Written by Ömür Arslan, attorney at Arslan & Arslan Advocaten. Registered in the legal practice areas register of the Netherlands Bar for tenancy law and social security law. Last updated: 1 September 2026.
Please note: Dutch tenancy law has changed considerably in recent years, in particular through the Good Landlordship Act (Wet goed verhuurderschap), the Fixed Rental Contracts Act (Wet vaste huurcontracten) and the Affordable Rent Act (Wet betaalbare huur). Which rules apply to you depends on the date your rental agreement was signed. Have your own contract assessed before you draw conclusions from general information — including from this page.
How much security deposit can a landlord ask for in the Netherlands?
For residential accommodation the deposit may in principle be no more than twice the bare rent, and that maximum has applied since 1 July 2023. The deposit (waarborgsom) is tied to the bare rent (kale huur) — the price for the mere use of the living space — not to the rent including service charges, utilities or furniture. If your landlord asked for more, the excess was in principle paid without a legal basis and you can reclaim it.
The rule is article 7:261b(2) of the Dutch Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek, BW): the deposit amounts to at most twice the rent within the meaning of article 7:237(2) BW. That second article does the work in the calculation, defining the rent as "the price owed for the mere use of the living space" — so the bare rent, without service charges, metered utilities or an energy performance fee (energieprestatievergoeding), each of which the Code defines separately.
The dating decides whether you have a claim at all:
| Contract signed | Maximum deposit for residential accommodation |
|---|---|
| Before 1 July 2023 | in principle a maximum of three months' bare rent |
| From 1 July 2023 | two months' bare rent, introduced by the Good Landlordship Act, which inserted article 7:261b into the Civil Code |
The maximum applies to residential accommodation (woonruimte): an apartment, a room in a shared house, student or short-stay accommodation. It does not apply to commercial premises, where there is in principle freedom of contract and a deposit of three or six months' rent, or a bank guarantee, is not unusual.
Two assumptions common among international tenants are both wrong. "I signed for it, so I agreed" is not how this works: Dutch residential tenancy law is largely mandatory law (dwingend recht), parties cannot contract out of it to the tenant's disadvantage, and a clause setting a higher deposit does not become valid because you signed it. Nor does "three or four months is normal here" help — common in the expat segment is not the same as lawful. Paying the first month's rent in advance, by contrast, is allowed and does not count towards the two-month maximum.
Many expat contracts state a single all-in figure: rent, service charges, furniture, sometimes internet. If the bare rent is not identifiable, the maximum deposit is not calculable either. Ask for the split in writing.
When does the landlord have to return my deposit?
In principle within fourteen days after the rental agreement ends, and within thirty days if the landlord is deducting something. The deposit is your money; the landlord only holds it as security.
Article 7:261b(3) BW sets out both deadlines. The main rule is repayment within fourteen days of the end of the rental agreement. Thirty days applies in two cases only: where there is damage within the meaning of article 7:218 BW, in which case he repays the remainder after set-off of demonstrably incurred repair costs; and where you have not yet paid the rent, the service charges or the energy performance fee in full. The thirty-day period is therefore not a grace period he may take at will — it is tied to a deduction he must be able to justify.
Article 7:261b(4) BW adds the provision tenants most often do not know they have: if the landlord sets anything off, he must inform you of it in writing and provide a complete cost specification. A landlord who transfers back "part" of the deposit and mentions "cleaning and repairs" is not complying with the statute.
What the law does not contain is a penalty, or a rule that a late landlord forfeits his right to deduct. If payment does not arrive, the route is an ordinary money claim with statutory interest (wettelijke rente). Separately, the municipality enforces the Good Landlordship Act: every municipality must operate a reporting point for undesirable letting conduct (article 4), and it can impose an administrative fine (bestuurlijke boete, article 19) and in serious cases take the property into management. That route runs alongside your civil claim and costs you nothing.
