Small tip for students or young workers

While I had the chance to share a house with awesome roommates, I had some problems with my landlord (who was also living there) which made me leave the house (well, it was also a good excuse to get closer to work).

As I said in a previous article, I already had wandered through Facebook pages and Dutch websites before coming to the Netherlands but I heard from an agency which rent only to students or workers with relatively low wage (2800€/mo gross) at a rather interesting price.

This agency is DeKey and its website is destined to expats willing to stay in Amsterdam for several months. The deal is simple, you leave the appartement in the condition you entered it. Not noisy (well, it's still a student housing but when it's momderate, it's okay).

For 2 months and a half, I lived in an appartement rent by DeKey for a bit less than 500€/month in containers (yes, containers) in Stavangerweg (West side of Amsterdam, near the IJ river). It was a small (20-25m²) room with a bathroom, kitchen and few furnitures: bed, fridge, desk and shelf. The thermal isolation is surprisingly good as opposed to sonor isolation which is not satisfying, but hey! we can't get everything! For the rent and the location, it is a very good deal. Of course, there are other rooms to rent, not only in containers but I could not visit or live in an other room rent by DeKey.

This housing is supposed to be for short stays. 6 months for students, renewable once and only once. You can always ask as I did for an even shorter stay, but you'll be redirected to an other service. If you're already in Amsterdam, visit them at their office or you can contact them by mail (do not hesitate to spam them, they're not really responsive).

For students: fill the form and contact them at least 3 months in advance, appartements are very difficult to have. Some even have a queue for several years!

One of the other reason to chose these appartements is that you can have your BSN (see previous article) and because you'll live alone, you can ask for governmental financial help for paying your rent (up to 180€/month for students!). Be patient for that, it really takes a long time and a lot of papers to give. But hey, free money!