Renting in Hilversum in 2026: finding a home, the city rules, and getting your deposit back

Hilversum keeps a tight grip on how homes are let, which limits the number of rooms and short lets on the market.

• Buyout protection (opkoopbescherming). In Centrum, Zuid and Oost, a home bought on or after 14 August 2025 with a WOZ value below €470,000 needs a permit to be let for 4 years from the registration of the deed. The permit is only granted for a temporary lease of up to 12 months after the owner lived there for 12 months, a home reached only through business premises, or letting to family, and costs €385.45 (City of Hilversum).
• Room conversion. Throughout Hilversum, using or rebuilding homes for splitting or room conversion is banned; an environmental permit with strict conditions can allow an exception, and an answer takes 8 weeks on average (City of Hilversum). A resident who lets at most 25% of the living space to a lodger needs no permit (City of Hilversum).
• Tourist rental. Letting a whole home as a business is not simply allowed in a residential zoning; someone who wants to let it while on holiday first asks for a pre-investigation (City of Hilversum). From 1 January 2026 hosts, including those letting through Airbnb, Booking.com or VRBO, must register and pay €3.68 per person per night (City of Hilversum). See our subletting and Airbnb guide.

Every landlord must give you a written lease, and a temporary lease is the exception rather than the rule.

• The basic rules. A landlord may not discriminate or intimidate, must give a written lease, must explain the service charges, and may not charge more than the legal rent or raise it above the legal percentage (City of Hilversum).
• Open-ended by default. New tenants get a lease without an end date, and a temporary one is only allowed in set cases such as a student renting for studies in another municipality (Rijksoverheid).
• Vacancy Act lets. An owner with a vacancy permit, which costs €153.90, may let a home that is for sale or awaiting demolition. You then have no rent protection, the lease runs at least 6 months, your notice is 1 month and the landlord’s at least 3 months (City of Hilversum).
• The starting rent. You can ask the Huurcommissie to review it within the first 6 months (Huurcommissie).

Hilversum tenants share a regional report desk with the rest of Gooi en Vechtstreek, and have free legal help and the Huurcommissie besides.

• The Meldpunt goed verhuurderschap. The municipalities of Gooi en Vechtstreek, Eemnes included, run a free report desk for private tenants, home seekers and foreign workers with a combined work and housing contract. Reports are passed to the municipality within 2 working days; an anonymous report can only go to the municipality, not to an organisation that supports you. The municipality can give a warning or a fine (Urgentiebureau Gooi en Vechtstreek). The desk has taken reports since 1 January 2024 (Regio Gooi en Vechtstreek).
• Other help. The Huurcommissie rules on rent, service charges and maintenance, the Juridisch Loket gives free legal help, and corporation tenants complain to their corporation first (City of Hilversum).
• The court. Cases from Gooi en Vechtstreek are mostly heard in Almere, sometimes in Utrecht or Lelystad, depending on the subject (Rechtspraak.nl); the Almere location is at De Diagonaal 37 and open from 8.30 to 17.00 (Rechtspraak.nl). For legal costs, see our legal aid guide.