For illustration. A tenant hands in the keys at the end of a two-year lease and hears nothing for a month. Then part of the deposit arrives, with a message that the rest has been withheld for cleaning and repairs. There is no specification, no photographs, and no inspection report was made when the tenancy started. He assumes he has to accept it. The statute puts it the other way round: a landlord who sets off must notify that set-off in writing with a full cost specification, and must be able to show that what he is charging for is damage rather than ordinary ageing. Without a record of the initial condition and without a specification, the real question is what the landlord can actually prove. This is an illustrative situation explaining the rule, not a case of our firm.
What is an inspection report, and what happens if there is not one?
An inspection report is a written description of the condition of the property, and if none was drawn up at the start, the law presumes you received the property in the condition it is in at the end — which normally works in your favour. That presumption is the most useful rule in a deposit dispute, and almost no tenant knows it exists.
It is article 7:224(2) BW. If a description (beschrijving van het gehuurde) was drawn up at the start, you must return the property in the same condition as you accepted it according to that description, "with the exception of permitted changes and additions and of what has perished or been damaged through age". If no description was drawn up, the tenant is presumed, subject to proof to the contrary, to have received the property in the condition it is in at the end of the tenancy.
Read that second limb again: it reverses the burden of proof. Without a starting report, the law's starting point is that the property was already in its present state when you moved in, and it is for the landlord to prove otherwise. Article 7:218(3) BW, which presumes the tenant received the property undamaged, is expressly made subject to it. The courts apply this routinely; the Rotterdam District Court set out exactly this reading in ECLI:NL:RBROT:2022:9187, having established that no description had been drawn up at the start of that tenancy.
So if there is no starting report, say so early and in writing. Landlords tend to open the discussion as though it is for you to show the property was already worn; without a description it is in principle the reverse. If there is a starting report, it protects you too — it is what stops the landlord charging you at the end for something that was already there. Insist on one, and on a signed copy: date and address, the condition of floors, walls, ceilings, kitchen and sanitary facilities room by room, the meter readings, the number of keys, and dated photographs annexed.
The same applies at the end. Ask for a final inspection in your presence, ask for it to be recorded in writing, and take your own dated photographs of every room and every meter before you hand over the keys. That removes almost the whole evidential discussion afterwards.
What is normal wear and tear, and what counts as damage?
Normal wear and tear is what comes from ordinary use over time and stays at the landlord's expense; damage is what results from careless use, and only that may be charged to you. The entire deposit discussion turns on this distinction.
Article 7:218(1) BW makes the tenant liable for damage to the property caused by a failure to perform attributable to him. Ageing is not that. A carpet worn out after seven years of being walked on has not been damaged; it has been used. Faded paint, a dulled worktop, a loosened hinge are the ordinary consequences of a property being lived in, and the landlord recovers them from the rent, not from the deposit.
| In principle wear and tear (landlord's cost) | In principle damage (chargeable to you) |
|---|---|
| Faded or discoloured paint and wallpaper | Holes in walls or doors beyond ordinary fixings |
| Small hairline cracks in plaster | Cracked or broken sanitary fittings |
| Worn carpet or scuffed flooring after years of use | Burn marks, deep gouges, water damage through negligence |
| Limescale removed by normal cleaning | Heavy soiling a normal end-of-tenancy clean would not leave |
| Maintenance that is by law the landlord's | Your own alterations that you did not remove |
| Wear on hinges, taps and seals | Missing keys, missing doors, removed fittings |
Two nuances matter. Age reduces the claim even where there is damage: if a floor covering with a ten-year life is damaged in year eight, the landlord has not lost a new floor, and a deduction for depreciation is applied. And "broom clean" is the usual standard, not "professionally cleaned" — unless your contract validly says otherwise, you return the property empty and reasonably clean, and an invoice from a cleaning company imposed without any showing that the property was left dirty is in principle not recoverable from your deposit.
What may a landlord deduct from my deposit, and what may he not?
Only amounts you demonstrably owe: unpaid rent, unpaid service charges or energy performance fee, and the cost of repairing damage that goes beyond normal wear and tear. Article 7:261b(3) BW limits set-off to those categories, and paragraph 4 requires any set-off to be notified in writing with a full cost specification.
