Renting out your home in 2026: step by step

Renting out your home in the Netherlands in 2026 takes eight steps, from checking whether you may let it at all to sending the yearly service charge statement. Each step below names the rule, the date it applies from and what you need to arrange.

Short version: get consent and any permit first, work out the rent with the points system, then offer an open-ended lease. The steps follow the national Dutch rental rules as they stand on 29 October 2026, with local examples from Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht.

Step 1: are you allowed to rent out your home?

Start with the parties that already have a say over the property. Ask your mortgage lender for written consent, find out whether your owners’ association (VvE) allows letting under its regulations and tell your insurer. Sort this out first, because every later step builds on it.

Step 2: which permit does your municipality require?

Your municipality decides whether you need a permit. Since 1 July 2023 it can require a rental permit in designated areas, and refuse one if you were fined in the previous 8 years, as the government explains under enforcement and supervision.

If you bought the home recently, ask whether buy-to-let protection (opkoopbescherming) applies. It has existed since 2022 and about 70 municipalities use it. As of 29 October 2026, Rotterdam applies it in 16 neighbourhoods to homes with a WOZ value up to €470,000, with fines up to €21,750.

Letting rooms or renting out while you are on holiday brings local limits. As of 29 October 2026, Rotterdam lets you rent to 2 people without a permit and requires one from 3. Holiday rental there is capped at 60 nights a year with a free registration number, and The Hague allows 30 nights with a permit costing €131.20.

Step 3: how much rent can you charge?

Count your points first. Since the Affordable Rent Act took effect on 1 July 2024, every home with 186 points or fewer has a maximum rent. The energy label weighs in: label A gives a single-family home of 40 m² or more 41 points, and label G gives minus 15. A better label means more points and a higher maximum rent.

Points	Segment	Maximum bare rent from 1 January 2026
up to 143	social rent	€932.93
144 to 186	mid-rent	€1,228.07 at 186 points
187 and above	free sector	no cap

On 1 January 2027 the limits rise to €959.71 and €1,263.32, according to the maximum rent limits published by the government. Keep your points calculation: since 1 January 2025 you hand it to every new tenant, and the tenant can ask the Rent Tribunal (Huurcommissie) to review the starting rent within 6 months.

Step 4: which lease should you offer?

Offer an open-ended lease, the standard since 1 July 2024. A temporary lease of up to 2 years is allowed only for set groups, such as students moving town for their studies or status holders housed through the COA. You announce the end of such a lease 1 to 3 months in advance. The government lists every group in its answer on open-ended tenancy agreements.

Step 5: how do you choose a tenant?

Decide how you will select before you advertise. Since 1 January 2024 you need a written, published selection procedure, and discrimination and intimidation have been banned since 1 July 2023. Rejected applicants are told why. If you use a letting agent, you pay the fee and the tenant pays nothing.

Step 6: what must the tenant receive in writing?

Give the tenant written information at the start. Since 1 July 2023 it has to cover:

• the rights and duties of tenant and landlord;
• the deposit amount, the repayment deadline and how it will be repaid;
• your contact details and the service charges;
• since 1 January 2024, the contact details of the municipal reporting point.

Any verbal agreement must be confirmed in writing. The government’s national rules on good landlordship list every item.

Step 7: how do you handle the deposit and handover?

Ask for a deposit of no more than 2 months’ bare rent (kale huur, rent without service charges), the cap for leases from 1 July 2023. Record the condition of the home at handover, because at the end you may only deduct damage caused by the tenant, rent arrears, service charges and the energy performance fee. You repay the deposit within 14 days, or within 30 days if you deduct anything, with a written breakdown.

Step 8: what do you do every year?

Three recurring tasks belong to every year of letting:

• Service charges: send a statement of actual costs within 6 months after the calendar year, so by 1 July. The tenant then has 24 months to go to the Rent Tribunal, where a case costs you €500 (fee as of 29 October 2026).
• Rent increase: once a year. For 2026 the cap is 4.1% for social rent (from 1 July 2026), 6.1% for mid-rent and 4.4% for the free sector (from 1 January 2026), according to the maximum rent increases for 2026.
• Tax return: your rented home sits in box 3, with a deemed return of 6.00% and a rate of 36% in 2026, as set out in the Belastingdienst’s box 3 calculation.

Keep an eye on the plans as well. The cabinet wants rental homes with label E, F or G to reach at least label D by 1 January 2029; that sits in a draft decree and is not law yet.

What should you tick off before the tenant moves in?

• Consent from mortgage lender, VvE and insurer
• Permit or notification arranged with the municipality
• Points calculated and rent within the cap
• Open-ended lease, or a valid reason for a temporary one
• Selection procedure published
• Written information and points calculation handed over
• Deposit of no more than 2 months’ bare rent
• Condition of the home recorded at handover
• Reminder for 1 July: service charge statement