A healthy housing market requires “a delicate balance between rent protection and freedom for landlords”, writes minister Mona Keijzer in a letter to the House of Representatives.

She believes that the current rules are making it increasingly unattractive to rent to students, especially for private landlords. “Around half of all student houses are owned by private landlords”, she emphasises.

Sale

Keijzer is worried that these landlords will put their properties up for sale, reducing the availability of student housing. To prevent this, she wants to relax the rules to ensure that students can always get a temporary lease.

Strictly speaking, landlords have not been allowed to offer temporary contracts since 1 July 2024, but there are some exceptions. Short-term leases are still allowed for students temporarily moving to a new city for their studies, and for foreign students.

But according to Keijzer, these regulations are confusing: why can some students get a temporary contract, but not others? She believes it would be better to have the same rules for everyone.

“Not fair”

The Dutch Student Union (LSVb) doesn’t like the plan, says board member Gijs Grimbergen: “It’s not fair to solve the housing shortage at the expense of students.” In practice, he says, many students already have no choice but to sign temporary contracts, because there are simply no other options.

LSVb is concerned about students’ precarious living conditions. Temporary contracts end at some point, and those who are unable to find a new home in time can find themselves in serious trouble.

In The Hague, rent protection has been a contentious issue for some time. The exemptions for international students and temporary relocations were controversial, and the same is likely for this new deregulation push.