Housing

Finding housing in Eindhoven is challenging. New students can receive help from the TU/e when coming to the university for the first time, but others will have to search in multiple places to find a good place to live that fits all your needs.

TU/e Housing for New Students

The TU/e helps new international students with finding housing. You should receive some information by email, which includes deadlines etc. More information can be found here. This information is for prospective students only.

Finding Your Own Housing

If you would like to find housing yourself, we recommend to be in Eindhoven during your search. This will help prevent you from being scammed. Most students choose accommodation either from the TU/e or The Student Hotel for the first year of their stay and look for housing during their first semester or first year of school.

The Student Hotel - The Student Hotel is a medium-term housing option. Located close to campus, the hotel is a great place to stay if you are planning on looking for housing on your own and need a place to stay while looking. Note that The Student Hotel has a maximum stay of 1 year and does not allow for Housing Allowance.

Rental agencies

Since the two options above likely won't be able to provide places for everyone, you can alternatively look for your own accommodation. You are also more likely to find cheaper accommodation this way. Below there is a list of all rental agencies offering housing in Eindhoven. Most sites are free of charge, however a few are subscription based meaning you have to pay a little amount of money to be able to reply to their ads.

Goeth Vastgoed

Friendly Housing

Funda

Pararius

Jaap

Huislijn

Marktplaats

HousingXL

Brick Vastgoed

Stones Housing

Holland2Stay

Domica

Househunting

Vesteda

VB&T verhuurmakelaar

Rotsvast

Van Santvoort Makelaars

Coppelmans Makelaardij

MVGM

Stoit

Smart Housing

123wonen

Huurinc

Vestide - Vestide is probably the cheapest agency, offering rooms with shared facilities, however it is very unlikely that you get your first room in Eindhoven from them. The reason is that Vestide works with a special waiting list that favours students who have been waiting for a room longer or are moving here from a farther distance. Since they are one of the cheapest agency, the waiting lists are always full. Nonetheless, if you are planning to stay in Eindhoven for multiple years, you should sign up as soon as possible, so you start accumulating 'months' and you can get to the top of waiting lists in your second year or later.

Kamernet (Subscription based)

Directwonen (Subscription based)

Facebook Groups

There are a variety of resources on Facebook for finding roommates and housing. There are many rooms offered in these groups and although most of them are reliable, be careful because unlike official website, Facebook has no guarantee about the trustworthiness of the ads. Keep in mind: never transfer money before signing a contract.

1. Eindhoven Housing
2. Kamers in Eindhoven
3. Housing Eindhoven
4. Find a room(mate) or house in Eindhoven - kamer(s) in Eindhoven
5. Housing DAE (Mainly for Design Academy Eindhoven students)

The Dutch word for room is 'kamer'. It is important to know that many Dutch students prefer Dutch roommates. Don't be discouraged or surprised if you see 'Dutch Only' ads, you will eventually find the right accommodation.

Credits to Christoph Hauenstein who collected a list of housing websites, which is what our list is mostly based on.

Tips From Students

After talking with several students, we have come up with a list of tips for you to navigate housing.

• Friendly Housing is not a popular choice. Many students have reported trouble with the landlords, dirty rooms at move-in, and unfair fees.

• No matter the company, be sure to take pictures of your house/apartment/room when you move in and send a copy to your housing agency when you first arrive. This helps you document any damages that were on the property BEFORE you arrived and can help prove this should issues arise when you move out. You can send these pictures when you return the move-in form (a form given to you at move-in for documenting inventory and damages. Note: This is usually only given when renting from large companies. Check with your landlord during move-in.)

• Many ads are not taken down from sites, although the room or studio has been taken by someone. To minimize the amount of time you would waste with these "false" ads, we suggest calling the agency immediately when you see something you like.

• Since agencies often require you to send them some relevant information about yourself (regarding renting), we suggest you prepare a CV-like PDF to speed up the process. This can go as far as sending a motivational letter too. Similarly, if you are applying to ads in Facebook groups, prepare a short introduction text about yourself that you can send in a personal message.

• The Dutch have a tradition called "kijkavond", which is similar to the open house concept in English. In many shared houses, when a room becomes available the roommates get to decide about who moves in. They do this by selecting a few of the applicants who they think would make good housemates and invite them to see the house - altogether. This evening is called kijkavond, which is practically an informal event involving a short introduction round, and the applicants have a chance to see the room and meet the housemates. If you are invited to a kijkavond, make sure you arrive on time, don't be afraid to ask questions and have conversation with both the housemates and fellow applicants - in general you want to show your most social side, that's what makes a good housemate.

Housing Allowance

There is a possibility you can receive housing allowance (huurtoeslag) while being a student. This can be applied for via Belastingdienst which is the Dutch Tax Office. Dutch tax office pages are in Dutch, but with a Dutch friend or Google Translate they are easy to navigate. The conditions for getting housing allowance (huurtoeslag) vary with age, income and living conditions. All conditions are described on the web page.

Your housing company might offer to arrange housing allowance for you, most likely for a substantial fee. Arranging housing allowance online by yourself is very simple, so it might be worth considering doing it yourself before accepting the offer from your housing company.

Huurcommissie

The Huurcommissie (Rent Committee in English) helps tenants and landlords with any kind of issues regarding renting. For example, if you suspect that your rent is too high or your landlord doesn't do yearly maintenance on the house, you could contact the Huurcommissie for help. Unfortunately, their website is not available in English, therefore we advise to call or email them.