Housing
Key words
Makelaar: Estate Agent
Huur: Rent
Kamer: Room
Slaapkamer: Bedroom
Huis: House
Appartement: Apartment
As fantastic as living in Amsterdam is, housing can be a real struggle. In the following we provide you with a couple of strategies to find your room in Amsterdam:
Housing through the University of Amsterdam
In the latest years, housing in Amsterdam became a difficulty for most students as the market keeps expanding and less opportunities arise for individuals entitled as students.
The University of Amsterdam has a close cooperation with some of the biggest renting agencies in Amsterdam, amongst them DUWO and DeKey. Once your application has reached stage 3 status, you should be sent an e-mail guiding you through several housing offers from those cooperation.
In order to make good use of this e-mail, you will find it usefull to have checked which parts of Amsterdam you find especially appealing to live in (check proximity to Roeterseiland campus!), which price range you can afford and which living arrangements you prefer. Lastly it is highly important to make sure that your credit card is charged with sufficient money to make an immediate payment and to check your E-Mail account as often as humanly possible!
All this being said, many internationals find themselves in the situation that they receive no housing e-mail and end up without a room at the beginning of the semester. To avoid being forgotten or ignored by the University it is worth staying in touch with other waiting students or with someone from the University housing team. For more information and how to contact the housing team you can take a look at UvA's website.
Housing through commercial options
If you haven't been allocated a room through the University, then there are a number of options you could look into.
Whether you already received accommodation provided by the University or you're still looking for it, signing up to Studentenwoningweb is quite a good idea as this website allows you to apply for one subsided student room a week. However, the allocation of rooms is based on your longevity on this website, so having a year already on your account after your University contract expires is very useful.
Kamernet, Housinganywhere and Kameramsterdam are very helpful if you're looking for a shared accommodation.
Student Experience is very helpful if you're looking for a studio in a student complex.
Funda, Woonnet, Huurwoningen and Pararius are websites that amalgamate estate agent listings onto one single platform. You can also contact these estate agents directly through their websites, in this case you will however have to pay an agent fee. However, renting a whole property together with friends is a nice idea but very difficult as Amsterdam has a law which prohibits most households from registering more than 2 people. Rentslam is another paid website which searches a vast number of agents daily and emails you the beneficial matches. Even though you might have the chance to rent a whole property, many estate agents and landlords will not rent to students or will require proof of salary. Persistence is the key in most cases, and as difficult as it may seem, it's not impossible to find a suitable accommodation.
There are a number of Facebook groups where people post adverts for rooms. Many people here are students themselves, looking for flatmates and are not there to make a profit. Hence this is a good way to find affordable housing, a selection are provided here:
www.facebook.com/groups/Amsterdamapartmentrentals
www.facebook.com/groups/amsterdam.apartments
www.facebook.com/groups/woningamsterdam
www.facebook.com/groups/577890138899102
www.facebook.com/groups/zoektkamerinamsterdam
The Student Hotel and Campus Diemen Zuid and offer medium to long term contracts for students, however they are generally more expensive than the options mentioned above.
If you are already renting a property the following website may help you find out whether you are paying too much and supports you in claiming back an excess (www.lsvb.nl/checkjekamer).