Offering

Information for Landlords; How do I offer a room?

To offer a room at the Housing desk, you can let us know about the room by e-mail to info@housingdeskwageningen.nl. Make sure your e-mail contains the following information:

  • Your name and phone number
  • The rooms address
  • The kind of room (at landlord, student house, flat etc.)
  • Starting date (and ending date)
  • Price per month
  • Floor surface (m2)
  • Facilities
  • Preferences for tenant (man/woman, studying/working, smoking/non smoking)

I want to register a room now Offering a room through the housing desk is for free.

We list all registered rooms on the internet. House hunters can see that your room is available on our website. They will contact you themselves. Please let us know when you’ve rented out your room. We’ll remove you from our website to keep everything up to date.

How do you let a room?

For a homeowner it is no problem to rent out a room. You can find information in this booklet: informatiegids voor verhuurders 2022. If you are a tenant yourself you will need permission from your landlord to (sub)rent a room. In this case your tenant will basically be a subtenant. This has no consequences concerning your renters rights and duties. Being a landlord and tenant at once you will have duties towards both your tenant and your landlord. If you would like to have more information about about your rights and duties as a landlord, or if you have other questions about renting a room, please contact the Housing Desk.

The cost of hiring

When you would like to let rooms, the first step is to determine the cost of hiring. With use of the legislative ‘residential accommodation points system’ (link is in Dutch) you can easily determine the maximum permitted rent. This rent is the rent without service costs (i.e. among other things costs for gas, electricity and water). The service costs are easily calculated by dividing your own service costs of last year by the actual number of residents. This amount (per month) can be used as an advance payment for service costs. At the end of each year payments in advance and and the actual costs will have to be settled up. You have to give the tenant an overview of the calculation of the total service costs and his contribution. Besides that you will have to make clear how the payment in advance for service costs was calculated. Calculating the service costs will be even easier when separate meters are installed in the rented part of the house. This might prevent conflicts.

Other costs

Maybe you would like your tenant in other costs as well. Can you ask a contribution in these costs? Municipal pollution taxes can be divided amongst all tenants. Sometimes even cleaning costs for common rooms can be divided. Basically you can not charge your tenants for costs which are not fixed by contract. You will have to calculate the amount of money you will receive out of rent each year. When you are (sub)renting rooms in the house you live in yourself, the first € xxxx,- is tax free (differs per year). For more information about the ‘residential accommodation points system’ (link is in Dutch), calculating service costs or other questions about the cost of hiring, please contact the Housing Desk.

Tenancy Agreement

Next, you need to frame a tenancy agreement. Therefore you can use the standard tenancy agreement published by the ‘Nederlandse Woonbond’. These are available at the ‘Housing Desk’ as well. The most important things you need to record are:

  • what exactly is rented
  • who the landlord is
  • who the tenant is
  • what the cost of hiring is per certain period. This price has to be split in rent and service costs. Service costs have to be split in various costs. (see above at ‘cost of hiring’)
  • what the period of payment is (usually per month)
  • the starting date of the agreement (and in case of a temporary the ending date)
  • how much a possible deposit is (one months rent is common). You might also think of some home rules, e.g. by how many persons the kitchen is used, how telephony costs are divided, whether pets are allowed, etc.

Renting a room and the municipallity

If you are single and willing to rent one or more rooms in your house, you don’t need to change your registration from single person into a multiple person household. If the tenant registers on your address, with the tenancy agreement as a proof, the municipality will conclude that taxes are to be payd for more persons. You can charge your tenant(s) for some of the users part of the municipal taxes. You cannot charge your tenant(s) for the owners part of these taxes.

Renting a room and fire safety

The fire department regularly checks, once a year, the fire safety of buildings in which rooms are rented. In Wageningen the fire department only checks buildings in which at least 4 tenants are living. You may also apply for an inspection yourself.