The minimum time limit for giving notice to quit is one month, and you can terminate the rental agreement every day of the month. So you are not bound to the beginning or end of a month to be able to either give notice or move house. There are several ways to give notice. You can either fill in the form (in Dutch) on this site, or give notice by sending a letter. Either way, always state your new address. A few days after we have received your notice we will send you the required written confirmation.

 

Giving notice for a room

When you give notice for a room, we send you a checklist form so that you can monitor whether you are leaving your room in a state of good repair or not. You can also inform us of repairs that need doing. Sign the statement and send it back to us even if you have no repairs to report. If you want, you can also make an appointment for your room to be inspected by the technical manager.

 

Giving notice for an apartment

When you give notice for an apartment, we will make an appointment for our technical manager to do the pre-inspection. He or she will indicate what the accommodation should look like at the final inspection. If you do not carry out the advised restoration work yourself, we will bill you for the incurred costs. The pre-inspection report will indicate what the costs are likely to be. On the last day of your rental agreement the final inspection will take place. The ensuing report will be signed by both parties.

 

Handing over the keys

When you leave a room, you have to hand the keys over to a new tenant yourself. The new occupant should receive at least one key for each lock. Do you want to leave the accommodation earlier than planned and hand over to the new tenant? We advise you to have this put down in writing with the new tenant. The final date of the contract will not change, as you will be responsible for the room till the very last day that rent is owed for the room or apartment.

When you leave an apartment you are required to leave the key(s) with the technical manager at the final inspection.

Final statement

Within four weeks after the end of the rental contract you will receive a final statement which says whether you still have rent or damages to pay for, or whether you will be reimbursed. Service costs are billed once a year at the end of the calendar year in question. If you pay variable service costs you will receive the bill later. Settlement of rent allowance usually takes place later as well. If you pay the rent via direct debit, it will also automatically stop after termination of the rental contract.

 

Leaving accommodation in a rentable state

Your room must be left in a rentable state. This means that ceilings, walls, doors and inside window frames must be in a good state of repair. All hooks, screws, nails, plugs and stickers must be removed, and resulting holes filled in. In addition, walls and ceilings should be left so that the next tenant will need only two coats of paint to cover the surface adequately. Plug sockets, switches, intercoms and such like may not be painted. The room/apartment (and storage space, if any) must be left clean and completely empty, in other words: without curtains, curtain rails, floor covering or furniture. Remember to remove foam and glue remains when you are taking away the floor covering.

If you don't leave your room/apartment empty and clean, the SSH can bill you for cleaning costs. An exception to this are the belongings that you have our permission to leave behind, or those items that the new tenant has arranged to take.

 

Take over items

The new tenant may buy items such as floor covering, curtain rails and furniture from you at a reduced price, or accept certain furnishings being left behind, but there is no obligation to do so. If no new tenant has as yet been found, then nothing can be taken over or bought from you, and you will have to remove everything from the room so as to leave it empty and ready for rental.

 

The SSH will only consider taking over approved alterations such as a raised bed, bath or amelioration of the central heating system. (For more information, check DIY- handywork).  Before making any alterations, you are obliged to request (and receive) permission in writing beforehand, as is stipulated in your rental contract. This way you minimize the risk of having to remove the alterations, and may also save yourself a lot of money and energy in the end. There is a chance of receiving compensation for certain alterations, the sum of which will have been stated in the letter of permission you received before commencing the alteration. You are not permitted to make arrangements with the new tenant about taking over alterations you have made. Unapproved alterations will without exception have to be removed before the end of the rental contract.

 

Further arrangements

If you have been paying your phone, water, gas and electricity bills directly to the relevant companies, you yourself will have to make arrangements to discontinue your contracts. If you are moving to Utrecht, or within the municipality, you will have to register yourself within 5 days, either by letter or in person at the´Citizen Affairs´(Burgerzaken) counter. You will find more information on the municipality site.

SSH registration

If you move to another accommodation that is either your own or belongs to another lessor, your SSH registration number will remain valid up to your 30th birthday, but you will no longer be able to respond to independent accommodation via this site. After you have moved house, you will only be able to respond to regular rooms, temporary accommodation and rooms in city-centre buildings.