If you are married to or the registered partner of the tenant, you are a co-tenant by operation of law for as long as the property is your main residence (Article 7:266 of the Dutch Civil Code); you need do nothing for it. If you cohabit without marriage, you must apply to the landlord for co-tenancy, and a requirement of two years’ cohabitation applies, among others.
Why co-tenancy matters
Anyone who is not a co-tenant has no legal relationship of their own with the landlord. If the tenant leaves, the relationship ends or the tenant dies, your position depends on goodwill rather than on law. For someone who comes to the Netherlands for work and moves into a property with a partner where only one name is on the contract, that is a real risk that becomes visible only when things go wrong.
Route 1: by operation of law, on marriage or registered partnership
Article 7:266(1) of the Dutch Civil Code is unconditional: the spouse or registered partner of a tenant is a co-tenant by operation of law, for as long as the accommodation serves as their main residence. It makes no difference whether the lease was concluded before or after the marriage, and no consent from the landlord is needed. So you need apply for nothing.
There is a flip side. Paragraph 2 provides that tenant and co-tenant are jointly and severally liable for the obligations under the lease, except in so far as those were already due before you became a co-tenant. Rent arrears from before the marriage cannot be recovered from you; arrears from afterwards can, in full.
Paragraph 3 gives the protection that matters: if the lease ends as regards the tenant, the co-tenant becomes the tenant. So if your partner leaves, you simply stay, with a lease of your own.
Route 2: cohabiting without marriage
If you cohabit without marriage or registered partnership, Article 7:267 of the Dutch Civil Code applies. Together with the tenant you ask the landlord in writing for co-tenancy. If the landlord does not declare in writing within three months that he consents, you can jointly ask the court to rule that you become a co-tenant.
Paragraph 3 names the grounds on which the court refuses the request. The most important: you have not, for at least two years, had your main residence in the accommodation and a durable joint household with the tenant; or the request evidently only serves to give you the position of tenant in the short term; or you offer insufficient financial security.
Paragraph 2 has a further protective effect that few people know about: once the request has been made to the landlord, a claim to dissolve the tenancy on the ground that the tenant is cohabiting with someone else contrary to the agreement can no longer be granted, and that ground no longer supports a notice either. Submitting the request is therefore already a protective step in itself.
| Married / registered partner | Cohabiting without marriage | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal basis | Art. 7:266 BW | Art. 7:267 BW |
| Application needed? | No, by operation of law | Yes, in writing to the landlord |
| Landlord’s consent? | Not required | Required, or a substitute ruling from the court |
| Minimum period of cohabitation | None | At least two years’ main residence and a durable joint household |
| Financial test | None | Yes, you must offer sufficient security |
| Position if the tenant leaves | You become the tenant (paragraph 3) | Only if co-tenancy has been arranged |
On divorce
Article 7:266(5) empowers the court, on divorce, judicial separation or termination of a registered partnership, to determine on request which of the two becomes the tenant of the accommodation. Paragraph 4 also prevents you from losing your position by staying elsewhere temporarily: if you leave the matrimonial home under an interim measure or by mutual agreement around the divorce, that does not change your main residence for the purposes of this article.
On death
Article 7:268(1) provides that on the tenant’s death the co-tenant continues the tenancy as tenant. If you are not a co-tenant but did have your main residence in the property and a durable joint household with the deceased, you continue the tenancy under paragraph 2 six months. If you want to stay after that, you must bring a claim before the court within those six months. If you do not, your right ends by operation of law.
That six-month period is final and runs out in a time when nobody is thinking about litigation. Anyone in this situation would do well to seek legal advice immediately.
Frequently asked questions
We married abroad. Does Article 7:266 apply too?
A marriage validly concluded abroad is in principle recognised in the Netherlands, which brings you within Article 7:266 for as long as the property is your main residence. Do make sure you can prove that recognition, for instance through registration in the personal records database.
The landlord refuses my partner as co-tenant. What now?
If he does not respond within three months with written consent, you can go to court together under Article 7:267(1). The court tests against the refusal grounds of paragraph 3; the emphasis lies on the two years’ cohabitation and the financial security.
We have not yet lived together for two years. Is applying worthwhile?
For the court to grant the request, that period is a hard ground for refusal. But the landlord may consent earlier, and submitting the request already has a protective effect under paragraph 2 against dissolution or notice on the ground of cohabitation. So submit it, and repeat it after two years.
As a co-tenant, am I liable for old rent debts?
No, not for obligations that were already due before you became a co-tenant. Article 7:266(2) says so in as many words. For everything afterwards you are jointly and severally liable, so for the whole.
My name is on the lease next to my partner’s. Am I then a co-tenant?
Then you are probably simply a joint tenant as a contracting party, which is an even stronger position than the co-tenancy of Article 7:266 or 7:267. Check the contract: if both names are stated as tenant, you are each an independent tenant.
Arranging or challenging co-tenancy?
Our tenancy lawyers assess your position, submit the request and, where necessary, conduct the proceedings before the subdistrict court. Read also about termination of the tenancy, tenancy protection for expats and our page on tenancy law.
