Types of residential space
There are many types and sizes of student residence, familiarize yourself with all of them.
Student house
A student room is usually situated in a student house or flat, usually let by housing corporations or private landlords. You will live with multiple students, sharing kitchen and bathroom, which has the advantage of sharing costs of cooking supplies and cleaning materials. And you’ll never be lonely! In a student house, you usually have an indefinite contract, unless there is a so called ‘campus contract’, usually the case with SSH.
A room in your landlords’ place
This type of residence is usually called ‘hospitakamer’. Sometimes you will get the floor under or above the landlord and you will have the space for your own, including kitchen and bathroom. Sometimes it means you will share bathroom and kitchen, which means you will only have your room for your own. Living together with your landlord means you will need to make proper and elaborate agreements up-front regarding use of commonly used spaces, pets, sound, friends staying over etc. You have the right to an indefinite contract but with different rules regarding rent protection compared to for rooms in student houses.
Temporary room
Temporary rooms are easier to find than indefinite rooms. From here, you can check for more permanent housing if you desire so. It is important to check your rights regarding rent protection since these may not apply if it is a subletted room, antisquat, a house which will be demolished soon or will be renovated. At the same time, a landlord needs to follow requirements specifically for temporary letting. At SSH, you can rent temporary housing too, including rent protection.
Antisquat
Antisquat involves giving people a cheap opportunity to stay in empty real-estate to prevent squatters from using the property. This comes at the cost of not having a formal contract and rent-protection, which means you can end up on the street as soon as someone buys the property. Usually the term of notice is about 14 days.
Subletting
Sometimes students travel for a longer period, but don’t want to permanently leave their property nor pay the rent while away and sublet their room. Subletting is a good option if you need a room on short notice. The main tenant usually leaves his furniture as-is, meaning you won’t need to move yours. You can find many offers on facebook but also SSH.
Rent a house
In an independent house, you will have everything for your own and your own front door, meaning some different rulings, the most beneficial one being that you could get subsidized rent.
Buy a house
Are you considering to buy a house or do your parents want to do so? Inform with a realtor what is necessary to arrange this. You may want to let a part of your house. When you will let your house per room, you will need to abide by the law regarding residence-conversion, meaning you need permission from the mayor and councilors. If you need more information regarding letting rooms, check the info page for landlords on SSH.
Community-House
A Community House is a group of people deciding to live together because of social or ideological reasons. Everyone has a private room and the rest of common areas is shared. Centraal Wonen is an example of a Community House. More information: Landelijke Vereniging Centraal Wonen
Housing for handicapped students
For students with a handicap, there is the expert centre for Handicap + Study. This centre stimulates attendance to higher education by youngsters with a handicap, such as by advising and informing students regarding housing. On www.handicap-studie.nl you’ll find the spokesperson affiliated to your school.