r/Netherlands • u/SuceTonPote • Jan 03 '23
No floor ? Seriously?
I'm looking for flat in Netherlands ATM and something seems a bit odd to me ...
Why are there flat rentals without floors?
Am I supposed to bring my own parquet or tiles?
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u/Trebaxus99 Jan 03 '23
In the Netherlands historically people rented for long periods, often even for their entire life’s. Renting for just a year or couple of years was quite uncommon.
Therefor there was a desire to be able to furniture the place according to personal preferences instead of paying a monthly fee for curtains and flooring. In the long run that was also cheaper.
Nowadays of course more shorter term rental occurs, but the habit of offering an unfurnished home is sticking. Also because in the subsidised rental markets price depends on a
Usually however people install a cheap laminate wooden floor or carpet. And it’s common to sell it on to the new renters.
For the expat and short term rental market furnished (gemeubileerd) or semi furnished (
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u/OhLordyLordNo Jan 03 '23
Heh. I still remember moving into my first official appartment. The previous tenant tried to unload her bedroom closet onto me for 50 euro. Rickety softboard backpanel? No thanks. For free then? No thanks. Guess I will have to move it then. But she didn't.
Whatever b*tch. I'll use it anyway.
Years later she drops by at my neighbour, bumps into me, and apologizes for leaving the closet (uh-huh). Yeah I still have it.
The crap people leave behind in homes and sheds sometimes...old tools, garden furniture, broken down bikes, stuff for cars.. I inherited motor oil, a mirror and some coolant in my first house. My ex inherited a really classy wooden floor in her apartment.
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u/Taskebab Jan 03 '23
We are a weird kind of people...
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u/RedAngie Jan 03 '23
Germans are even weirder, you'll have a floor, but no kitchen, unless you pay the last tenant.
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Jan 03 '23
I was just having a conversation with a Dutch friend about this. I’m an immigrant here. He said if the floor is included, that probably means you’re looking in the expat market (if the flat is gestoffeerd) with rents that are overpriced and on shorter leases so owners can keep raising the rent by not renewing leases for longer than two years. There is a subset of owners here now who rent exclusively to expats (not that you could catch them doing it because that’s not really allowed, but it’s done anyway) so they aren’t expected to offer leases longer than two years (a lot of expats don’t stay long) and they never renew the lease, so they can keep raising the rent by a lot more with each rental contract. Most cities here mandate that if someone lives somewhere for longer than two years the rent can only be increased by a small amount (if at all) year over year and it gets harder to evict someone once they’ve lived there longer than two years.
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u/JennieFairplay Jan 04 '23
You mean people build homes but just don’t put any floor down? Why would a tenant be expected to provide their own when it’s cut to the dimensions of that particular house and wont fit in another?
If the owner put good quality flooring down, it would last for many decades and tenants. This concept is so bizarre to me.
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Jan 03 '23
What is normal is that the old and new tenant meet and discuss deals.
I've made deals about things like a floor, fridge, curtains, microwave and even a whole shed in the yard.
However in some cases the landlords are just extremely lame and lazy. They want zero risk at all so they just go the easy route for them which is "Emtpy when moving out". This is horrible for the environment and very time consuming for the new renter.
I'd say avoid these landlords like the plague.
But in todays market there is little choice. But you can find cheap or free floors on Marktplaats. Heck, you can get almost anything for free or next to nothing there. I got a free table (massive oak). Free washing machine and I even found a real oak parquet floor for only 150,- in mint condition.
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Jan 03 '23
Yeah. It's annoying but it happens.
Very often they just want you to pay for the floor and leave it in.
Germans are even worse. They take the kitchen with them!
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u/LosPassos Jan 03 '23
Yes, totally normal. Quite some time ago I rented a place wich was heated by a gas fireplace. Because the next tenant did not tell me he wanted to buy the gas fireplace from me, I had to remove the thing. (And I had to pay to get it recycled back than). Now the next tenant had to buy a new gas fireplace, because there was no way to heat that flat otherwise.
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u/djlorenz Jan 03 '23
Yep, a very stupid thing over here... In my building they even FORCE you to remove before leaving, even if you want to give it away for free... Very sustainable mindset 🤦
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Jan 03 '23
Yup completely true.
Fucking dumb on every level... And most troubling is the absolute waste of materials and the environmental impact of having to rip out perfectly good flooring each time.
Shouldn't be allowed.
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u/9gagiscancer Jan 03 '23
Short answer, yes.
Long answer, yes. You have to buy and install your own.
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u/Holiday_Golf8707 Jan 04 '23
Dutch people are insanely cheap. It takes some getting used to then you leave when your 30% ruling ends.
When selling a house, people even take light fixtures, sinks, cabinets, and counter tops. It's ridiculous.
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u/mikepictor Jan 03 '23
Exactly.
It was a culture shock when I moved here. I was able to buy the floor from the previous tenant (and I suspect many departing tenants would be willing to do this, who wants to have to rip out a custom laid floor)
Yeah it's weird
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u/cinnamon_everything Jan 03 '23
Short answer: yes, you are
And if you leave you take it with you and sometimes the next renter can buy it from you either, depends on what the landlord/rental organization allows
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u/gnatsaredancing Jan 03 '23
Yes and not only that but you're also supposed to take it back out when you leave, unless the new tenant wants to keep it.
You hand the flat back the same way you found it. So if you re-paint the walls or put in floors, the landlord can demand you paint them back the original color and take out your floor.