Woman Rents Room in Amsterdam Without Windows
The crazy rental market in Amsterdam, which we kut expats are blamed for leads to situations like the one below. Of course, no Dutch property owners can be held responsible for ripping off renters. Nee! It’s always the fault of the renter.
Too good to be true?
A woman called Samira saw an ad on Facebook for a room that was available to rent. The photos looked nice but when she went to view the room it turned out that it was only 7 m2 and didn’t have a window. For the ad on Facebook, the landlady had used photos from other rooms in the house which did have windows but were not available to rent. Samira, like many people at the moment, desperately needed somewhere to live so accepted the room. She paid €715 per month rent including service costs.
Sunlight is overrated
After four months she moved out not only due to the lack of a window or ventilation but also due to a poor relationship with the landlady who lived in the same house. Samira contacted !Woon and asked them if it’s actually legal to rent out a room without windows and ventilation. Using the points system for rental accommodation they calculated that room should have cost a maximum of €163, not the €715 she was paying.
She was going to start a procedure with Huurcommissie but was told that she’d have to wait around nine months. Samira sent a proposal to her former landlady to agree on a settlement. The landlady blocked her on Whatsapp.
Samira is now waiting for the Huurcommissie to take action against her former landlady. She’s expected to receive more than €2000 as a result.
If you’re being ripped off by your landlord/landlady and live in Amsterdam, please contact !Woon or the Huurcommissie.
This post is based on a Dutch post on the !Woon website.Â
No lovers of fresh air were hurt during the writing of this post.
