Renting a house in The Netherlands as an Expat: Company review around Amsterdam
After living more than 5 years in The Netherlands and moving around 5 times, I can tell with certainty that renting a house or apartment is one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had.
In no other activity, I’ve felt so ignored and helpless. The whole process of viewing a house, indicating interest, and being “randomly” chosen is just a complete nightmare, especially if you don’t speak dutch.
Since I’ve lost a lot of time and money in this process, I’ve decided to write this post in the hope that it will save them the time and money of other expats.
Disclaimer: This post is about my own experience and opinion about these companies. Others might have different experiences and there’s no guarantee you will have the same experience I’ve had. Good luck!
Amsterdam Region
Since I worked in Amsterdam I explored some options around (being Amsterdam waaaay too expensive for my budget). Below is a list of real state agents I had contact with.
GOVAERT is by far the best makelaardij (state agent)I had contact with (situated in Amersfoort). Fast response by e-mail and phone, easy to schedule house viewings, and super expat-friendly. They spoke perfect English with me from the first viewings to the moment of signing the contract and delivering the keys. Besides, when my income was not as high as required to rent a certain place, they would offer me other options (like 2 months as a deposit instead of 1).
- Don’t charge anything from you (their client is the landlord)
- Eiger to provide documents in English
- Private house viewings
- Expat friendly staff
EERVAST is also a flexible expat-friendly makelaardij. Communication with them was smooth, I managed to schedule apartment viewings by phone and e-mail. Their staff was friendly and helpful.
Most importantly, they also require your Bruto income to be 3 times the rent, but they are more flexible with that, for instance, as an expat I had the 30% ruling, which meant my net salary was a bit higher, so even though my total Bruto was not sufficient, they still accepted once I showed proof of my salary.
- Paid and unpaid option for state agent (be aware if you hire their search services, this will have costs)
- Friendly with English speakers
- Flexible with requirements
- Private house viewings
I had two very different experiences with MVGM, one was quite positive, and the other a total waste of time and money.
MVGM has strict income requirements, often requiring you to earn 4 to 6 times the total rent value (Brutto salary). Therefore, renting a house alone is often quite challenging.
Luckily, I had a dutch friend looking for a place as well, so we rented an apartment together. She handled the whole communication, scheduling views, and the documentation, so I can’t say much about this part, but the income seemed to be the biggest obstacle.
In my second, single-income experience I got absolutely nothing. You are supposed to pay 6o euros to be able to schedule viewings, but if your income is not in the 4–6 times the total rent they won’t let you view/rent anything. Around Amsterdam, that means a salary of at least 5.500 euros.
- Charges you 60 euros for signing up (membership lasts 1 year)
- Only possible to rent if income is above the threshold
- Terrible communication, only e-mail alerts
Nederwoon was by far the worst of them. They have a full PAID online system where you can indicate you are interested in a house and if your income is above the threshold you may schedule the viewing. I managed to schedule 1 or 2 viewings in a period of 3 months. The viewings were scheduled with multiple people, so we had 4 or 5 couples at once in a 50 square meter apartment. Of course, the state agent would speak dutch and I felt like a ghost the whole time. I left the viewings with no information, absolutely terrible.
- Charges you 60 euros for signing up (membership lasts 1 year)
- Only possible to rent if income is above the threshold
- Multiple people scheduled to the same time slot during viewings
- Unfriendly staff for expats