time without giving a reason. The notice period equals the rent payment period (so one month when rent is paid monthly), never less than one month and never more than three, and notice must be given by registered letter or bailiff's writ, or by email if the landlord confirms receipt (BW art. 7:271(4) and (6); rijksoverheid.nl, 2026). A temporary contract of two years or less can also be ended early by the tenant.

A landlord can only give notice on a ground listed in the law, must state it in the letter, and must give three months plus one month for each full year the tenant has lived there, up to six months (BW art. 7:271(5)–(6)). The grounds are: the tenant has not behaved as a good tenant (rent arrears, usually of at least a month; nuisance; illegal subletting), a diplomat clause where the owner returns, urgent personal need, refusal of a reasonable offer of a new contract, redevelopment under the zoning plan, a room in the landlord's own home, a temporary building permit that expires, and, once only and within two years, a private landlord with a single home who lived there for at least two years and now wants to sell, if the contract says so (BW art. 7:274(1)).

Notice from the landlord does not end the tenancy by itself. The tenant is asked to agree within six weeks; if they do not, the landlord has to go to the kantonrechter, and the tenant can stay until the court rules. For a hospita room the landlord can end the tenancy without a ground during the first nine months, with the normal notice (BW art. 7:232(3)).

The landlord is responsible for defects and major maintenance, such as the roof, outside painting, the central-heating boiler and broken glass. The tenant does minor, day-to-day upkeep listed in the Besluit kleine herstellingen (Small Repairs Decree): things like replacing a tap washer, a toilet seat or light switches, bleeding radiators, inside painting and clearing reachable drains and gutters (rijksoverheid.nl, 2026). A contract cannot shift more onto the tenant (BW art. 7:240). If the landlord does not fix a serious defect after being asked, a tenant in the social or mid-rent segment can ask the Huurcommissie for a temporary rent reduction.

Service costs (servicekosten) for things like cleaning shared areas, a caretaker or furniture must be reasonable, and the landlord must send an itemised annual statement within six months of the end of each calendar year, so by 30 June. Either side can take a dispute over a statement to the Huurcommissie within 24 months of that deadline (BW arts. 7:259–7:260). The Wet modernisering servicekosten, passed in April 2025, sets a closed list of what counts as service costs for contracts from 1 January 2027. Energy, water, internet and municipal charges for waste and sewerage are usually paid by the tenant unless included; property tax on owners is the landlord's.

An agency that works for the landlord may not charge the tenant anything (Wet goed verhuurderschap); only an agent the tenant hired independently may charge them. Contract, administration and viewing fees are not allowed, and a payment for items taken over from the previous tenant is only due if you actually take them (rijksoverheid.nl, 2026). Contents insurance is the tenant's choice.

Anyone who will live in the Netherlands for more than four months must register at their address in the Basisregistratie Personen (BRP, municipal population register) within five days of arriving; this is free and gives you a BSN (burgerservicenummer, citizen service number), which you need to work, open a bank account, take out health insurance and claim allowances. Shorter stays can register as non-residents (RNI) (rijksoverheid.nl, 2026). The municipality usually asks for a rental contract or written consent from the main occupant.

Under the Wet goed verhuurderschap a landlord may not forbid, discourage or block registration. Even so, many illegal sublets, holiday lets and some room lets refuse it, and anti-squat providers vary. Registration also matters for money: huurtoeslag (rent allowance) requires you and everyone living with you to be registered at the address (Dienst Toeslagen, 2026), and municipalities use the register to find overcrowding and illegal letting, so an unregistered sublet can cost the main tenant their home.

Huurtoeslag is paid by the Dienst Toeslagen to tenants aged 18 or over who are Dutch or lawfully resident, have a signed tenancy, and live in a self-contained home with its own front door, kitchen, toilet and shower (some rooms qualify). In 2026 it is calculated on the basic rent up to €932.93 (€498.20 for 18–20-year-olds), a higher rent no longer rules you out, service costs no longer count, and assets may not exceed €38,479 per person on 1 January 2026 (€76,958 for partners). How much you get depends on rent, income, age and household.

Subletting the whole home is forbidden by law unless the landlord agrees (BW art. 7:244); housing corporations almost never do. A tenant who lives in a self-contained home can sublet part of it, such as a room, unless the contract forbids it, and many contracts do (rijksoverheid.nl, 2026). Illegal subletting is a ground for the landlord to end the main tenancy through the courts and claim damages, and some municipalities fine it.

