Student housing in Amsterdam

Information about housing

• General information about housing

  • Housing prices via VU Amsterdam vary from €450 to €1350 per month, but the average rent for VU housing is €700 per month. The number of cheap rooms with shared facilities is limited.
  • VU Amsterdam only offers housing for your first year, even for 2- or 3-year study programmes. You need to find accommodation by yourself after the first academic year.
  • The housing market in the Netherlands is tight, especially in Amsterdam. Many Dutch and international students are searching for student rooms. Housing prices are high: rental prices at the private market often start at €750 and up. Start your search early and be prepared to search in surrounding villages and towns. You can check our tips and read more about the Dutch student housing market in general.

  Watch our informative webinar

  • We organised a Webinar about the housing situation on the 25th of April 2024, you can find the recording via this link. 

• Eligibility

  Who can apply for accommodation?

  All students who have been (conditionally) accepted will receive an invitation to confirm their participation on VU.nl. Once you have confirmed your participation, you will be able to apply for accommodation on the VU-Dashboard. You can only apply for accommodation from VU Amsterdam when you meet the following criteria:

  • You are enrolled in an English-taught degree programme;
  • You are a first year student;
  • You have a non-Dutch nationality. Please note that when you have dual citizenship of the Netherlands and an EU/Non-EU country, you are not eligible for accommodation via us;
  • You have to be admitted based on a foreign diploma;
  • You are not living in the Netherlands.

• Accommodation types and contract information

  Accommodation in Amsterdam

  Our accommodation consists of furnished  and unfurnished (single) rooms with private or shared facilities. It is common that men and women live together in the same student house. Given the shortage of accommodation, you may find the room you get is rather small and not of the standard you had expected. Accommodation in Amsterdam is not only limited, but can also be more expensive than at home. Thinking about these things in advance could help avoid unpleasant surprises later. We are trying to manage your expectations!

  Contract types

  Rental contracts for Bachelor's and (pre-) Master's students:

  • Rental contracts for a fixed period of 1 year
    • Please find the room types in this document rooms for 1 year  
    • 1 year contracts cannot be extended.
    • Bachelor's students need to find accommodation themselves for the second and third year. 2 year Master’s students and Master's students who do not finish the programmes within 1 year also need to find accommodation themselves.
    • The rooms for this contract are furnished.
    • Early termination of the contract is not allowed.
  • Campus contracts
    • There are very limited rooms available for this type of contract. The location is Student Experience - Amsterdam Amstel. 
    • These are rental contracts covering the total duration of your study program. You can stay in this type of accommodation as long as you are registered at VU Amsterdam. 
    • Rooms with a campus contract are not furnished.
    • The contracts are flexible;. i.e., there are no fixed end dates which means that it is possible to cancel the contract during the academic year.
    • Depending on the housing company, the room may be cancelled after the first year or during the first year. Please keep in mind that there is a one month notice.

  Couples rooms

  We have very limited rooms available for couples. Most of the couples rooms are part of DUWO Accommodate and are located at Cornelis Lelylaan, Pierre Lallementstraat and Uilenstede. We also have couples rooms at OurCampus Amsterdam Diemen and BOLD (De Key).  Most of the rooms for couples contain 1 larger bed.

  To qualify for a couples room, it is mandatory that your partner is also a VU student. We will assign couples rooms on a first-paid, first-served basis (so based on the date on which we received the housing fee). After you both paid the housing fee, please contact us via e-mail, studentaccommodation@vu.nl, to let us know that you prefer a couples room. Also mention both student numbers in the email. You can find more information about couple rooms in this document. 

  Rental prices and fees of housing corporations

  The rental prices mentioned are per month. The price varies according to type, size and location. Services costs (water, electricity, cable internet etc.) are included in the price.
  
  All rents mentioned are subject to change, and as such you cannot derive a right from these prices. You can find the (range of) rental prices in the types of accommodation documents listed above. Various types of accommodation are eligible for housing allowance. See 'Taxes and Housing Allowance' for more information. Please note that apart from the rent, our housing providers may also charge you an administrative fee, deposit and/or the first few months of rent in advance.

• Application procedure and waiting list

  Application procedure Pre-Master’s students

  For Pre-Master's students, the housing application must be completed manually. You can choose housing for either your Pre-Master's program or your first year of your full study program. If you select housing during your Pre-Master's, you will not be able to apply again for the following academic year. To apply for housing during your Pre-Master's, please contact us at studentaccommodation@vu.nl, as applications cannot be submitted through Your Personal VU Dashboard. We will send you a form to apply for the VU housing service, along with further instructions via email. You can start from 'Step 3: Pay the housing fee' in the instructions below, as the procedure is the same from that point onward.

  Application procedure Bachelor’s and Master’s students

  • Step 1: Please confirm your participation in your personal VU dashboard.
  • Step 2: Select your budget category

  During your application you will be asked to indicate your budget category. Please note that you can no longer make any changes after you have submitted your application, however the selected budget category is only an indication for us as and you will be able to choose out of rooms from all budget categories. Therefore, we cannot guarantee a room in this specific category as we have a limited number of rooms available.

