arjshah

Hi Members,
I am British and want to move to Netherlands with my partner. I am looking for estate agents for renting a property i.e. a studio or 1 bedroom apartment or 1 bedroom flat. Yet no luck.
I wonder which areas of Netherlands is cheap for renting a property. I can not afford rent more than 300-350 euros a month. I am trying to find but got stuck.
Can any one recommend some cheap areas to rent above mentioned property.
I am so worried. Help is needed.

Kind Regards,
AS

calman014

You are unlikely to find anything for 2 people in that price range.

StevieLW

Huizen te huur in Land Nederland [funda]

arjshah

Thank you

Red_Wine_Fairy

I was just going to say that you'd get either a garage box, or a single room in a region miles from anywhere (and certainly miles from jobs or English speakers) for 300 euros per month. Even students pay more for their student accommodation. Even my son who has a social housing studio pays more than that even after his low-income rebate, and you need to be on the list for years to qualify for social housing.

Sorry friend, this is one heck of an expensive country and if that's all you can afford, stay put where you are because this dream will very quickly become a nightmare where you're trapped, hungry, and unable to escape without funds (you wouldn't be the first)

arjshah

Hi,
Thank you red wine fairy for your reply.
Can you please guide us bit more that which areas of Netherlands is comparatively cheap to reside, where I can find cheap house for rent. What formalities are required for renting a property?
Highly appreciate your response.
Kind Regards

StevieLW

I'd be interested to know your necessity to move to the Netherlands but not have a care for WHERE exactly you want to live?

Cynic

I just checked in the local paper (Enschede; it's in the East and probably one of the cheaper areas in comparison to Amsterdam); the only thing you'll get for that money is a single student room (and there's only a couple at that price).

I'm not sure whether you can register from a student room (unless you're a student), so you'll struggle getting a BSN number (R_W_F may know more about that).

Red_Wine_Fairy

The formalities for renting a house include providing an employment contract, usually. For certain, no estate agent will touch you without one. Or if you're coming here as a student, the university will have sent you information on how to get student accommodation.

As I said, you will not qualify for social housing which is the only way you would get independent living space (as opposed to someone's spare bedroom) for your budget, and any offers for accommodation at this price - even then it would likely be an illegal sublet meaning you couldn't register at the town hall and get a tax number, which in turn means you couldn't access health insurance (min 100 per month and a legal requirement), open a bank account, etc.

Double your budget, and you might find something legal and independent/not sharing in a cheap area AWAY from the main cities: remember you'd need to find money for council tax, utilities etc too (these don't change much by area). The cheapest areas tend to be on the eastern or southern borders. They are also the areas where people are least likely to communicate in English with you.

@ Cynic. Only the registered student can register there if he or she takes their rental agreement to the gemeente. Any partner (or other roommate) might be tolerated by the owners, but won't be allowed the rights that the legal renter enjoys. Gementees have a maximum occupancy for properties that they won't go above - and the maximum number of occupants in a student room is one.

Cynic

Agreed; that's the first question the housing associations around Enschede ask; do you have a job and do you have a contract. They also ask for confirmation of where you have lived for the previous 5-years; that confirmation has to be in writing from the local authority(s) where you lived; so if you weren't on the (for example) UK electoral register, you will struggle here.

Red_Wine_Fairy

In his post about wanting to move to France (French forum) he/she says it's to expand their business.

Good luck with that, if they don't speak Dutch and move to a 'cheap area' where they can't even get a legal rental/tax number/bank acc for their housing budget - how are they going to set up a business when all tax law and all tax matters are in Dutch only? He'd be better to check out how expensive accountants are, perhaps his living budget would shrink even further

calman014

AS, if you want some help from the forum members it would help if you can expand on what you are planning to do in NL. You can't just jump on a plane, land at Schiphol then go rent a flat. This is not UK.

arjshah

Thank you everyone for your kind suggestions :-)

arjshah

Thank you Cynic for your effort.

Red_Wine_Fairy

We don't want to sound like ambassadors of doom, but we speak with a degree of experience. If you have not yet settled on a country, keep looking. Neither FR or NL make life easy for the self employed or small business owner, especially as the taxman in both countries use only their own language.

Keep looking - Europe is a big place! You also need to check tax residency and the impact that will have on your existing income - you will possibly be forced to pay tax from your UK business in the country where you live. Sort out your bread and butter first - places where you get a tax advantage rather than a disadvantage compared to the UK - and then look at areas to live.

As it seems language isn't particularly an issue for you, you might find Southern or Eastern Europe far better for your business and rental needs than closer to home, and at least you wont have the cold and the rain during the worst days