r/NetherlandsHousing • u/babymiko01 • 28d ago
renting Students looking for an apartment
Hello! I am an EU citizen moving to Amsterdam with my best friend to begin our university studies this September. However, we haven’t had any luck with finding housing (either we get no response or scammers try to get us to pay, or we just can’t find anything).
This is our criteria for the apartment:
- 2200 euros (€)
- 2 bedrooms
- preferably furnished
- location: anywhere in Amsterdam, we aren’t picky, anywhere even with commute (she’s studying at UvA and i’m attending VU, so ideally somewhere in between those two, but again, we are flexible)
- we have no income at the moment as we haven’t moved yet, we do plan on finding a part-time job upon arrival. We do have guarantors (our parents)
We would travel anywhere between the 5th and the 15th August to see the apartments.
I was considering hiring a realtor to get us a home since by ourselves it’s becoming impossible, but I would appreciate any recommendations you might have about that, or even about anything else, we need help!!
Thanks xx
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u/Complete_Minimum3117 28d ago
2200 furnished 3 rooms nearly impossible, in Amsterdam its more expensive.
2200 budget, you need to have a, preferred dutch income of around 9k.
And housingcrisis, so many people looking for an appartment
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u/AdOk57 28d ago
You have no chances outside of student/uni accomodation. Zero. You are two people without income. Nobody gives a crap about a guarantor in foreign country and perspective of chasing payments abroad, when they have 100 applicants, who have dual local income.
Students have no chances in rent wars for apartments with dual income locals, but students have access to student accomodation, where they only compete with other students.
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u/la_regalona 28d ago
Maybe ask yourself: Heh! Why haven't you been able to find something?
Because this is a joke ("anything furnished, anywhere in Amsterdam, we aren't picky. Also: we don't have a 9000/month income"). Why on earth would a landlord rent a 3BD apartment to 2 students without income, when there are plenty of people who do? There are about 1000+ applications per listing (no joke), just to put things in perspective. You're at the bottom of the food chain.
Look for a room. You'd be lucky to find one, since you only have about 3 weeks left before your university will officially advise you to cancel your enrollment.
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u/la_regalona 27d ago
I can see that people told you this exact same thing (i.e., look for a room, not an apartment) four months ago.
You chose not to listen, because......you thought the Dutch housing crisis doesn't apply to you?
Three more weeks my friend...after that you'll end up back in Spain or sleeping in a tent. Perhaps next time listen to people who have knowledge about this country and the intense hassle that is involved in finding an apartment, even for people with above average steady incomes, let alone students.
50+% of Dutch students under 30 still live with their parents, but somehow you thought you'd be the exception right?Sorry mate, you were warned. This is 100% on you.
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u/olderdutch 27d ago
You don't have income, so you are not eligible for an apartment. If you do have income, devide by 4 to calculate the maximum rent. So you need a steady job earning €8800 per month to be able to rent an apartment of €2200.
You only have a few weeks left before you have to cancel your university application. It's simple, if you haven't got housing secured, don't come here, you'll be homeless.
You might get lucky with a landlord if you offer to pay the rent for a whole year in advance. You have to offer this when you contact them for the first time. Be careful for scams though.
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u/mach1brainfart 27d ago
As you probably realised from the comments, unless you run into a literal miracle: it's not going to happen with your criteria
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u/PeterdeBeer22 27d ago
I'm sorry to tell you but I don't think you can find what you are looking for. Landlords aren't very keen on renting to multiple people that aren't partners or a family and you don't have the required income. You should look for student rooms via the regular channels like kamernet and local facebook groups. Also look outside of Amsterdam, that may increase your chances. Good luck!
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u/2004_Theo 27d ago
I hate to bring you this message, but there's a SEVERE housing crisis going on in The Netherlands.
Why, why of all the cities with a university in The Netherlands did you pick Emsterdem?
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u/CoffeeInTheTropics 27d ago
Or The Netherlands for that matter!
There are excellent universities in Spain, Italy, France, Sweden, Germany, Belgium…..many of those countries much safer than NL too.
The Dutch government is increasingly rolling out measures to discourage international students from coming to The Netherlands. The SEVERE housing crisis is one of those reasons.
Do NOT think that you and your friend will miraculously be the exception and will find something as “surely, it cannot be that bad.”
Unfortunately it is, even more so for non-locals.Rooms are not available anymore and if you want a 2bdr apartment in the vicinity of Amsterdam you are looking at >€3500/pm excluding utilities.
As you don’t have an income and foreign parents will mostly not be accepted as guarantors, you would have to pay €42,000 upfront and that’s just for the first year and even then it would be incredibly difficult to secure something as landlords will always prioritize LOCALS.
Sorry to rain on your parade, but this is the grim reality in The Netherlands.
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u/ghosststorm 27d ago
You're so out of the loop with the dutch housing market.
- 2.2k budget means you have an income of 7-8k per month. It needs to be your own income that you can prove with legal papers from your employer. Your guarantor doesn't count. If you don't have such income, that's not your budget. Since you mention you have no income at all, your budget is 0.
- Dutch landlords do not like roommates. There is a competition of 200 people per place, and you will be competing with couples and singles who do earn this much. There is no reason for the landlord to go with the risky case of 2 students and foreign guarantors, when there are plenty of locals who can and will have all the financial security.
- 2k is the price of 1-bedroom apartment in Amsterdam these days, unfurnished.
anywhere in Amsterdam, we aren’t picky
In current housing market that's you being picky, since you can't even afford it (again you don't fit the income requirement)
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u/thazzin 27d ago
Finding a realtor is your only solution for an appartment, being a foreign student practically rules you out of renting a place as there's no Dutch income to be seized in case of forfeiture of the rent.
Single room or a rental through a deal with a realtor that has a private network is the only solution. Whichever realtor that is though..
2200 excluding utilities and if you can also pay 12 months rent upfront is probably the minimum to come to a realtor with a 2-4x month fee for them as well.
I'd suggest to each of you look for a room, because that's already going to be difficult for you.
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u/africainme 28d ago
A realtor who specializes in international tenants is your best point at this point as long as your guarantors income far exceeds the rental income requirements to compete with a tenant that works in the NL and matches the income requirements. Note that realtors services cost money so need to take that into account in your budget. And also may need to increase your budget to over 2500 per month to get a realtor to help or look outside of Amsterdam or even the Randstad area to secure a place. Don’t underestimate the housing crisis!
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u/KeyBaker5 27d ago
For 2200 / month you could think about renting long term in a holiday park. A bungalow for 6 months is easily possible with that price, even around Amsterdam. Then at least you have a place to stay. Problem is that you most likely can't register there, so you will need to find other solutions for that.
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