Items that regularly appear on deduction lists and are in principle not recoverable:
- "Administration costs", "handling fees", "contract termination costs". Not damage, not unpaid rent, so no basis for charging them against the deposit.
- Ordinary maintenance the law allocates to the landlord. Which small, day-to-day items fall to the tenant is regulated; anything beyond that is his.
- A standard cleaning or repainting charge applied to every departing tenant, regardless of actual condition.
- Repairs that were already needed when you arrived. Without a starting description, the presumption is against the landlord here.
- A service charge figure that has never been specified. Under article 7:259(2) BW the landlord must give you each year, no later than six months after the end of the calendar year, an overview of the metered utility and service costs charged, broken down by type and stating how they were calculated; on termination it covers the part-year already elapsed. You may also inspect the underlying records.
A landlord who deducts must specify and substantiate — with photographs, a quotation or an invoice. Before the subdistrict court (kantonrechter), a round figure without documents rarely survives, and if he cannot evidence the condition at the start it becomes correspondingly harder to show a defect arose during your tenancy.
Can the landlord set the deposit off against rent arrears — and can I use it for my last month's rent?
The landlord may in principle set an established rent debt off against the deposit; you may in principle not decide unilaterally to leave the last month's rent unpaid because he is holding it. The difference costs tenants money every year.
If you "eat" the last month's rent with the deposit you are formally in default for that month, with collection costs, statutory interest and in the worst case a dissolution claim as the risk — even if the landlord would ultimately have had to return the deposit anyway.
The reason lies in article 6:136 BW: the court may award a claim despite a set-off defence if the merits of that defence "cannot be established in a simple manner and the claim is otherwise fit to be awarded". That cuts both ways. A landlord who sets a disputed damage item off against your deposit may see the set-off fail; but equally, if you withhold rent believing you have a counterclaim, the court can simply award the rent claim if your counterclaim cannot be established simply — and then you are the one with arrears. Pay what you owe, hand the property over properly, and claim the deposit back as a separate matter.
What do I do if my landlord simply does not pay?
Put the landlord formally in default in writing with a clear deadline, and if that produces nothing, bring a claim before the subdistrict court — which hears all tenancy cases regardless of the amount involved. Most deposit disputes end in the letter stage, but only if the letter is the right one.
- Send a written demand stating the end date of the tenancy, the amount of the deposit, the applicable statutory deadline and the fact that no specified set-off has been notified. Give a reasonable period — fourteen days is customary — and announce statutory interest and collection costs.
- Formally put the landlord in default (ingebrekestelling) once that period passes.
- Report to the municipal reporting point if his conduct also breaches the Good Landlordship Act: no written contract, no required information, a deposit above the maximum.
- Bring proceedings before the subdistrict court. Under article 93(c) of the Code of Civil Procedure (Rv), cases concerning a rental agreement are heard there "irrespective of the amount or value of the claim". Legal representation is not compulsory, but the case still has to be right.
These cases are decided on evidence: the starting inspection report or the demonstrable absence of one, dated photographs at handover, a written record of the final inspection, the meter readings, and the bank statement showing the deposit payment. One point for people leaving the country: a deposit is far easier to recover while you still have a Dutch address and bank account. If you are moving abroad, settle it before you go, or at least put the landlord in default in writing before you leave, giving a forwarding address and an IBAN in that letter.
Can my rent be increased whenever the landlord wants?
No. A rent increase is bound by formal requirements and, in every segment, by a statutory maximum percentage. For social and regulated housing the government sets a maximum each year; the Affordable Rent Act added limits in the mid-market segment; and even in the liberalised sector a ceiling now applies, so a contractual indexation clause cannot take the rent above it.
| Segment | Maximum rent increase 2026 | From |
|---|---|---|
| Social / regulated rent | 4.1% | 1 July 2026 |
| Mid-market rent (middenhuur) | 6.1% | 1 January 2026 |
| Liberalised (free) sector | 4.4% | 1 January 2026 |
These are reset every year, so check you are not reading a lapsed year; in the social sector the 2025 maximum of 5% applied until 1 July 2026.
