An 18-square-metre room with a shared living room, kitchen and terrace, all for €460 per month. In 2022, Bas (not his real name; all student names in this article have been changed to protect their identities from former landlords) was thrilled to secure a spot in a student house near Onze Lieve Vrouweplein. The house had been home to his fraternity since 2011. “The landlord didn’t want the hassle of finding new tenants all the time, so we took care of it. He dropped by twice a year to shake our hands and tell us how pleased he was with us. We weren’t total slobs. My mum might disagree – it could be messy when she visited – but it was never filthy.”
Friendly landlord
Then came spring 2024, and their friendly landlord announced renovation plans. The rooms would be turned into six self-contained studios, each renting for about €890 per month. The students were welcome to stick around after the renovations – but only if they paid the higher rent, and they’d lose the freedom to choose who they lived with. The landlord even offered to help them find alternative housing. “He told one of us by text. We felt cornered. We’d have to live through the renovations, the rent would skyrocket, and we’d no longer be allowed to pick our own housemates. Technically, he didn’t force us out, but it didn’t feel like we had much of a choice.” Bas and his housemates turned to Huurteam Zuid-Limburg, which assists tenants with rental issues, but they quickly concluded they “didn’t have a legal leg to stand on”, says Bas. “We didn’t want to argue with the landlord, so we just left.”
Cash for keys
Robin Janssen, a legal adviser at Huurteam Zuid-Limburg, wasn’t involved in this particular case and can’t comment on it directly. But she notes that students often reach out only after they’ve moved out. “At that point, there’s very little we can do.” She urges students to contact Huurteam Zuid-Limburg before leaving. “We can often do something to help. Tenants have rights.” If you’re on an open-ended tenancy, like Bas was, your landlord can’t just evict you – on the contrary, says Janssen. “The law says tenants have the right to stay in a property, even if it’s sold. The same applies in most cases of renovation – landlords must prove that the tenant can’t stay in the house, and that’s a difficult case to make. That’s why landlords often offer ‘cash for keys’, a negotiable amount that can run to as much as €10,000 to €20,000 if you live in a self-contained unit with its own front door, bathroom and kitchen.”
Many tenants don’t realise that under Dutch law, fixed-term tenancies automatically become open-ended when the term ends. “Tenants often agree to sign three back-to-back fixed-term contracts and then move out because they think they have to. If they come to us after moving out, when the tenancy has ended, there’s nothing we can do.”
Stressful
Anna and her four housemates were on fixed-term tenancies ending on 1 July 2024. They knew the landlord was considering selling the property, but had been told it was unlikely to happen anytime soon. Then, in spring 2024, the landlord decided to sell after all, leaving the sorority members scrambling to find somewhere else to live. It was a stressful time, especially as most of them lived too far from their parents to move home temporarily.
Albert has a similar story. He was paying €450 per month for a 16-square-metre room in a house near Markt square, sharing a kitchen and living room with five other members of his student association. He’d been living there for a year when his landlord announced plans to convert the property into more expensive units. “He said we were trashing the place and he was fed up. Sure, we threw parties, but we weren’t total slobs – I wouldn’t want to live in a dump, either. But he wanted us out.” Everyone eventually found new housing, though some had to move back in with their parents for a while.
Housing association
Willem’s situation is a bit different. His building, owned by a housing association, has effectively been in the hands of his student association since 2002. For years, they chose new housemates themselves – but things have changed. “I’m on an open-ended tenancy, so I get to stay. But once I move out, no one will take my place.” He currently lives with just one other housemate; one room has already been vacated. It’s only a matter of time before this student house is gone, too. Why? Several residents of the four-storey building, located in the city centre, have been a nuisance in the neighbourhood – and the housing association has had enough. “It’s a specific group of students”, explains Willem. “They’re a nuisance to us, too. We’re older students who don’t cause any problems, but we’re still losing our house. We’ve already lost the rooms below ours; the kitchen has been renovated, and international students live there now. A friend of mine heard that the housing association wants the building to be ‘a better representation of the student population’.”
“It’s a shame that there’s less and less housing available for the average Dutch student”, says Bas. “Those more expensive places are aimed at international students, who tend to have deeper pockets. And Dutch students usually prefer living in a student house rather than on their own in a studio flat.”
Compensation
None of the students interviewed for this article demanded or received any compensation for the inconvenience they suffered. “There’s often a lot we can do, but you have to come to us early”, says Robin Janssen of Huurteam Zuid-Limburg. “In our experience, Dutch students are far less likely to reach out than international students. The latter can’t just go home or rely on their parents, whereas Dutch students often can. So they tend to sort it out themselves and just find a new place, even though things might have turned out differently if they’d come to us sooner.”