Room Rental (Hospitaverhuur)

You currently live in your house as your main residence and have a room that you would like to rent out to a tenant. This arrangement is possible to do and it is called hospitaverhuur in Dutch. Financially, it is quite attractive since you may be tax exempt for the rental income you receive while still having the right for income tax deduction for your mortgage interest rate (Room rental tax exemption or kamerverhuurvrijstelling).

Requirements

• You are renting out to a maximum of 1 household. There may only be 1 adult living per room or 2 adults per room as long as they are married or under registered partnership
• You share the common areas with the tenant, such as the kitchen, bathroom and toilet
• You also live in the house
• The space you use to live in must be a minimum of 50% of the total living space
• The tenant has in average a minimum of 12 m² of living space. However, this specific rule applies differently to the municipality where your house is located, so for more clarity you should contact your local municipality
• Each tenant receives a rental agreement or contract for their household
• Your house must adhere to the fire safety requirement.

Rental Rules

• Trial period for rental: Under this arrangement, the first 9 months of the rental contract is called a trial period or proeftijd. Within this period, the landlord can end the rental contract without giving any reason. Therefore, the tenant has no rental protection during this period. However, it is good to know that the landlord must cancel the rental contract a minimum of 3 months beforehand. After this trial period, a normal tenant protection is applied and the landlord must have a good reason to cancel the rental agreement.
• Temporary rental agreement: If you decide to rent out your room for a specific length of time and less than 5 years, then a different rule applies to you. In this case, as a landlord you cannot end the rental agreement before the agreed rental period ends, but the tenant has the right to do this. In addition, you still have to inform the tenant timely before the rental period will end, which is between 1 to 3 months before the date.