Leaving the Netherlands? What to Do With Your Property

So, you did it. You survived the bidding wars, signed the deed with the notary, and finally bought your own slice of the Netherlands. But the life of an expat often means moving on somewhere else, and you may soon be leaving the Netherlands. Some big questions to answer: Can you rent out your house and become a landlord? Should you sell? Can you leave it empty as a second home? Here, we take a look.

Option 1. Selling Your Home

Selling can be the cleanest and simplest route, removing any ties to the housing market in the Netherlands and giving you a fresh start wherever you next go. There are some dramatic upsides to this: once the sale is complete, there are no more mortgage payments, fees, or taxes to pay. In fact, in the current climate, you may even make a profit, even after only one or two years.

One of the striking features of the Dutch housing market is the absence of a redemption penalty. If you’re from the UK, you’re accustomed to “break fees.” This means that should you sell your house before the end of your fixed-rate term, you would have to pay penalties, which can sometimes amount to tens of thousands of euros. But the situation in the Netherlands is quite different: selling your home can almost always mean paying off the mortgage without any penalty, meaning even if you’re locked into a low interest rate for twenty years and decide to sell, you’ll likely be able to repay the loan in full without any penalties. There is no specific timeframe you need to wait to sell your house, either.

Obviously, with this option, you can’t return to the house, and you may need to re-enter the Dutch housing market.

Option 2. Renting Out Your Home: Navigating Keep-to-Let Mortgages

Renting out the property is ideal for many, as you can retain your asset while someone pays it off. While a great concept in principle, there are many hoops to jump through here.

First, permission from the bank is required, and this is generally granted only if you are relocated for your job for a temporary period, and the plan is for you and your family to return to your home after this period, normally a maximum of three years.

There will be a small increase in your interest, about 1%. The bank will want to know who will rent your house. You’ll need to provide the bank with that information.

Voluntarily moving abroad to change jobs does not usually apply, and the bank is unlikely to give permission. Then, you’d need to convert your mortgage to a rental mortgage, which would require a new mortgage application. Please note the following:

With a typical keep-to-let mortgage, you can borrow just below 70% of the property’s value. So, you may need to contribute, either from your own savings or by having at least 30% of the mortgage paid off. This means that if the loan-to-value, or LTV, is, for instance, 80%, you may need to pay 10% of the property value to lower the LTV.
There will be an increase in the interest rate. The bank will calculate whether you can afford this. If your mortgage is with ABN AMRO, they offer a better rate for converting your existing residential mortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage.
Only a handful of lenders offer these types of keep-to-let mortgages, which limits your options.

Another way the bank may permit you to rent your home is if you can’t sell it and need to leave the country. Here, the Leegstandwet, or Vacancy Act, is a legal lifeline for homeowners who can’t sell due to market conditions or negative equity. If selling would result in a loss, this permit allows you to rent out your home while it remains actively listed for sale. Crucially, it bypasses standard Dutch tenant protections. You can terminate the lease with a three-month notice period once a buyer is found, ensuring the house is delivered empty. This allows you to cover mortgage costs and “wait out” the market until your equity improves. It’s important to note that you need permission from the municipality and bank to do this.

Under the Leegstandwet, temporary rental agreements must be for a minimum of six months and a maximum of five years. When the landlord wishes to end the lease, for example once a buyer is found, a minimum three-month notice period applies. The tenant may give one month’s notice to terminate.

Key Considerations for Renting

In July 2024, two important changes came into effect:

All rental contracts became permanent, with only a few exceptions. The “standard” contract is now “Model A,” meaning a permanent contract where the owner might have trouble getting people to leave.
Most properties with point scores under 186 became rent-controlled.

The above means you may not make a profit by renting. The mortgage may be higher than the rent you can charge, making renting out the property less beneficial.

You’d be forgiven for thinking you could just get a friend or coworker into the property, since you know them and it isn’t permanent, but this is not the case. Very often, if they’re paying a price comparable to market rental rates, then it is seen as permanent, and you’ll find it hard to get them out. Do not make this mistake.

Also, if you go down the route of renting out your house, you lose the tax benefits. You can no longer deduct mortgage interest.

The temptation to rent “under the radar” is certainly high, but the bank always catches up sooner or later. Tenants someday must bring their registration papers to City Hall. From its own information and public records, the bank may eventually learn the new name and “owner-occupier” address, which would make you liable for the full loan amount with just 30 days’ notice. It’s not worth the risk.

If you have recently bought a house in a specific area of a city, such as Amsterdam, you may encounter a law requiring self-occupancy, or zelfbewoningsplicht. Currently, many municipalities have a “four-year rule” that applies to properties below a designated value threshold and legally binds the new owner to live in the house for the first four years after purchase. In other words, you cannot simply move and rent out the place.

Option 3. Keep the House, but Leave It Empty

You might want to keep the house even if you are leaving the Netherlands, so you don’t lose your capital in this country. For example, you might be testing the waters back home or perhaps on a temporary international assignment.

The advantages of this are that the home is yours when you return, and you won’t have the stress of finding a house. There will be no worries about tenants, rental agreements, or tenants wrecking your house. But it could be just plain costly: the mortgage payment is still due, plus property taxes, utilities, and other bills.

Note also that once you have left the Netherlands and registered as “not resident,” the municipality and the bank can both check whether the house is being used correctly, and so forth. If the house is not being used “correctly,” they can hit you with pretty strong penalties. You’re allowed to let your adult child remain in the property. There is no legal problem with this.

Insurance, Inheritance & Your Mortgage

If you keep the house empty, standard homeowners insurance typically does not automatically cover it for extended periods; to address this, you may need a separate empty-property policy at a higher rate with different coverage.

Several mortgages in the Netherlands are linked to a life insurance policy that includes a residency clause, meaning that not being resident in the Netherlands could render the cover void.

There is also a risk for unmarried couples relocating abroad. International inheritance law might reserve the house for one spouse. That would mean the late partner’s shares would pass to the deceased partner’s parents rather than to the surviving partner. Be sure to get your wills in place by taking the proper steps to ensure that your family is looked after, even across borders.

Conclusion

Deciding what to do with your Dutch home if leaving the Netherlands is a very personal choice that can have significant financial implications. In a nutshell, selling is a good option if you want to permanently separate from your residence, with the advantage of avoiding wealth tax and using the sale proceeds directly. Rent the house if you want a stake in the Dutch property market and are unsure about your long-term plans for returning. But be aware, you’ll need a certain amount of equity in the property for a keep-to-let. Leaving the house empty may also be an option, but it is somewhat of a luxury that many won’t be able to afford.

M/V Works manages everything related to mortgages and insurance and can now run a test to see whether your property will yield a profit after rental changes if you are leaving the Netherlands.