What is rent allowance?
Fun fact: if you live in a rental house, you can occasionally get an allowance for your rent. It is, quite simply, a contribution to your rent. The government provides this because some tenants pay a great deal of rent relative to their incomes. This sounds very attractive, of course, but you’re not always entitled to rent allowance if you have a student room. It depends on a number of factors.
When are you entitled to rent allowance?
You may be eligible for rent allowance if you rent a room independently. For non self-contained rooms, such as a room in a student house, you can only get rent allowance if it is a designated room. Almost all SSH& rooms are designated for rent allowance. There are exclusions: a number of city buildings, Talia, Leeuwenstein, Dominicanenstraat, non self-contained rooms Mariënbosch and Rijnkade in Arnhem and some Short Stay rooms.
You also have to meet a number of conditions to be entitled to rent allowance.
- You have to be over 18 and have Dutch nationality or a valid residence permit.
- The calculation rent (bare rent, general electricity, cleaning costs and complex caretaker costs) must exceed €199,05. A maximum of €12 per cost type applies. If the calculation rent is higher than €477,20 (2025), you are only eligible from the age of 23.
- Your assets do not exceed €37.395,- (you live alone). Joint assets do not exceed €74.790,- (you live with someone else).
How do I request rent allowance?
You don’t get rent allowance automatically, but you can apply for it really easily with “my allowances”. You need to take serious time for this. You need your DigiD for this, and you need to have certain details to hand, such as your income and rent.