Registering with the Municipality

Register with the Municipality of Rotterdam within five days of the start date of your tenancy agreement. To this end, you will need a Lessor’s Statement, which you will be provided with by Stadswonen Rotterdam. 

Applying for rent allowance

You can apply for rent allowance from the Tax Office via 'Ik wil een toeslag aanvragen'. (I want to apply for an allowance). Before applying, you should first check that you meet the conditions. You’ll need to provide information about your housing costs. The rent allowance calculation is based on the amount of rent you pay together with service costs for lighting/electricity, cleaning of communal areas and caretaker/contribution to the tenant management organisation.

Keys

When and where you collect your keys differs per type of key and residential building. There are two types of keys:

• Metal key. You can collect this from our office or from the building’s manager on the date your tenancy begins. We’ll make the arrangements during the signing of the contract.

• Tag. A tag will be pre-programmed to work from your tenancy agreement’s start date. You will receive the tag when signing the contract.

You’ll receive two identical keys. If you are going to be sharing the accommodation with your partner, you’ll be given three of these. You’ll also need a key for your mailbox. How you get this differs per building. In most cases, it will be left inside your accommodation.

Requesting extra keys

You can order additional keys for €19.50 per key. These can be requested from us by telephone or email. If we already have it/them in stock, your key(s) will be ready for you to collect from our office within one working day. You’ll need to show valid ID. 

You can also authorise someone else to pick up your key(s) for you. They will need to show:

• signed, written authorisation from you, including the date of the signature and the name of the person you have authorised;
• a copy of your ID;
• their own ID.

Gas, water, electricity

Renting from Stadswonen Rotterdam has a lot of advantages. One of them is that in almost all our buildings, your gas, water and electricity bills are covered by your service charges. In other words, you generally don’t have to arrange these utilities yourself. A few of our residential buildings are an exception to this rule, and if yours is one of them, this is always clearly indicated in the itemisation of your service charges in your tenancy agreement.

Internet

Most of our residential buildings are connected to a high-speed fibreglass internet network, which we have named KennisGlas. You can connect the internet with this manual. 

It is not possible to get cable internet (CAI) in Stadswonen Rotterdam’s residential buildings. This is due to the fact that the installed cable is unsuited for this purpose.

Television

All our units have a working cable outlet for television and radio. The subscription fee for this connection is included in your standard service charges. With us, you watch digital television via provider Ziggo. Read these instruction on how to configure your TV for digital reception.

Telephone connection

The standard Stadswonen Rotterdam tenancy agreement does not include a telephone connection. This means that, if so desired, you are free to apply to KennisGlas (website in Dutch) or a landline provider (e.g. KPN) for a telephone connection.

Keeping furniture

Our rooms and studios are provided unfurnished. If you would like the outgoing tenant to leave (some of) their furniture behind, so you don’t have to obtain it from elsewhere, you should discuss this between yourselves. If you reach agreement, you both need to complete a declaration of transfer of ownership for the items concerned. This needs to be done before the departing tenant’s final inspection.

Safety and completeness check

Got your key? Be sure to make an appointment with our contractor Huizer Bouw, within 7 calendar days, via 0180 615 990 or BonnenStadswonen@huizerbouw.nl. They’ll visit your accommodation and give it a free “safety and completeness” check. If you have noticed any defects which have not been noted on the inspection form, you must inform Stadswonen Rotterdam. Send us an e-mail with pictures of the defects attached. If you report defects later, fixing them falls under the general repairs and maintenance rules and the cost may be your responsibility.

Decorating and alterations

You’ll naturally want to furnish and decorate your room, studio or apartment to your own taste, maybe in particular colours or with different curtains. You are allowed to make small cosmetic alterations of this kind. Please note that on departure you must return the accommodation to us in exactly the same state you received it, including the originally provided floor covering and curtains.

If you want to make more significant alterations or add fixtures, you need to ask for permission via the Stadswonen Portal.

We will respond in one of the three following ways:

• Permission, with the fixtures allowed to remain after you vacate the accommodation.
• Permission, on the condition that the fixtures are removed when you vacate the accommodation.
• Permission is denied.

Maintenance and repairs to any fixtures and fittings introduced by you are your own responsibility.

Insurances

Stadswonen Rotterdam has taken out building insurance for all its residential properties, which also covers damages to any inventory belonging to the individual units. To complement this general coverage, we recommend that you – at any rate – take out the following insurance:

• Contents insurance (inboedelverzekering in Dutch). Be sure to take out adequate contents insurance that also covers the damages of a possible break-in. People tend to have more valuable possessions than they assume.
• Third-party liability insurance (aansprakelijkheidsverzekering in Dutch).
• Glass insurance (glasverzekering in Dutch).