Renting in Rotterdam in 2026: what it costs, the local rules, and how to get your deposit back

Rotterdam adds four local rules to national tenancy law, and each one changes where and how you can rent.

• The housing permit (huisvestingsvergunning). Since 1 December 2025, everyone aged 16 or over who moves into a rented home in these streets needs one: Aar, Alerdincksingel, Bas Jungeriusstraat, Boezemstraat, Charloisse Hoofd, Charloisse Kerksingel, Dordtselaan, Engelsestraat, Flakkeesestraat, Katendrechtse Lagedijk, Lepelaarsingel, Mijnsherenlaan, Moerkerkestraat, Oranjeboomstraat, Petrarcastraat, Pleinweg, Polderlaan, Professor Poelslaan, Schinnenbaan, Slaghekstraat, Slinge, Slotboomstraat, Strevelsweg, Walchersestraat and Wolphaertsbocht. From a corporation you apply through the corporation; from a private landlord, to the city, for free. The city checks whether you caused housing nuisance before and aims to decide within 5 weeks (City of Rotterdam), and it also looks at your income (City of Rotterdam). Without the permit you cannot rent the home.
• Holiday rental. Only in the home you own or mainly live in and are registered at, for at most 60 nights a calendar year while you are away. You need a registration number in every advert, report the nights in advance and pay 6.5% tourist tax. Corporation homes are excluded, and a tenant needs the owner’s permission (City of Rotterdam). See our subletting and Airbnb guide.
• Rooms. Letting to 3 or more room tenants, or to 2 or more when the owner lives in, needs a room rental permit. No new permits are given in Bergpolder, Carnisse, Kralingen West, Kralingen Oost, Oud Mathenesse, Struisenburg and Tarwewijk. With 4 or more tenants the rooms may only go to students, each with at least 18 m², and every room gets its own written contract. The permit costs the landlord €586.50 (City of Rotterdam).
• Buyout protection. In 16 neighbourhoods, among them Blijdorp, Hillegersberg-Zuid, Kralingen-West, Middelland and the Nieuwe Westen, a home up to €470,000 WOZ bought after 1 January 2022 may only be let with a permit, on pain of a €21,750 fine (City of Rotterdam).

A new Rotterdam tenant should get a written lease with no end date, and a rent that the points system allows.

• Permanent by default. Since 1 July 2024 new tenants get an open-ended lease, and temporary leases are only allowed for certain groups (City of Rotterdam), such as students renting temporarily for their studies in another municipality (Rijksoverheid).
• In writing. Every lease signed from 1 July 2023 must be on paper and signed by you and the landlord (City of Rotterdam). Photograph the state of the home on move-in, dated and signed by both of you, so the deposit is not withheld later (Weet wat je huurt).
• Check the rent. The city’s rent calculator on Weet wat je huurt gives an estimate, and the Huurcommissie’s check gives the exact answer (Weet wat je huurt). Within 6 months of the start of the lease you can ask the Huurcommissie to review the starting rent (Huurcommissie); our Rotterdam rent reduction guide walks you through it.
• The city fines. Since 1 January 2025 tenants can report rents that are too high to the city, which can fine the landlord (City of Rotterdam), and the city publishes the names of landlords it has sanctioned (City of Rotterdam).

Rotterdam tenants now turn first to the city itself, which runs a free report desk and an information point, and to free legal advice services.

• The report desk (Meldpunt ongewenst verhuurgedrag). Report intimidation, a deposit that is too high, no written lease, double agency fees, unfair service charges or a rent that is too high. You report online with DigiD, hear back within 5 working days, and the city tries to solve complaints within 8 weeks; questions go to 14 010 (City of Rotterdam). You can also visit the information point at Markerstraat 7 in Carnisse (Weet wat je huurt).
• Legal advice. The city points tenants to the Juridisch Loket for free legal advice, the Sociaal Raadslieden through the Vraagwijzer, Stichting Je Goed Recht and Sociaal Advocaten (Weet wat je huurt).
• The Huurteam. The city’s answer to the council of 16 September 2025 says the Huurteam’s deployment in six focus neighbourhoods has ended and that tenant support is now organised differently (City of Rotterdam).
• The court. Rechtbank Rotterdam sits at Wilhelminaplein 100-125 on the Kop van Zuid (Rechtspraak.nl), open on weekdays from 8.30 to 17.00 (Rechtspraak.nl). Facing eviction? Read eviction and your rights in Rotterdam, or see our Rotterdam tenancy help. If money is the obstacle, see our legal aid guide.