The formal requirements matter as much as the percentage, and are frequently missed. The proposal must be made in writing at least two months before the proposed effective date (article 7:252(1) BW), and it must state the current rent, the increase, the proposed rent, the effective date and how and by when you can object (article 7:252(2) BW). Clauses allowing the rent to be increased more than once in any twelve-month period are void, subject to limited statutory exceptions (article 7:251 BW). If you disagree, in the regulated segment the Huurcommissie can review the proposed rent and reduce it; a landlord who has not met the formal requirements is in principle in a weak position.
What can I do about defects and overdue maintenance?
Report the defect in writing, give a reasonable period for repair, and if nothing happens apply to the Huurcommissie or the court for a temporary rent reduction — but do not withhold rent yourself. The landlord is in principle responsible for remedying defects (gebreken) that limit your enjoyment of the property; the tenant bears the small, day-to-day maintenance.
Report it in writing, because a WhatsApp message or a phone call proves nothing later; give a period appropriate to the seriousness, days for a leak and weeks for a repainting job; send a reminder and a formal notice of default if nothing happens; and then put it to the Huurcommissie (regulated segment) or the subdistrict court. A temporary rent reduction can in principle be granted from the date you reported the defect, not from the date it arose. Do not sit on it either: article 7:257 BW sets a lapse period of six months, running from the day after you notified the landlord, for claiming a rent reduction on that ground.
Make one further distinction, because it makes a large financial difference. If the problem is the initial rent — too high from the start — you can ask the Huurcommissie to rule on the reasonableness of the agreed rent up to six months after the commencement date of your first rental agreement for that accommodation (article 7:249 BW). If instead it is a later rent reduction, there is no retroactive effect back to the start of the contract.
For illustration. A tenant's bathroom tap leaks and the mechanical ventilation stops working; damp appears in the corner of the ceiling. She telephones the property manager for months and is told each time that someone will come. Eventually she stops paying part of the rent. Two things then turn against her: there is no record of those calls, and a temporary rent reduction can in principle only run from the moment the defect was reported. On top of that, withholding rent creates arrears. The question is not whether the defect exists, but from what date it can be shown that the landlord knew. This is an illustrative situation explaining the rule, not a case of our firm.
Do not suspend or reduce the rent on your own initiative. Even where the defect is real, that creates rent arrears — and rent arrears are the most commonly used ground for dissolution and eviction. Keep paying, and reclaim afterwards.
Can I be evicted from my home?
No, not without a court judgment. Eviction in principle requires a court ruling and a bailiff. A landlord may not deny you access on his own authority, change the locks or put your belongings on the street. If he does, he in principle commits a tort and you can claim restoration of your occupation, often in summary proceedings (kort geding), which can be brought at short notice.
There is a second protection worth knowing. Under article 7:231(1) BW, dissolution (ontbinding) of the lease of a built immovable property on the ground that the tenant has failed to perform his obligations "can only be effected by the court", save for narrow exceptions. A landlord cannot terminate the lease out of court himself, and that provision is mandatory law in the tenant's favour. Termination of an open-ended residential lease by the landlord is separately restricted to the grounds exhaustively listed in article 7:274 BW — seriously improper tenancy, a valid diplomatic clause, urgent personal use, refusal of a reasonable new offer, and a small number of others.
| Stage | What happens | Your room to act |
|---|---|---|
| Reminder and collection | payment is demanded; the claim grows with costs | propose an arrangement; test the collection costs |
| Summons (dagvaarding) | dissolution and eviction are claimed | file a defence; the deadlines are short |
| Judgment | the lease is dissolved or the claim dismissed | argue for a longer period to vacate |
| Service and eviction | the bailiff (deurwaarder) carries it out | enforcement dispute, exceptional cases only |
For residential property the court weighs the seriousness of the failure against your interest in keeping your home. Arrears of three months or more are in practice often treated as serious enough — but be precise, because "three months" is often presented as if it were the law and it appears in no statutory provision. It is a rule of thumb from case law, applied within the "unless" test of article 6:265(1) BW: every failure to perform gives the other party the power to dissolve, "unless the failure, given its special nature or minor significance, does not justify the dissolution and its consequences". So there is no rule that three months' arrears always justify dissolution, and none that less never does; personal circumstances, a payment arrangement in progress and arrears since cleared all count. After the summons the deadlines are short; a bailiff's letter is the point to get advice, not after the hearing date has passed.
