TIPS ON HOW TO RENT YOUR PLACE

Renting your place might seem easy, however some issues could come to mind. Therefore, we would like hand out some free advice on how to rent your place to a suitable tenant.

Check the terms and conditions of your mortgage and “VvE”.

It’s important to know all the angles regarding the legal status of your mortgage on the house your putting up for rent. For example: there is a mortgage on the rental place. The worst-case scenario would be that the mortgage lender, for whatever reason, claims the place. Some houses have specific VvE ruling regarding renting out properties. Fortunately, nowadays lots of VvE and mortgage contracts are somewhat more flexible towards renting. However, it’s important to check the terms and conditions of the mortgage contract.

Test your residence within the point system

The Dutch rental market is divided in into social housing and private housing. Social housing in the Netherlands is meant for people with lower income. Therefore, there is a maximum rental price of €763,46 per month. Within the private housing market there is no maximum price.
To check whether your residence is classified for social or private housing the Dutch government came up with a point system. For your house to be eligible for the private market it has to score 142 point or more. The system is based upon the value of the property, location, square footage, energy label etc.

At this moment (2019) one point is awarded per square footage. Which makes it fairly easy for larger residences to end up in the private sector. It’s important to test your residence with respect to this point system. There are companies specialized in helping you to boost the points awarded to your house.

Make sure to get an official energy label

Before you are able to rent your house in the Netherlands you need to apply for an energy label. This is possible at www.energielabelvoorwoningen.nl.

Hire a professional photographer

When there is a vast amount of supply it’s important to stand out. A professional photographer is able to make your house look even better. Spaces look bigger and color look brighter. Good quality photos tend to drive up the rental price of your residence. Please look below for the difference between mobile and professional photos.

To furnish or not to furnish…

This completely depends on the type of tenant you would like to attract. Expats for example, are keen on furnished apartment, for they mostly only stay up to 3 years.

Interior

The first impression is important. You want as many people as possible to like your residence. Therefore, a neutral interior is the safest bet. With neutral we don’t mean empty; we would like to give the potential tenant a feeling of coming home. Use basic colors and dress the house up with a nice carpet, some pillows on the sofa and maybe a few nice plants. Remember that a red flowery sofa will attract less people than just a plain grey corner couch.

Cleaning

Viewings only take up a short amount of time. So, there is not much time to leave an impression. Therefore, it’s of extra importance to have clean and tidy residence. Clutter will leave a negative impression. Always check the residence for rubbish before you welcome visitors. It could be a nice extra service to arrange a housekeeper for your tenants.

Make an instruction manual for the tenant

The rental process can be a stressful time. To make things as smoothly as possible it could be useful to make an instruction manual for your tenants. This way you give clarity on what the house rules are. It also helps out the tenant with things like; when to put out the trash, how to clean a wooden floor, how the heating system works etc. A manual will save you a lot of extra unnecessary calls.

Choose the perfect broker

Well, you’re already visiting the website of a pretty good one. If all feels good, we’d love to make an appointment and talk things through.