A subtenant of a whole self-contained home is protected: if the main tenancy ends, the landlord takes over the sublet, though the landlord can ask the court to end it within six months (BW art. 7:269). A subtenant of a room has no protection against the owner and must leave when the main tenancy ends. The points maximum applies to sublets too, so a room in a shared flat cannot legally cost more than its points allow, and a subtenant can take that to the Huurcommissie.

Hospitaverhuur means renting a room in the home you live in yourself, with shared facilities, both of you registered at the address. The first nine months are a trial period in which the owner can end the let without a reason (three months' notice); after that, the normal rules apply. Owner-occupiers pay no income tax on room rent up to €6,633 in 2026 under the kamerverhuurvrijstelling (room letting exemption) (Belastingdienst, 2026). Sharing a whole home between three or more unrelated people often needs a municipal permit.

A landlord must follow the Wet goed verhuurderschap (1 July 2023): a transparent, written and non-discriminatory selection procedure, a written contract, the written information listed above, a deposit of no more than two months' basic rent, reasonable service costs with an annual statement, no intimidation, and for migrant workers a tenancy separate from the employment contract. Municipalities enforce it, can fine and name landlords and can take over management, and may require a verhuurvergunning (letting permit) in designated areas. Up to 186 points the WWS maximum rent is binding, and the home needs a valid energy label. Asking for a gross income of three or four times the rent is common market practice, not a legal rule.

Private landlords are taxed in box 3 on a notional return rather than on the actual rent: in 2026 a let home counts as an 'other asset' with a notional return of 6.00% of its value, taxed at 36%, after a tax-free allowance of €59,357 per person (Belastingdienst, 2026). A home let with rent protection can be valued below its WOZ value using the leegwaarderatio (vacant-value ratio) table, 73–100% depending on the rent, but not for temporary lets or for lets below market rent to relatives. A bill to tax actual returns from 2028 (the Wet werkelijk rendement box 3) passed the lower house on 12 February 2026, but on 30 June 2026 the Senate put its vote on hold until the government sends an amended version, expected to be debated from 2027. Owner-occupiers letting a room use the kamerverhuurvrijstelling.

Buyers of a home they will not live in themselves pay 8% transfer tax (overdrachtsbelasting) since 1 January 2026, down from 10.4% (Belastingdienst, 2026); the January 2026 coalition agreement plans a further cut to 7% in 2027 (not yet law). Under opkoopbescherming (buy-to-let protection, since 1 January 2022) municipalities can require buyers of cheaper homes in designated areas to live in them unless they get a letting permit, with exceptions for letting to family and some temporary lets. Holiday letting is set locally under the Huisvestingswet 2014 (Wet toeristische verhuur, 2021): municipalities can require a registration number on every listing, advance notice of each stay and a maximum number of nights. Amsterdam, for example, allows 30 nights a year, and 15 in parts of the centre and the Oude Pijp since 1 April 2026 (Gemeenteblad Amsterdam, 2026-03).

The Huurcommissie (Rent Tribunal) rules on starting rents, rent increases and reductions, service costs, defects and energy performance fees. Its main work is the social and mid-rent segments; for free-sector homes it mostly handles the six-month starting-rent test. A tenant pays €25 to start a case and a landlord €500, the fee is refunded to whoever wins, low-income tenants can ask to be exempted, and landlords who keep losing similar cases pay more (Huurcommissie, 2026). Its decision is binding unless either side goes to the kantonrechter within eight weeks (BW art. 7:262).

The kantonrechter (district court, part of the regular courts) decides on eviction, termination, deposits and damages; you can appear without a lawyer. Since 1 January 2024 every municipality has a meldpunt ongewenst verhuurgedrag (reporting point for landlord abuse), which accepts anonymous reports about discrimination, intimidation, excessive deposits, fees or service costs and missing contracts, and must act on them under the Wet goed verhuurderschap.

Free advice comes from the Juridisch Loket (government-funded legal help for people on lower and middle incomes), the Woonbond (national tenants' union, with online guides), local tenant advice services and huurteams in many cities (for example !WOON in Amsterdam), and student unions. Rental scams can be reported to the Fraudehelpdesk and the police.