Authorities in Amsterdam have called on landlords who have spare rooms and parts of houses to rent them to incoming students.
Such a proposal comes in a bid to tackle the housing shortage with which the Netherlands’ capital deals every September as a result of the increased demand for rental places.
The city has said that such a step would bring benefits to landlords; among them, they will not need a special permit and will not have to pay tax on the annual income derived from the rent (up to 5,881 euros).
The Dutch state has become home to a large number of international students in recent years. But the ongoing increase is bringing difficulties to this state.
The figures from the Dutch government body for internationalisation in education, Nuffic, previously revealed that there were a total of 115,068 international students in the Netherlands in 2022, thus accounting for a 12 per cent increase compared to 2021 figures.
In a bid to deal with such a situation, Amsterdam is planning to take action in order to limit international enrolment growth.
While explaining that as 40 per cent of first-year students at universities come from other countries, in April this year, the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Robbert Dijkgraaf, addressed a letter to the House of Representatives in the Hague.
Considering it a good thing that Dutch students can study in the Netherlands, Dijkgraaf, in the letter, said that it should also be possible to manage the number of students reaching the Netherlands. The Minister also cited the lack of student accommodation as one of the problems that the increased number of students would bring.
As such, an alternative to help the country is inviting landlords to rent out their extra rooms or parts of houses to young people coming to Amsterdam to pursue their studies.
The scheme mainly targets people who are not multiple property owners but live in an apartment or house and have unused rooms.
However, some conditions need to be met, including the following ones:
- They must live in the house personally
- In case a person rents the house, they need permission from the owner or landlord
- The house must also meet fire safety standards
These are considered the main requirements that landlords must meet if the new tenant has access to a separate kitchen and bathroom, which will be counted as a separate home.
