Finding your expat home from home in the Netherlands

If you’re planning to relocate to the Netherlands in the long term, finding affordable accommodation can be tricky.

If your move to the Netherlands is a result of reassignment by your present employer, it’s possible their local office can help find suitable, affordable accommodation and also request your personal ID number from the immigration authority. A few actually have properties they rent out to new international arrivals, with other companies delegating their HR departments to help find a suitable rental. Furnished apartments are favourites, as it saves shipping your belongings from the home country.

If you’re forced to find your own rental accommodation, the first thing you’ll realise is that good properties are few and far between. The second shock is that those that are for rent are very expensive. It’s not uncommon to find you’re forced to pay thousands of euros every month in order to put a roof over your head. Using a real estate agent specialising in expat rental is the best idea, but there are also private investor landlords with buy-to-let property.

If you’re determined to stay long-term and have money to spare, buying a property is more or less affordable, especially so when compared with properties in London and Paris. In the Netherlands, it’s best to use a realtor to mediate during the process as the majority speak English and can explain clearly what’s going down.

Don’t forget to check whether you’re lucky enough to be eligible for the 30 per cent tax relief facility, a serious bonus and an untaxed reimbursement for the cost of setting up in your new country. Actual amounts are 30 per cent of salary with the reimbursement or 30/70 excluding the reimbursement, and the facility applies for five years. Previously the term was eight years, and the reversal caused an expat riot amongst those who’d bought homes on mortgages and factored in the tax facility at the longer term.