In most cases the rent you pay for your Stadswonen Rotterdam unit is made up of basic rent plus a surcharge for service charges.

Basic rent

The basic rent (called kale huur or netto huur in Dutch) is the price you are charged for occupying the unit itself, without any additional costs such as service charges.

Service charges

The service charges are additional charges for a variety of services and facilities such as heating, electricity and the cleaning of communal areas in your buildings.

Visit Stadswonen Portal for an overview of the service charges that apply in the case of your unit. Some service charges are reserved for a long-term budget, while others are advances. These advances are settled at the end of the financial year with the actual costs of the facilities and services in question. If actual costs are lower than the advances you have paid, the difference will be returned to you. And if actual costs exceed the total paid in advances, you will be required to make up the difference.

Tenancy agreement costs 

Stadswonen Rotterdam does not charge any agency fees or ask for deposits. Upon signing the tenancy agreement, you have to pay the first month's rent and the costs for the contract. That is €25 or €30 (depending on the type of building and whether we provide the nameplate or not).

Most rooms operated by us have been ‘allocated’ a housing allowance (huurtoeslag) by the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. If the Tax and Customs Administration requires you to prove this, you can apply to Stadswonen Rotterdam for a copy of this allocation by sending an e-mail. Whether you personally qualify for housing allowance depends on the basic rent amount, your age and your financial situation. To become eligible for a housing allowance, you furthermore need to be registered with the Municipality.

You can apply for housing allowance at the Tax and Customs Administration.

Housing allowance for studios and flats

Whether you personally qualify for housing allowance depends on the basic rent amount, your age and your financial situation. To check whether you are eligible and possibly apply for a housing allowance, visit the website of the Tax and Customs Administration.

Applying for a housing allowance

You can apply for housing allowance from the Tax and Customs Administration. To complete this application, you will need to fill in various details about your housing costs. The most up-to-date survey of your personal housing costs can be found at Stadswonen Portal. The following components in your service charges are relevant to your application: lighting and electricity in your building’s communal areas, cleaning of the communal areas and resident contributions for management costs.

Our standard arrangement for rent payments is direct debit (automatische incasso). The rent is automatically transferred from your account via a pre-authorised payment, meaning that you don’t have to worry about making your payments on time. By default, this will happen on the 1st day of each month. If you prefer, you can change this to 5 days earlier or 5 days later. Whatever works best for you.

If you are not paying via direct debit (automatische incasso) and would like to, fill in the direct debit authorisation form. 

AcceptEasy

AcceptEasy is a digital giro transfer which enables you to pay with one click via iDeal. Every month you’ll receive an email froms us containing a link to iDeal. You can set up AcceptEasy via the form (in Dutch) on the Woonstad Rotterdam website. (Woonstad Rotterdam is the housing association of which Stadswonen Rotterdam is a part.)

Paying your rent from a different account

Would you like your rent to be transferred from a different account than the one you are using at present? No problem. Simply get in touch with Stadswonen Rotterdam and we will send you a form you can use. Once you’ve returned the completed and signed form to us, we’ll take care of the rest.

Rent arrears

Did you fail to pay your rent before the first day of the following month? Then we’ll send you a reminder and charge you a EUR 10 administrative fee. To prevent this, we recommend paying your rent by direct debit.

Repayment plan

Due to circumstances, a situation may develop where you are temporarily unable to pay your rent. In such cases Stadswonen Rotterdam is prepared to consult with you and draw up a repayment plan for your arrears. Be sure to apply for such an arrangement in time, via Stadswonen Portal.

Each year the Dutch government establishes the maximum percentage by which landlords are allowed to increase the rent of a given unit. This rent increase becomes effective as of 1 July. Every year, Stadswonen Rotterdam will send you an e-mail in advance that contains a proposal listing your old rent and your new rent as of 1 July.

Objecting against a rent increase

Do you disagree with the amount by which your rent has been increased? In that case you are entitled to appeal the increase. To lodge your appeal, always use the form Notice of Objection against Rent Increase (Bezwaarschrift Huurverhoging). After completing and signing the form, send it to:

Stadswonen Rotterdam
Rent Increase Appeals [enter year]
PO Box 4057
3006 AB ROTTERDAM
The Netherlands

Make sure we have received your notice of objection before 1 July of the year for which you are lodging your appeal!

You will receive a written response to your appeal from Stadswonen Rotterdam within three weeks. Stadswonen will compare the details of your appeal to what is stipulated in current legislation and regulations. If your objection is validated, Stadswonen will adjust the rent increase and notify you of this adjustment in writing. If your appeal is denied, you have the option of either withdrawing your objection or continuing the appeal procedure.

Do you wish to maintain your objection? In that case Stadswonen Rotterdam will ask the independent governmental Huurcommissie (Rent Tribunal) to adjudicate. Does the Huurcommissie rule that your appeal is legitimate (i.e. does the Huurcommissie agree with your objection)? Then Stadswonen Rotterdam will be required to adjust its proposed rent increase. Did the Huurcommissie disallow your appeal (i.e. does the Huurcommissie agree with Stadswonen Rotterdam)? Then the proposed rent increase will become effective as of 1 July of the current year.

Please note: if the Huurcommissie disallows your appeal, you will be required to pay this tribunal legal dues to the amount of EUR 25. Further information on the procedure can be found on the Huurcommissie’s Dutch-language website.

Have you decided not to lodge an official objection against the rent increase? Then the proposed increase will be adopted as of 1 July of the current year.

Objecting against a rent increase on the basis of maintenance arrears

It is no longer possible to appeal the annual rent increase on the basis of maintenance arrears. Any maintenance issues that need to be resolved can be reported to our Maintenance and Repairs Department. To contact them, send request repairs via Stadswonen Portal.

Would you nevertheless like to appeal the rent increase on the above grounds? Then you will need to follow a different procedure. For further information, contact the Huurcommissie Secretariat on 0800 488 72 43 (Netherlands only) or via www.huurcommissie.nl.

As a tenant, you are required to pay:

• Water board taxes;
• Municipal levies, such as the local waste charge.

If you are renting a room from Stadswonen Rotterdam, these charges and levies are settled via your standard service charges. If you are renting a studio or flat, these charges will be posted to you directly by the Municipality and other agencies like the local Water Board. Further information on municipal levies can be found here.

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).