Renting in Eindhoven in 2026: rents, the room and buyout rules, and how to get your deposit back

Eindhoven restricts who may let a newly bought home and where a house may be turned into rooms, and both rules affect what you can legally rent.

• Buyout protection (opkoopbescherming). An existing home bought after 1 April 2022 with a WOZ value below €355,000 usually may not be let. Since 2024 the rule no longer covers new-builds. Exceptions need a permit, for example letting to a close relative or, after living in the home for at least a year, letting it for at most a year to someone who is not a tourist; the permit costs €281.00 (Municipality of Eindhoven).
• Room rental. Using a home for rooms breaks the zoning plan, so it needs a permit. No new permit is given in Limbeek-Noord, Limbeek-Zuid, Bennekel-Oost, Doornakkers-Oost, Doornakkers-West, Woensel-West, Hemelrijken and Gildebuurt, and outside the city centre none within 30 metres of a legal room-rental house. Two people who do not share a household may live together without a permit (Municipality of Eindhoven).
• A 2026 amnesty. In the closed neighbourhoods, owners of long-standing room houses and split homes can apply for a permit during 2026 only, under a transitional scheme that runs until 1 January 2027; new room rentals there stay banned (Municipality of Eindhoven).
• Lodgers (inwoning). An owner, or a housing corporation tenant, who has lived in the home for at least a year may let rooms to one person, with at most 2 children, without a permit, as long as kitchen, toilet or bathroom are shared (Municipality of Eindhoven).

Since 1 January 2025 the municipality of Eindhoven can take action when a landlord charges more than the points system allows.

• The points calculation. The rent that follows from the points system is binding, and on a new contract the landlord must give you the calculation. The city enforces the maximum rent, the maximum increase and this duty to inform (Municipality of Eindhoven).
• In writing. The landlord or agent must put the lease in writing, even if you agreed it orally, and for labour migrants the employment and rental contracts must be separate (Municipality of Eindhoven).
• Permanent by default. A new tenant gets an open-ended lease; temporary leases are only for set situations and last at most 2 years (Rijksoverheid).
• Challenge the starting rent. The Huurcommissie can review it in the first 6 months of the lease (Huurcommissie). Our Huurcommissie guide covers the procedure.

Eindhoven tenants have two free places to start: the Huurteam Eindhoven for advice and the city’s own report desk for landlord misconduct.

• Huurteam Eindhoven. Free for all residents, students and non-students alike, with no no-cure-no-pay fee. Its advisers measure your home, look at defects and the contract, and handle the letters to your landlord; only the Huurcommissie’s €25 fee may apply if a case goes there (Huurteam Eindhoven).
• The report desk (Meldpunt Goed Verhuurderschap). Walk in on Fridays from 10:30 to 13:30 at the Green Room, room 0.705, on the ground floor of the TU/e Atlas building, Den Dolech 2, or report by phone or WhatsApp on 085 – 11 55 587 (Municipality of Eindhoven).
• Students can also get free legal advice on a contract from the Juridisch Loket (Municipality of Eindhoven).
• The court. Rechtbank Oost-Brabant has a courthouse in Eindhoven at Stadhuisplein 4 (Rechtspraak.nl). If money stands in the way, see our legal aid guide.