Contracts, rights and obligations

You have found a place to live and are about to sign your tenancy agreement. It's great that you have your own place, but signing a contract also entails rights and obligations for you as a tenant and for your landlord. What should you pay attention to before you sign? And how do you know whether your landlord is taking care of things properly? SCIS Housing provides you with information on what kind of landlord and what kind of tenancy agreements you may encounter. We inform you about the various legal issues and regulations that apply in the Netherlands when renting accommodation. And we tell you where you can go for more information or help in case of abuse.

This step-by-step plan will help you:

Step 1: Is the landlord asking a realistic rent for the accommodation you want to rent? We tell you how the rent is determined, how you can check the price and how the rent can be structured. We also explain how you can get financial support from the central government by applying for rental allowance. Your landlord is allowed to increase your rent every year. This is bound by rules. We make these rules clear for you. In addition to your rent, you must also pay municipal taxes to the municipality where you live. Sometimes this is included in the rent, sometimes not. To prepare you for this, we will also include some information about this.

Step 2: Check the accommodation. When you receive the key from your landlord, the landlord is obliged to deliver the accommodation to you neatly and without damage. Each landlord will have his own way of delivering and handing over the keys. We tell you what you should pay attention to. During your tenancy you are expected to maintain the rented property properly, but what are you responsible for and what not? We tell you everything about the maintenance of your accommodation.

Step 3: Check your rental agreement. As a tenant in the Netherlands you can invoke rental law and rent protection. However, this depends on the type of rental contract you enter into with the landlord. We provide an overview of the possible tenancy agreements that you may encounter. A tenancy agreement must always contain certain elements. Check whether your rental contract meets these requirements. In addition, you may incur extra costs when signing the rental agreement. We explain what is and is not allowed. We will also explain how to terminate a rental agreement and which rules you have to follow.

Step 4: Tenants in the Netherlands have many rights and obligations. But even if you have many rights, you may still have complaints. Can't you work things out with your landlord? In the Netherlands there are various bodies to which you can turn for information if you have complaints about, or problems with, your landlord.