The housing permit is the part of renting in The Hague that internationals most often discover after the fact, usually when something else goes wrong.
It is a permission from the gemeente to live in a particular home, it applies to cheaper homes rather than expensive ones, and renting without one when you needed one carries a fine of €410.
When you need one
Two triggers, and either one is enough.
The first is the rent.
If the rent is €1,228.07 a month or less, the home needs a permit.
The second is the points.
If the home scores 186 points or fewer under the national scoring system, it needs a permit whatever the rent is.
That second trigger is the one that surprises people, because it catches a flat whose landlord is charging above the legal maximum: a high price does not lift a low-scoring home out of the rules.
If you do not know the score, the points system and how to check it is worth understanding before you sign anything.
The conditions
You must be 18 or over.
You need Dutch nationality, a valid EU passport, or a valid residence permit.
The home must give you at least 12 square metres of usable floor space per person.
This is a real constraint on small flats shared by couples and on families squeezing into a one-bedroom.
There are income ceilings.
For a single occupant, €51,537 a year for the cheaper homes and €70,149 for the mid-range ones.
These exist because the permit system is rationing a limited stock of regulated housing towards the people it was built for.
What it costs and how long it takes
The permit costs €56.75.
A complete application is answered within two weeks.
An incomplete one can take up to eight, which is the whole argument for assembling the paperwork before you apply rather than sending what you have and waiting to be asked.
Who does not need one
Three exemptions, all of them specific:
- Tenancies that began before 1 July 2019.
- People renting a single room rather than a whole self-contained home.
- Shared households that are not permanent.
If you are renting a room, the permit is not your problem, but the rest of the regulated-rent machinery still is, and rooms are scored on their own points table.
What to do about it
Ask before you sign.
A landlord letting a permit-eligible home knows perfectly well whether one is needed, and a good one will tell you.
A landlord who becomes vague when asked is telling you something else.
If you have already moved in and nobody mentioned a permit, apply now rather than hoping.
The fine is for renting without one, and it does not become smaller with time.
If the landlord is the problem rather than the paperwork, the gemeente employs free advisers for tenants who will tell you where you stand on rent level, maintenance and your landlord’s conduct, and it runs a separate channel for reporting landlords who misbehave.
Between them and the Huurcommissie, which rules on rent and can order it reduced, most of what goes wrong here has a route out that does not involve a lawyer.
What you cannot do is fix it by ignoring it, which is the approach that produces most of the rental horror stories in this city.
The permit application also assumes you are registered at the address, so if you have not done that yet, registration comes first.
Sources
- Gemeente Den Haag, huisvestingsvergunning aanvragen: the €1,228.07 rent threshold and the 186-point trigger, age and nationality conditions, 12 square metres per person, income ceilings of €51,537 and €70,149 for a single occupant, the €56.75 fee, two-week decision on a complete application and up to eight weeks otherwise, the €410 fine, and the three exemptions
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