Housing is the hardest thing an expat does here, and it is the area where not reading Dutch costs the most money. A listing word you skim decides whether the flat has a floor. A clause you sign decides whether you get your deposit back. This page covers the words that carry money, and the law that is more on your side than most newcomers realise.
Read the listing before you view
Three words in every Dutch listing decide what you are actually renting, and they are not what an English speaker assumes. Kaal is bare: often literally concrete, no flooring, sometimes no light fittings. Gestoffeerd has floors and curtains. Gemeubileerd is furnished. Turning up to a kaal flat expecting a carpet is a rite of passage nobody enjoys. What kaal, gestoffeerd and gemeubileerd mean covers these and the rest of the listing vocabulary, and mastering the rental market: Funda and landlord vocab takes you from the search filters to the message you send an agent.
| Dutch | What you get |
|---|---|
| kaal | bare: no flooring, sometimes no fittings |
| gestoffeerd | flooring and curtains |
| gemeubileerd | furnished |
| kale huur | rent excluding service costs |
| servicekosten | service charges on top of the rent |
| de waarborgsom / borg | the deposit |
| de opnamestaat | the entry inspection report |
| gebruikelijke slijtage | normal wear and tear |
The scams aimed at you specifically
The housing shortage has produced a scam economy that targets newcomers who cannot yet read the signals: a listing below market rate, a landlord who cannot meet in person, a deposit requested before a viewing. Avoiding Facebook housing scams in Amsterdam reads the coded language of the sublet groups and names the patterns. The rule that survives every variant: never transfer money for a property you have not stood inside.
The deposit, and the law that changed
This is the fight most expats have, and the law is firmly on the tenant’s side. Under the Wet goed verhuurderschap the deposit may not exceed two months’ bare rent for contracts signed from 1 July 2023, and it must be returned within 14 days of the tenancy ending, or 30 days if the landlord is genuinely settling costs against it. Deductions are lawful only for unpaid rent or real damage, never for normal wear, and the landlord has to prove the damage was not already there.
Resolving deposit disputes with your Dutch landlord is the step-by-step: the written request, the ingebrekestelling (formal notice of default), the free report to your gemeente’s meldpunt, and the kantonrechter, where you need no lawyer below 25,000 euros. It also carries the letter to send. Note one thing that trips people up: the Huurcommissie rules on rent levels and service costs, not on deposits.
When something breaks
The meterkast is the fuse box, usually a cupboard by the front door, and when the lights go it is the first place you look and the first thing you have to describe to a janitor or landlord in Dutch. Lights out: the Dutch meterkast explained covers the parts, the groups and the sentences for reporting a fault.
Flanders is a different market
Renting in Dutch-speaking Belgium uses different words and a different rhythm, with the immo agencies, a deposit capped at three months held in the tenant’s own account, and the legally required plaatsbeschrijving (condition report) that decides most Flemish deposit disputes. The deposit guide above now carries the Flemish rules alongside the Dutch ones, and students have a market of their own in the kot and the immo.
Where to start
- Learn the three listing words before you book a viewing: kaal, gestoffeerd, gemeubileerd.
- Photograph everything and sign an opnamestaat on day one; it decides the deposit fight later.
- Know the 14-day rule and the two-month cap before you hand over money: the deposit guide.
- Read the scam patterns before you answer a Facebook listing.
- Find your meterkast now, not at eleven at night: the fuse box guide.
What we checked
The claims on this page that decide money, a deadline or a legal right, with the source each came from and the date we last read it.
- For contracts signed on or after 1 July 2023 the deposit may not exceed two months' bare rent; for older contracts the cap is three months. rijksoverheid.nl
- The deposit must be returned within 14 days of the tenancy ending, or 30 days where costs are being settled against it, and deposit disputes go to the municipality or the courts rather than the Huurcommissie. volkshuisvestingnederland.nl