What are the rules for a temporary rental contract now?
Since the Fixed Rental Contracts Act came into force on 1 July 2024, an open-ended agreement is again the main rule for residential accommodation, and temporary letting is only permitted in a limited number of situations defined by law. If your situation does not fall within one of those exceptions, a contract presented as temporary can in principle count as an open-ended contract, with full security of tenure, whatever the paper says.
The core provision is article 7:271(1) BW: contrary to article 7:228(1), a tenancy entered into for a fixed period "does not end by the mere lapse of the rental period; it can be terminated by either party". Note the wording — the statute does not say the contract automatically becomes open-ended, it says it does not end by the passage of time. The practical effect is the same: you keep full security of tenure, and the landlord can only terminate on the grounds of article 7:274 BW.
Temporary letting remains possible under article 7:271(2) BW, but only for two years or less and only for people in categories designated by order in council — among others students renting temporarily in another municipality, people living elsewhere because of renovation, people leaving social care or in a social emergency, second-chance letting after an earlier termination, surviving relatives of a deceased tenant, separation situations, and status holders coming directly from central reception. Letting under the Vacant Property Act (Leegstandwet) also remains possible.
If your contract does fall within an exception, watch the notification (aanzegging). Article 7:271(2) BW requires the landlord to inform you in writing of the day the tenancy expires "no earlier than three months and no later than one month" before the fixed period ends. It is a window, not a deadline: notifying too early does not count either. If the landlord does not comply, the agreement is extended for an indefinite period. The same follows where a new contract with the same tenant is concluded immediately afterwards. You, as tenant, may terminate early.
This is the most frequently missed deadline on the landlord's side, and for you it is the difference between having to leave and being able to stay. Keep the notification letter and record the date you received it. It is also the part of Dutch tenancy law that has changed fastest: two contracts that look identical can work out completely differently because they were signed six months apart. Before you sign, check whether there is an end date and on what statutory basis, whether the notification of the end is correctly arranged, what the bare rent is separately from service charges and furniture, how large the deposit is relative to that bare rent, and whether a diplomatic clause or other exception ground actually applies to you.
Are agency fees legal, and can I get them back?
If the agent who found you the property was also working for the landlord, that agent may in principle not charge you a fee as well — and a fee charged in breach of that rule was in principle paid without legal basis and can be reclaimed. This is one of the most common and least explained ways in which international tenants lose money here, often several thousand euros at the very start of a tenancy.
The prohibition is article 7:417(4) BW, applied to intermediaries by article 7:427 BW. Where an agent acts as intermediary in the letting of immovable property and one of his principals is a natural person not acting in a profession or business, "the agent has no right to remuneration from the buyer or tenant" — and no departure from that rule to the tenant's detriment is possible, regardless of whether the landlord owes the agent a fee. The same ban is one of the national rules of good landlordship: article 2(4) of the Good Landlordship Act requires the letting agent to act in accordance with article 7:417(4) BW.
The Supreme Court clarified the practical test in its answers to preliminary questions of 16 October 2015 (ECLI:NL:HR:2015:3099): offering residential accommodation on a website, even without payment for it, implies that the landlord instructed the agent to do so, so the agent is serving two masters — unless the site functions purely as an "electronic noticeboard". But the test does not depend on advertising. In a judgment of the Amsterdam District Court of 18 June 2026 (ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2026:8497), concerning an agency serving international tenants, the property had not been offered on the agency's website; the court nevertheless attached weight to the facts that the tenants had no contact with the landlord themselves, and that the agency arranged the viewings, asked the landlord what the rent would be, drew up the rental agreement and handled the check-in and the handover of keys — activities which for the most part serve the landlord's interest.
