House sharing in the Netherlands: the rules city by city

Woongroep or room rental: the difference that decides everything

For the municipality, the big question isn't how many people live there, but how you live together. There are two flavours, and the national government distinguishes them the same way.

One shared contract. You all rent the whole home together and are jointly responsible for the rent. This is often called a friends contract. If you genuinely form one household, sharing costs and spaces, the municipality calls it a woongroep.

A room contract each. Every resident rents a room and shares the kitchen and bathroom. That's room rental, or in official Dutch, onzelfstandige woonruimte. You can each give notice separately, but to the municipality the home has been 'converted' from one home into separate rooms. From a certain number of residents, the owner needs a conversion or room rental permit for that.

Same house, same people? Exactly. Yet one may be allowed and the other not.

House sharing by city: the rules side by side

This is what the five big cities say on their own websites (checked 26 October 2026). It's the main rule; extra rules can apply per neighbourhood or building.

House sharing in Amsterdam

Renting to 3 or more people who are not a family: the landlord needs a room rental permit, and there's a cap per neighbourhood and building. Since 1 January 2017 you can no longer start a new woongroep in Amsterdam; existing ones keep their status under conditions. Municipality page

House sharing in Rotterdam

Two people is always fine. Three or more on one shared contract counts as a woongroep: no permit, but the municipality may check that you really are one household. Room rental to 3 or more needs a permit, and from 4 all residents must be students. Municipality page

House sharing in Utrecht

Renting to more than 3 people with their own household, including a friends home, requires the owner to get a conversion permit and an environmental permit, with a liveability check. Municipality page

House sharing in The Hague

If the landlord doesn't live there: renting rooms to at most 2 single-person households needs no permit. Above that, a conversion permit is required, with a maximum of 8 residents per home. Municipality page

House sharing in Groningen

Without a conversion permit, a building may be rented to one household. The municipality now only grants new room rental conversion permits in very exceptional cases. Municipality page

When does the municipality see you as a woongroep?

"We're just a woongroep" isn't a magic phrase. Rotterdam lists exactly what an inspector looks for in a lasting shared household, and it's a useful mirror wherever you live:

• You live there for the long term, not just for the length of a degree. In Rotterdam, a group that is half or more students is not a woongroep.
• You pay all household costs together.
• There are no locks on bedroom doors and no part of the home belongs to one person alone.
• There's one kitchen and one living room clearly meant to be shared.
• Few changes: no new residents in the first two years, then at most one a year. Leaving is always allowed.

Amsterdam set similar conditions for existing woongroepen: one contract in all members' names, a joint bank account for rent and fixed costs, and the group chooses the new co-tenant itself. In short, a woongroep is a household, not a collection of separate tenants. It's exactly the kind of living together a modern shared home is about.

Who needs the permit, and what if there isn't one?

The owner or landlord applies for the conversion or room rental permit, not you. That's convenient, but it doesn't mean it's none of your business. If the permit is missing, the municipality can take action against the landlord. For woongroepen that don't meet the rules, Rotterdam writes it plainly: you may no longer be allowed to live in the home this way.

That's why landlords are sometimes hesitant about three or four friends. An honest landlord tells you which situation it is: one contract for the group, or rooms with a permit. Ask. A vague answer is information too.

Registration: the biggest red flag

You're required to register at the address where you live. When sharing a home, all residents are registered at the same address, as Rotterdam also describes it. If a landlord says "registering isn't possible here, sorry", there's a good chance the rental isn't by the rules, for example because a permit is missing.

That isn't just the landlord's problem. Without registration you won't receive government post at your address, applying for benefits gets difficult, and you risk questions from the municipality about address fraud. A postal address (briefadres) elsewhere is meant for people without a fixed home, not as a fix for a room that officially isn't allowed. In our Groningen guide we call this one of the clearest warning signs.

Which contract suits you?

House sharing comes with four terms. In short:

• Friends contract: you rent one home together and are all on the contract. You're jointly responsible for the whole rent, and often you all have to leave at the same time when it ends. Agree up front what happens if someone wants to leave early.
• Co-tenancy (medehuurderschap): someone who runs a lasting shared household with the tenant can, under conditions, become a co-tenant. That gives more security if the original tenant leaves.
• Subletting (onderhuur): the tenant rents out a room. You almost always need the landlord's permission. Without it, the main tenant takes a risk, and so do you.
• Lodging (hospitaverhuur): you rent a room from someone who lives there. In Rotterdam that means renting to at most 1 person, with the landlord using at least half the home. Once more rooms are rented out, the room rental rules apply.

Prefer to set it up yourselves, group first? Starting a woongroep explains how to rent, buy or start a housing cooperative together.

What house sharing does to your money

Sharing is cheaper, but it can also affect what you get from the government. The national government mentions state pension (AOW), social assistance, benefits, municipal charges and income-related contributions. The three that come up most:

Rent benefit (huurtoeslag). Only for a self-contained home: your own front door, kitchen, toilet and, since 1 March 2024, your own shower or bath. A room with a shared kitchen doesn't count. If you rent a whole self-contained home together, the person on the contract can apply for the whole home and the others count as co-residents. Everyone's income then counts.

Cost-sharing rule (kostendelersnorm). If you receive social assistance, the municipality lowers it when you live with other adults aged 27 or older, because you can share housing costs. People renting or subletting commercially generally don't count. If you'll live with someone on social assistance, look at the rules together.

Municipal charges. Waste and water board charges often go per address or household. In a woongroep you usually pay them together; with room rental it differs per municipality. Include them in your shared pot.

Checklist before you sign

Eight questions you can ask the landlord and your future housemates in one conversation:

• Can we all register at this address?
• Is it one contract for the group, or a room contract each?
• For rooms: is there a conversion or room rental permit?
• What does the municipality say about this number of residents? Check your city's website yourself.
• What happens when someone leaves: who picks the successor and who pays until then?
• How do we split rent, fixed costs and charges, and through which account?
• Does anyone receive a benefit or allowance that sharing could change?
• Will we put our agreements on paper, even as good friends?