Dutch rental contracts explained: why most are now permanent, and what your contract means for notice, deposit and rent increases

Since 1 July 2024, a new Dutch rental contract is by default for an indefinite period — permanent — under the Wet vaste huurcontracten (Fixed Rental Contracts Act). That gives a tenant strong protection: the landlord can only end the tenancy with a legal ground, while you can leave on about one month's notice. Temporary, fixed-term contracts are now the exception, allowed only for a short list of specific situations. This guide explains what your contract type means in practice — the notice periods on each side, the deposit rules (capped at two months, returned within 14 days), the 2026 rent-increase limits, and how to check whether the rent you are paying is even legal under the points system.

Until mid-2024, landlords could routinely hand out one- or two-year temporary contracts that simply expired, leaving tenants to search again in the same shortage. The Wet vaste huurcontracten reversed that: for contracts entered into from 1 July 2024, the default is an indefinite tenancy. Indefinite does not mean unbreakable, but it does mean the landlord cannot just let it run out — ending it requires a legal ground and proper notice. It is the biggest shift in tenant security in years, and it is the reason a new contract offering you 'two years and then out' should make you look twice.

The change applies to contracts signed from 1 July 2024 onward. A temporary contract genuinely signed before that date keeps running under the rules that applied when it was signed, so it can still end on its agreed date — the new default is not retroactive. If you are unsure which side of the line your contract falls on, the date of signing is what decides it.

Temporary contracts are still allowed, but only for these situations, and only up to a maximum of two years:

• a student renting temporarily to study in a different municipality from where they live
• someone who must live elsewhere for a while because of work on, or renovation of, their own home
• someone coming out of sheltered/social accommodation (maatschappelijke opvang) or in a social emergency
• someone given a 'second chance' after an earlier tenancy ended, for example because of nuisance
• someone aged 16 to 27 taking over the tenancy of a deceased parent or guardian
• someone who is divorcing, demonstrably no longer living together, renting temporarily to stay near their children
• someone working temporarily on one of the Wadden Islands but normally living on the mainland
• a status holder (recognised refugee) coming straight from a COA reception centre while waiting for permanent housing

If a temporary contract in one of these categories is extended, it turns into a permanent one. And if a landlord gives you a 'temporary' contract when your situation is not on this list, the fixed end date does not hold — you keep the protection of a permanent tenancy regardless of what the paper says.

On a permanent contract the two sides are deliberately unequal. You can end the tenancy yourself with usually one month's notice — one rental-payment period — and you do not have to give a reason; your contract states the exact term, which cannot be longer than three months or shorter than one. Give notice in writing, by registered letter, so you can prove the date.

The landlord cannot simply end it. They need a legal ground, they must give 3 to 6 months' notice (longer the longer you have lived there), and if you do not agree, the tenancy continues until a court decides. Valid grounds include serious rent arrears, causing nuisance, the landlord urgently needing the home for their own use, or selling the property — but 'someone will pay me more' is not one of them. This asymmetry is the core of Dutch tenant protection (huurbescherming): easy for you to leave, hard for the landlord to remove you.

Since the Wet goed verhuurderschap (Good Landlord Act) took effect on 1 July 2023, the deposit (waarborgsom) may be at most two months' basic rent — the kale huur, meaning rent excluding service costs. (For contracts from before that date, the older three-month maximum can still apply.) After the tenancy ends, the landlord must return the deposit within 14 days, and may deduct only four things: unpaid rent, unpaid service charges, damage you caused beyond normal wear and tear, and unpaid energy-performance costs. Nothing else — 'administration' or standard cleaning fees cannot be taken from it. If the landlord does deduct for damage or costs, they must give you a written breakdown, and any remaining balance then has to be paid within 30 days.

Rent can normally be raised only once every 12 months, and the maximum increase is set nationally each year. For 2026 the caps are 4.1% for social (regulated) homes, 6.1% for the mid-rent (middenhuur) segment, and 4.4% for free-sector (vrije sector) homes. A landlord cannot spring an increase mid-year — outside limited exceptions such as the first year of the tenancy or after home improvements — nor raise it above that year's ceiling.

If your increase looks higher than the cap, or the landlord tries to raise the rent more than once in a year, you can challenge it at the Huurcommissie (Rent Tribunal). For free-sector homes the challenge has to be made within four months of the increase date, so it is worth acting quickly rather than paying and forgetting.

Under the Wet betaalbare huur (Affordable Rent Act), in force since 1 July 2024, a home's rent is tied to its quality score under the woningwaarderingsstelsel (WWS — the points system, or puntensysteem). Points are awarded for floor area, the energy label, facilities and more, and the total sets a maximum rent. Homes up to 143 points are social housing; 144 to 186 points fall in the regulated mid-rent segment with a maximum rent (up to €1,228.07 in 2026); only homes of 187 points or more are free sector with no cap. A home scoring in the regulated range cannot lawfully charge more than its points allow, and municipalities have been able to enforce this since 2025.

You can check your own home with the rent check (huurprijscheck) on the Huurcommissie website: it counts the points and shows the maximum rent for your place. If you are paying more than the points permit, the Huurcommissie can rule the rent down — a genuinely useful check to run at the start of a tenancy rather than years in.

The deposit is the most common dispute at the end of a tenancy, and the law is firmly on your side: it must come back within 14 days, and only for the four specific reasons above can anything be withheld. If the landlord goes quiet or vague, put your request in writing, cite the 14-day rule, and ask for a written breakdown of any deduction. Photograph the home at move-out — and keep your move-in photos — so any 'damage' claim has to meet actual evidence.

If it still isn't returned, you have real routes: the municipal reporting point for good landlordship (gemeentelijk meldpunt goed verhuurderschap) handles exactly this kind of conduct, and a deposit claim can go to the sub-district court (kantonrechter), which deals with tenancy money without needing a lawyer. Landlords who hang on to deposits often rely on tenants assuming the money is simply gone — it isn't, and the rules give you concrete, low-cost steps to get it back.

If a landlord offers you a fixed-term contract from mid-2024 onward and your situation isn't one of the listed exceptions, the contract is permanent in law even where the paper says 'temporary' — the end date simply does not apply. Some landlords still offer temporary contracts out of habit or to keep flexibility, so this comes up often. You don't have to turn the home down over it: you keep the security of a permanent tenancy either way. If you're unsure which category your contract falls into, the Huurcommissie or the municipal meldpunt can tell you where you stand.

Before you sign anything, the find-rental guide covers where homes are listed and the income landlords ask for; and if your rent and income are modest, rent benefit may cut the cost — see the huurtoeslag guide.