Two practical points. The label does not matter: "contract costs", "administration fee", "check-in fee", "registration fee" — what counts is what the agent did and for whom, not what the invoice says. And this is not the same as your own search agent's fee: if you engaged an agent purely on your own side, that agent may charge you. What is prohibited is the same agent being paid by both sides.
For illustration. Someone arriving for a new job pays an agency a fee equal to one month's rent plus VAT for "finding and arranging" an apartment. The agency showed the property, asked the owner what the rent should be, drew up the contract and handed over the keys; the tenant never spoke to the owner. He assumes the fee is simply how the market works here. Whether it was lawfully charged does not depend on that assumption, nor on the name on the invoice, but on whether the agency was in fact acting for the landlord as well — because if it was, the statute in principle does not allow it to charge the tenant a fee at all. This is an illustrative situation explaining the rule, not a case of our firm.
Is discrimination on the Dutch housing market against the law?
Yes. Discrimination in the letting of housing is prohibited, and since the Good Landlordship Act landlords and letting agents must also operate a clear, transparent and non-discriminatory selection procedure and be able to explain to rejected applicants why they chose someone else. This affects international tenants disproportionately and is rarely explained in English, so it is worth setting out plainly.
Equal treatment legislation. Under article 7(1) of the Equal Treatment Act (Algemene wet gelijke behandeling), distinctions are prohibited in offering goods or services and in concluding, performing or terminating contracts about them, where this is done in the exercise of a profession or business, by the public service, by institutions working in public housing, welfare, healthcare, culture or education, or by private individuals in so far as the offer is made publicly. Housing is covered as a good or service; relations of a purely private character fall outside it. The prohibited grounds are religion, belief, political opinion, race, sex, nationality, hetero- or homosexual orientation and civil status. Disability, chronic illness and age are covered by separate equal treatment acts. Someone who considers he has been discriminated against can put the matter to the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights (College voor de Rechten van de Mens), which gives a reasoned opinion, and can also go to court.
The rules of good landlordship. These are general rules every landlord and letting agent must follow, enforced by the municipality rather than by you personally. Article 2(2) requires them to refrain from any form of unjustified distinction, "in any event by (1) operating a clear and transparent selection procedure, (2) using and communicating objective selection criteria when publicly offering the accommodation, and (3) giving rejected candidates reasons for the choice of the tenant selected". Article 3 requires a documented, published working method aimed at preventing housing discrimination. The other rules include a prohibition of intimidation — threatening or pressuring a tenant, for instance threatening termination to force a higher rent — a written rental agreement, a duty to inform you in writing about your rights, the deposit and its repayment deadlines, the service charges and the municipal reporting point, the ban on double agency fees, and specific protections for labour migrants, whose rental agreement must be separate from their employment contract and who must be informed in a language they understand.
Enforcement runs through the municipality: article 4 obliges every municipality to operate a reporting point for undesirable letting conduct (meldpunt ongewenst verhuurgedrag), and articles 17 to 19 give it enforcement powers up to an administrative fine, raised for repeat offences within four years. The route is free and does not require a running civil claim.
So advertisements aimed at "expats only", or a rejection that follows immediately after your name or nationality becomes known, are not simply market behaviour you have to accept: keep the correspondence and note the dates. Income requirements as such — a gross income of a certain multiple of the annual rent, for instance — are not automatically discriminatory; the question is whether the criteria are transparent, consistently applied and not a cover for a prohibited distinction.
What is the Huurcommissie and when can I go there?
