Housing

During your studies you will probably stay in rented accommodation. But how can you find suitable accommodation? And what should you do if you have housing problems or issues with your landlord? Find out where you can turn for advice. And learn about the assistance available in DUWO international student housing.

Finding a room

Newly-arriving international students

Every semester, Leiden University reserves a number of rooms via DUWO for newly-arriving international students. Places are limited and unfortunately demand always exceeds supply. Find out more on the Housing via Leiden University pages.

Other students

Whether you are looking for your first room or want to move to a new place, our Finding housing yourself page is a good place to start. Here you can find up-to-date information on rental rates and housing organisations, as well as a handy Dutch terminology guide.

Look out for rental scams!

Unfortunately, students are sometimes targeted by scammers offering non-existent accommodation. Make sure you don’t fall victim by reading our information on How to avoid a rental scam.

Problems and disputes

If you have a problem, you should generally first try to resolve it directly with your housing provider. If that doesn’t work, there are a number of organisations you can turn to for help.

If you have a problem or complaint concerning your contract or payments, contact DUWO.
If something is broken in your accommodation, you can instead submit a Request for repair form

You can also contact BRES, the tenants association for DUWO tenants, for help and advice:

BRES
Pelikaanhof 136
2312 EH Leiden
071 – 407 7630
huurdersverenigingbres.nl (in Dutch)
BRES Leiden on Facebook
Leiden tenants: info@huurdersverenigingbres.nl
The Hague tenants: infohodenhaag@gmail.com

Student Legal Aid Centre Leiden (Studenten Rechtsbureau Leiden)

The Student Legal Aid Centre Leiden is an organisation of law students who offer free legal advice.

Plexus Student Centre
Kaiserstraat 25
2311 GN Leiden
071 – 527 112

Leiden Legal Aid Centre (de Leidse Rechtswinkel)

Staff of the Leiden Legal Aid Centre can help with any legal problems or questions you might have, including rental issues.

Langegracht 61
2312 NW Leiden
071 – 514 1516
leidserechtswinkel.nl

Huurteam Leiden

Huurteam Leiden offers advice and helps tenants in Leiden to find a solution for problems with their accommodation, rent or landlord.

Heemraadssingel 319
3023 BG Rotterdam
085 – 273 49 33
huurteamleiden.nl

The Hague Legal Aid Foundation (de Haagse Wetswinkel)

The Hague Legal Aid Foundation offers free legal advice to people with a limited budget. It holds open consultation sessions at various locations in The Hague.

De Haagse Wetswinkel
Spui 68
2511 BT The Hague
070 – 363 0665
haagsewetswinkel.nl

Housing Hotline

International students who are experiencing housing-related difficulties are welcome to contact the Housing Hotline. Via an online form, you can request help and advice on a range of issues, including finding accommodation and problems with your landlord. The Housing Hotline is an initiative of the Dutch Student Union (LSVb) and Erasmus Student Network (ESN).

LSVb Rent Check

The Dutch Student Union (LSVb) also has an online tool through which you can check the amount of rent you should be paying for your accommodation. See the LSVb Rent Check.

Rent Tribunal (Huurcommissie)

The Rent Tribunal is a governmental organisation to which both tenants and landlords can turn in cases of disputes about rental accommodation.

Postbus 16495
2500 BL The Hague
0800 – 488 72 43
huurcommissie.nl (in Dutch)
Rent Tribunal information in English via government.nl.

Legal Expenses Insurance Information Centre (Rechtsbijstandverzekering Informatie Centrum)

The Legal Expenses Insurance Information Centre is an independent platform that provides information about legal expenses insurance in the Netherlands. On their website you can find information about the rental laws governing student accommodation

For problems of a more personal nature, for example issues with a roommate or difficulties adapting to life in the Netherlands, you are welcome to contact a Student Counsellor.

Residence Life programme: DUWO international student housing

Leiden University's Residence Life Programme aims to help international students living in DUWO student housing in Leiden, Oegstgeest, and The Hague. From collecting your keys and meeting your housemates to learning about student life in Leiden, the Residence life team is on hand to help. Learn more about Residence Life.

Rent benefit

If you are renting a property in the Netherlands you may, in some circumstances, be able to claim rent benefit. See the Dutch Tax Authority website for details. You are responsible for your own rent benefit claim but if you need assistance or advice, you can contact the Leidse Rechtswinkel (free legal aid centre) or the JIP (youth information point).

Students with a disability

If you have a disability you may require additional facilities in your living environment. Finding suitable accommodation can be time-consuming, so start your search early. Also see the Studying with a disability pages for further information.
Are you an international student requesting housing via Leiden University? Please contact the Housing Officer for advice well before the housing application deadline.

At LUC, students reside on campus for the first two years of their studies. On this page you can find more information about living in the Anna van Bueren building (AvB), the possibility to stay in AvB as a third year, as well as helpful guidance on navigating any housing-related challenges you may encounter.

LUC provides housing at Anna van Bueren for first and second-year students. Third-year students live off-campus, although a few on-campus rooms are available each year for them. Students who wish to remain living at AvB in their third year can apply to the HWL. LUC will be offering rooms to the upcoming first-year students from May until August. In that period, admitted students withdraw from LUC and rooms become available. Housing will contact the studentsregistered at the HWL when this occurs.

Calendar

January	Second-year students (or above) can apply to the HWL
June	Students that have applied to the HWL will be emailed to confirm whether they still would like to remain on the list.
From July onwards	Students will be notified when a room becomes available for them.
Move-out day in August	All second-year students should vacate their current room according to their contract end date, regardless of having received a room offer.
Cleaning period	The week before Move-in Days, all vacant rooms will be cleaned and prepared for their new tenants In 2025, Move-in Days will take place on 16 and 17 August. The earliest date a third-year student can move into a new room in 2025 is Saturday 16 August.
Move-in day	Once a student has been offered a room, they can move into their new room as of their designated move-in day.

HWL process

LUC students must vacate their rooms at the end of their second year. Starting in May, these rooms are then offered to new students applying to LUC. In the event of withdrawals, those rooms are offered to the students registered at the HWL.

This means that students registered at the HWL won’t know until summer if they can live in AvB in their third year. We do not disclose specific positions on the waiting list as it is subject to discretionary allocation. Read the Timing section for further details.

Note that all students remaining at AvB in their third year will be moving to another room.

Rooms are allocated in the following order of precedence:

Students with granted priority (see paragraph below)
Students applying for accommodation for the entire academic year.
Students applying for accommodation for one semester.

Students that apply to the HWL could be granted priority. Those students must:

Submit an application form to join the HWL.
Contact the Student life counsellors for their case to be assessed.
The Student life counsellors will determine whether the student should be shortlisted.

HWL 2024-2025:

Due to the large number of students registered on the list, applications are provisionally suspended until further notice. If this changes, students will be notified.

HWL 2025-2026:

Applications to the HWL 2025-2026 will open in the second half of January 2025.

AvB Housing Waiting List

Apply

The Housing Council is made up of the four third year RAs, and looks into housing-related issues between LUC, DUWO, and residents of the Anna van Bueren building. The housing council is also responsible for organizing the yearly bike shed clean up and yard sale. Along the year, we deal with the potential structural issues regarding, for example, hot water, the laundry room or packages on floor 1. Please come to us or your RA with any questions or problems you have regarding the residential system, your room, and DUWO, and we will try to help you in any way we can!