The Netherlands is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. It’s also a country that receives thousands of international students who want to live here during their studies. This naturally leads to a tricky situation that makes navigating the housing market here harder. Before we dive in, I’d suggest taking a moment to explore one of our other blogs to cover the basics of the Dutch housing market: step-by-step guide to finding housing in the Netherlands.
My name’s Miruna and I’m here to share my personal journey of how I put a roof over my head here in Maastricht. Hopefully this will inspire you to keep going when times get tough in your house search and help you avoid the same pitfalls I experienced.
After I found out I would be starting my studies in Maastricht I managed to get my hands on a room as quickly as I could – as early as the beginning of March – if I recall correctly. If you still haven’t signed a contract yet though I would tell you not to worry but at the same time, don’t relax too much. April is the last timeframe before the true chaos begins.
My advice for first years who are moving abroad for the first time is to get housing provided by Maastricht Housing! Renting is fully coordinated by them, you can choose your starting date and get an affordable-ish room. Plus if anything breaks you can just leave a note at the reception, and they’ll take care of it. Do keep in mind, though, that if it’s you who broke it, it’s you who pays it. The not-so-nice part about this situation is, of course, the sharing element. If your fellow floor-mates are nice, clean and responsible people, the experience will just be a socialising heaven. If not, well, you’re in for a bit of a headache. The experience is still worth it though, in my opinion, as it is character building 🙂
In my second year, things got tricky for me personally. My contract with UM Guesthouse ended after 12 months, which is the maximum length of a stay you can get with this type of housing. So, I had to find another place to stay and, preferably, have all my things moved in before leaving for Romania for the summer (this did not happen in the end and it turns out that friends with stable housing are life-savers!!). I tried answering all sorts of listings on websites such as Pararius and even paid for a membership with a housing agency. No viewing ended up being fruitful until my luck hit, and the luck’s name was Facebook.
I was really sceptical about every single post I saw on housing groups in the beginning, always waiting for the scam to rear its ugly head from around the corner. Although I do want to stress that you should be cautious when responding to such posts (some typical red flags to keep an eye out for can be found here), many people are just students like you and I, looking for someone to take over their room. I went to a viewing initially hoping to get a different room, and by chance, one of the other tenants took me on a tour of her room, which was also going to be free starting in August. Over the summer, I contacted the landlord, signed the contract and came back to the Netherlands to pick up a key.
I ended up staying here for the rest of my degree. Keeping a place for a bit longer – two years, in my case – offers a lot of peace and stability, at least for me. However, it will sadly soon be time for me to move out of here again, so I’ll be joining you all in the house hunt. Good luck everyone!
Please remember to DM us on Instagram if you have any questions about your house hunt 🙂
