The landlady as a solution for pressing room shortage

Since her youngest son left home in 2020, Margriet van der Vliet has lived alone in a large house in Haren, near the city of Groningen. At the beginning of September, the Colombian student Natalia Duarte came to live with her, in a room in the attic. “It’s nice to have some excitement again. And of course nice to earn something with it.”

There are far too few student rooms. In 2021, about 26,800 students made a mistake, according to the National Student Housing Monitor. Despite ambitious building plans of Minister Hugo de Jonge (Public Housing, CDA), the researchers involved predict that the housing shortage will increase further to 44,800 in the next eight years. Almost half of Dutch students therefore continue to live at home. Foreign students find it even more difficult to find a room.

It seems like the egg of Columbus: match students who cannot find a home with the elderly with large, empty houses and skyrocketing heating costs. A number of organizations are trying to stimulate this, but it is not going very fast yet. In recent years, the corona pandemic has got in the way; the elderly in those days were not so keen on taking someone into their home.

But recently things seem to be moving, according to various mediators. For example, the number of matches at Hospi Housing doubled from May, says founder Daan Donkers. The organization receives eighty to one hundred applications per month from ‘hosts’ (landlords), and he expects to help a total of two hundred students find a room this year. “In recent months, we have heard more about finances as a motive for renting a room. And sometimes people with large houses suffer from housing shame because of all the reports about the housing shortage.” Hospi Housing started a few years ago in Utrecht and is now also active in Groningen, Maastricht, Leiden, Nijmegen and Amsterdam, in collaboration with the municipality and educational institutions.

Social contact

Also at the online platform Woonmatten, founded by rental agent Petra Eshuis, landladies have registered again since this summer. This platform has a slightly different concept: the organization links students to elderly people who have a spare room and are in need of social contact and light help, such as shopping and mowing the lawn. Eshuis determines in consultation what amount is in return and that is deducted from the monthly room rent. “I think there is going to be a switch from individualism to bringing together again. That has to be soon too. Students cannot find accommodation and it is becoming increasingly difficult for the elderly to find support,” says Eshuis. The other way around is also possible: renting out a room to a young person who needs some support, for example through the organization Rooms with Attention.

The most acute housing shortage is occurring in Amsterdam, Leiden, Nijmegen, Rotterdam, Den Bosch and Utrecht, according to the National Student Housing Monitor 2022. Villages in the immediate vicinity of those cities offer more opportunities, says Donkers of Hospi Housing. “There is more space available in the region, the houses are larger and more elderly people live there.” He notices that students don’t mind not living in the city. “Certainly not foreign students. They think they are on their way to university for half an hour or an hour peanuts.”

What often stops people is the fear that they won’t get a tenant away

Foreign students are the most popular among the room hosts who come to his platform, mainly because they are looking for temporary housing. “What often stops people is the fear that they will no longer get a tenant away,” says Donkers. That fear is not entirely unfounded. There is nothing wrong if the student stays for a maximum of one year, then the rental falls under the so-called landlady arrangement. This applies to room landlords who also live in the house themselves and share their kitchen and bathroom with their tenant. In the first year, the lease can be terminated at any time, with a notice period of three months. This is followed by a contract for an indefinite period and protection of rent. In practice, landladies prefer to exchange their resident student for a new tenant after a year. Instead of this trial period, you can also enter into a (longer) contract for a definite period of time, but in that case early termination is not allowed.

Donkers thinks it is a pity that the probationary period does not last a little longer, up to two years. He is now lobbying in The Hague for this, together with other mediators. “People are sympathetic to it. The ministry also sees opportunities to alleviate the housing shortage through better use of the existing housing stock.” A bigger stumbling block is that many mortgage lenders do not officially allow room rental, even with a temporary contract. The sector is also trying to change these parties’ minds, although Donkers has never seen mortgage lenders actually check it.

Tax benefit

You will not become rich as a room landlord, but you will benefit from a tax advantage. The rental income is tax-free if you have collected no more than 5,711 euros (2022, including energy). That equates to about 475 euros per month. If you do not rent out the room for the full twelve months, that monthly amount can be higher.

But can you just ask anything? Formally, the points system applies: square meters and facilities add up to a number of points that corresponds to a rent. If the rent is higher than allowed according to the number of points, a tenant can object. The ‘Rental price check for non-self-contained accommodation’ on the website of the Rental Committee gives an idea of ​​what a room is worth.

Donkers thinks this guideline is too scanty. “The scoring has not been updated for a while and does not take the location into account. You can ask for more with good arguments.” Although his organization does not accept extortionate prices either. He rejected the woman who offered a bedroom for 900 euros a month and who wanted to sleep on the couch herself.