The Huurcommissie is the national Rent Tribunal: an independent body that rules on disputes about rent, service charges and maintenance in regulated and mid-market housing, at a low fixed fee and without a lawyer. It is not a court, but its rulings bind the parties unless one of them takes the matter to the subdistrict court within the period allowed.
| Type of dispute | Point to watch |
|---|---|
| The initial rent is too high | request within six months of the commencement date of your first rental agreement for that accommodation (article 7:249 BW) |
| An annual rent increase you disagree with | object within the period stated in the proposal, before it takes effect |
| Rent reduction because of defects | runs in principle from the date you reported the defect; six-month lapse period (article 7:257 BW) |
| Service charges settlement | itemised annual overview due within six months of the year end (article 7:259(2) BW) |
| An all-in rent that is not split | the Huurcommissie can split it into a bare rent and service charges |
Two limitations. Its rent jurisdiction is centred on the regulated and mid-market segments; for a genuinely liberalised property much of it falls away, apart from the initial-rent test in the first six months. And — this catches people out — the Huurcommissie does not decide deposit disputes. A claim to have your deposit returned is a money claim and belongs before the subdistrict court. If your issue is the rent level, the service charges or defects, the Huurcommissie is usually the route, and it is considerably cheaper than litigation.
Do expats have the same rights as Dutch tenants?
Yes, exactly the same. Dutch residential tenancy law is mandatory law and applies regardless of your nationality, your residence status or the language of your contract. A landlord may not ask you for a higher deposit, impose a weaker contract on you or give you less protection because you come from abroad. If he does, those deviating arrangements are in principle simply not valid.
Many internationals assume the opposite: that the protective rules are for Dutch tenants, that a contract in English is a different kind of contract, or that a short stay means a weaker position. None of that is correct. Mandatory tenancy law attaches to the property and to the fact that it is residential accommodation, not to the person renting it.
What is true is that expats meet a particular set of problems more often: a deposit of three or four months described as "normal for expats"; an all-in rent in which the bare rent cannot be identified, making the deposit maximum and the rent level uncheckable; an agency fee charged by an agent who was also working for the landlord; a "temporary" contract that does not meet the statutory conditions; and a deposit that stops being paid once you have left the country. The advice that follows is short: have the contract read before you sign, and keep every document, message and photograph from the first day to the last. Almost every deposit dispute is decided on evidence, not on law.
When do you need a tenancy lawyer?
As soon as a deadline is running or an amount is on the table that you cannot assess. Many tenancy disputes can be resolved by the tenant with one well-drafted letter.
Get advice if you have been summoned for dissolution or eviction, because those deadlines are short and missing them cannot be repaired; if the landlord is keeping the whole deposit, so the substantiation can be tested before you accept it; if you were charged an agency fee, so it can be checked who instructed that agent; if your contract contains a penalty or termination clause you do not understand, since many such clauses are in principle void; if rent arrears have arisen, because before the summons there is still room to arrange something; if your contract is presented as temporary; if you are leaving the Netherlands with the deposit outstanding; or if you believe you were rejected on discriminatory grounds, because that evidence has to be secured early.
Costs. Always ask in advance about the fee arrangement and about subsidised legal aid (gefinancierde rechtsbijstand), which is available on the basis of income and assets. Where the dispute concerns a deposit of a few thousand euros, the cost of assistance has to be proportionate to what is at stake — a conversation that belongs at the start, not at the end.
Checklist for a deposit dispute
- Do you have the rental agreement, including the clause on the deposit?
- Is there an inspection report or photographs of the condition at the start — or demonstrably none?
- Do you have dated photographs of the property as you left it, including meter readings?
- Is the deposit higher than the statutory maximum for residential accommodation?
- Has the landlord notified any set-off in writing, with a full cost specification?
- Has the statutory repayment period of 14 or 30 days expired?
- Have you put the landlord in default in writing, with a clear deadline?
- Are there rent arrears he could legitimately set off, or a service charge settlement you also dispute?
- Were you charged an agency fee, and by whom was that agent instructed?
About this advice
Arslan & Arslan Advocaten handles tenancy cases for both tenants and landlords: residential accommodation, rooms and student housing, and commercial and retail premises. We assist a large number of internationals with rental contracts, deposits and agency fees. Our tenancy law page is here: tenancy law.
**Call [070 450 0300](tel:+31704500300) or send us your question through the contact form.** We will tell you where you stand and what the next step is. We have offices in The Hague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Tilburg and Eindhoven, and besides Dutch and English we also speak Turkish and Polish.
