Renting in Amsterdam in 2026: the housing permit, average rent, local rules and free tenant help

Amsterdam is still the most expensive city in the Netherlands to rent in, at an average of €28.69 per m² for new tenants in the second quarter of 2026.

That is well ahead of the next two places on Pararius’s list, and free-sector rents per m² rose 4.7% in a year across the country (Pararius).

• Cheaper homes come with a permit. Below €1,228.07 basic rent, the city’s housing permit rules apply, as the next section explains.
• Too much for what you get? Our rent check guide shows how the points system caps the rent, and how to challenge a rent increase.

An agent who offers a home on the landlord’s behalf may not charge you agency fees, whatever the fee is called.

• No agency fees for you. That holds even if the landlord pays the agent nothing, for social housing, free-sector homes and rooms alike. The same fee can hide behind names such as administration, registration, contract or letting costs, and you can reclaim fees you paid wrongly (Rijksoverheid).
• Report it. The city’s report desk takes complaints about a landlord asking for any amount on top of rent and deposit, such as agency fees. If a landlord only wants cash, always ask for proof of payment (City of Amsterdam).
• Check you can register. To register at an Amsterdam City Office you bring your rental contract, or a consent form signed by the longest-registered resident. You go within 5 days of arriving, and no appointment is needed except in Weesp (City of Amsterdam). Without registration there is no BSN; see our BSN guide and arriving in Amsterdam.

On a lease signed from 1 July 2023 the deposit is at most 2 months of basic rent, and on older leases at most 3 months.

• The source: Rijksoverheid (Rijksoverheid).
• The deadline. The landlord repays the deposit within 14 days after the lease ends. If there is damage, or rent, service charges or an energy performance fee still unpaid, the rest comes back within 30 days, with written notice and a full specification of the costs (Civil Code, article 7:261b).
• Too high or too late? The city’s report desk accepts both: a deposit above 2 months of basic rent, and a deposit not repaid within 2 weeks of moving out (City of Amsterdam).
• Work out your figures with our deposit calculator, and read the deposit recovery guide for the procedure and its costs.

The Huurcommissie (the national rent tribunal) is the same for the whole country, so Amsterdam tenants file with it exactly as anyone else does.

• How to file. Log in to MijnHuurcommissie with DigiD, start a new procedure and choose the right form (Huurcommissie). !WOON can help you with the case.
• What it costs. As a tenant you pay €25 upfront, and you get it back if the Huurcommissie decides in your favour (Huurcommissie).
• How long it takes. The Huurcommissie aims to finish each case in 4 to 6 months (Huurcommissie).
• A deposit goes to court, not to the Huurcommissie. The Huurcommissie cannot order a landlord to repay a deposit. If a written demand does not work, you claim the money through the court (Rijksoverheid). For Amsterdam that is the kantonrechter (cantonal judge) of Rechtbank Amsterdam, which receives visitors at Parnassusweg 280 (Rechtspraak.nl). If money is the obstacle, see our legal aid guide.