  • Step 3: Pay the housing fee

  Please transfer the housing fee. Accommodation will be assigned based on a first paid, first served system. The date on which VU Amsterdam receives the payment will determine your place in the queue. As soon as you finish the housing application, a link to pay the housing fee online will become available within 12 hours within your personal VU Dashboard. 

  The housing fee is necessary to cover the costs of VU Amsterdam in providing the housing service to international students and staff.
  The fee is used to reserve affordable housing specifically for first-year international students, who often have great difficulty finding housing due to the scarcity on the housing market and high rents. The fee is refunded if VU Amsterdam is unable to offer a room from its reserved.  VU Amsterdam would like to emphasize that the services are only cost-covering.

  For Bachelor's and (pre)-Master's students the fee is €500 for all contracts. We advise you to use the online payment tool, but it is also possible to pay the fee via bank transfer. The bank details are as follows:

  Account name:      Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

  Name of bank:       Deutsche Bank

  Address of bank:   De Entree 99-197, 1101 HE Amsterdam, The Netherlands

  IBAN:                       NL49DEUT0488004470

  BIC:                          DEUTNL2N and DEUTNL2A for non-SEPA

  Please state your name and S+ student number (e.g. s1234567). When paid from abroad, all banking costs are to be paid by the applicant. You can pay your visa and housing fee in one transaction. Applications for accommodation will not be dealt with until VU Amsterdam has received this payment.

  • Step 4: Your application is completed!

  Within a few weeks you will receive a confirmation e-mail from the VU Accommodation Office. You are now added to the accommodation queue. You have completed your housing application and there is nothing left to do at this moment.

  • Step 5: It’s now time to book your room

  A few months before the start of the academic year you will receive further instructions from the VU Accommodation Office via e-mail. You will be able to book your room in the booking system, according to your preference and availability. Students will be uploaded in the booking system in batches based on a first paid, first served system. The first group of students who will be booking their room will have a choice out of the most rooms. You can only book one room and it is not possible to change your room after your booking.

  • Step 6: Finally, let’s sign your rental contract

  Once you have reserved your room in the booking system, you have almost completed the procedure. You will receive further instructions via e-mail in order to sign the rental contract with your housing provider. You still need to follow a few steps (depending on the housing provider) before you can do this.

  Waiting list

  In case all rooms are booked, students will be placed on a waiting list. We are not able to give information about your position on the waiting list. Please keep in mind that the waiting list does not give you any guarantees to get a room via VU Accommodation Office. We are fully dependent on cancellations. We advise you to search for a room independently. 

  Video

  We created a video about this process, which you can find here.

• Cancellation refund policy, terms and conditions

  Cancellation refund policy

  Your housing fee will only be refunded when you cancel your application before July 1st, 23:59 CET (Amsterdam time), even if you have already received a housing offer through us. 

  You can request the refund by sending an e-mail to studentaccommodation@vu.nl. It is only possible to request a refund of the housing fee after 1 July 2025 when the University Accommodation Office did not yet give you access to the booking system. After 1 July, as soon as you have been offered a room or you have been uploaded to the booking system ROOM.nl, your housing fee becomes non-refundable. For example, when you are on the waiting list and you receive a room offer later than 1 July 2025 then it is not possible to cancel your housing application without costs. If you do not wish to be on the waiting list any more, please inform studentaccommodation@vu.nl as soon as possible.

  Terms and conditions

  • It is not possible to cancel your rental contract, unless you terminate your enrollment or in case of significant personal circumstances. Please contact studentaccommodation@vu.nl in both situations. It is not possible to terminate your rental agreement without the approval of the university. We take a full one month notice period into account after approving your early termination. 
  • When you depart at the end of the rental contract, you must have paid all outstanding invoices in full.
  • As a tenant, you are responsible and liable for the accommodation you are renting. The accommodation and the shared facilities must be left in a good and clean state. 
  • All refundable costs made to the housing provider (i.e. security deposit) will be refunded by the housing provider after cancellation.
  • As a tenant, you are not allowed to sublet your accommodation. This includes platforms such as AirBnB and Wimdu. The only exception to this rule is when you go abroad as part of your study programme or for an internship. Please contact studentaccommodation@vu.nl if this is the case.

• Route descriptions from Schiphol to housing providers

  Amsterdam-North

  • BOLD
  • Student Experience Minervahaven

  Amsterdam-South and Amsterdam-Buitenveldert

  • De Boelelaan
  • Student Experience Zuidas

  Amsterdam-New-West

  • Cornelis Lelylaan
  • Krelis Louwenstraat
  • Mosaic World
  • StuNest
  • The Social Hub West (formerly called The Student Hotel)

  Amsterdam-East

  • Eerste Ringdijkstraat
  • Pierre Lallementstraat

  Amsterdam-Bijlmermeer and Diemen

  • Student Experience Amsterdam Amstel

  Amstelveen (including Uilenstede)

  • EuroParcs Amsterdamse Bos
  • Uilenstede

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