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Nederlands

Do I have to register at my rental address?

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CheckMyRental is an educational checklist, not legal advice and not a law firm. It cannot see your whole situation. Read your contract yourself and get professional help when a lot is at stake.

The short answer

These are the points the official pages make about registering with a municipality. Answer a few questions to get the steps that fit your situation, a message to send to the person you rent from, and the last day to register. Your municipality decides on your registration, not this page.

  • If you will live in the Netherlands for longer than 4 months, you must register as a resident in the Personal Records Database (BRP).
  • You must register within 5 days of arriving in the Netherlands. If your partner and children came with you, they have to come to the municipality with you.
  • Report your move to the municipality where you are going to live, at the latest 5 days after you have moved. You can report it earlier, up to 4 weeks before the day you move. If you report it later, the municipality uses the day you report it as the day of the move. A municipality may fine you if you do not report important changes on time.

Your situation

Where are you moving from?
How long will you stay in the Netherlands?
Whose home will you live in?
Has anyone told you that you cannot register at the address, or refused to give you the papers the municipality asks for?

Used to count the time limit. Leave it empty to skip it.

If you come from abroad

  • Everyone who lives in the Netherlands has to be registered with the municipality. The municipality keeps your name, address and other personal details in the Personal Records Database (BRP), so that the government can reach you.
  • You register with the municipality at your permanent home address. If you have no permanent home address, you register at a postal address (briefadres), for example if you are a skipper or live in an institution. The municipality decides whether you may register at a postal address. Registering is free.
  • In some cases you may register later or in another way. If you need a residence permit and are waiting for it, you do not have to register within the first 5 days. If you cannot prove your identity, more investigation may be needed: you may wait for its outcome, and you must register after that.
  • Some municipalities write the time limit differently on their own page, for example as 5 working days.
  • Bring a valid identity document for everyone who registers. Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague do not accept a driving licence as that document. If you need a residence permit, bring proof that you may legally stay, such as your residence document.
  • If you were born, married or divorced abroad, bring the original certificates: your birth certificate and, where they apply, the birth certificates of your partner and children, your marriage certificate or proof of registered partnership, divorce papers, and adoption papers or a death certificate. Some documents have to be legalised and/or translated by a sworn translator; you can check per country on the government website. You pay for translating and legalising yourself.
  • Everyone who wants to be registered has to come to the appointment, including babies, young children and elderly people. Registering is free.
  • After you register you get a citizen service number (BSN). You need it for contact with the government, for example to arrange your taxes.

If you stay only a short time

  • If you will be in the Netherlands for less than 4 months, or you live outside the Netherlands, you can register as a non-resident in the Non-residents Records Database (RNI), with an address abroad. You do this in person at one of 19 municipalities that have an RNI desk, and you get a citizen service number (BSN) and can apply for a DigiD. If you will be here for longer than 4 months, you cannot register at an RNI desk: you register with the municipality where you will live.
  • Dutch citizens and citizens of another EU country, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland can choose any RNI desk. Everyone else can register only at the RNI desks in Breda and Venlo. Registering at an RNI desk is free.

If you move within the Netherlands

  • If you move to another municipality in the Netherlands, you report your move to the municipality you are moving to, and the municipality you leave takes care of your deregistration. A move to a new address in the same municipality must be reported too.
  • You can report your move by post, at the desk of the municipality or online. The municipality then changes your address in the BRP.
  • To report your move you need a valid ID (a passport, driving licence, Dutch identity card or foreigner's document) and proof of where you will live: a rental contract, a purchase deed or a consent form from the main occupant.

Proof of where you live

  • To register or to report a move, the municipality asks for proof of where you will live: a rental contract, a purchase deed or, if you go to live with someone else, the consent of the main occupant.
  • In The Hague you send a copy of the signed rental contract, including the page with your name, the address, the start date and the signature. If you rent from a private person, you also send a copy of the ID of the main occupant or the owner. The municipality may ask for more proof, such as a copy of the landlord's proof of ownership.

The details differ per municipality. The page of your own municipality is the one that counts.

If you live with someone else

  • If you go to live with someone else, the main occupant or owner of the home has to give you permission. Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague name this consent as proof of where you live. Amsterdam and The Hague ask for it on a consent form, together with a copy of the ID of the person who gives it. If there is more than one owner or main occupant, The Hague needs the permission of only one of them.
  • If you rent a room from a main tenant, or a room in a home where the main tenant lives, you are a subtenant of non-self-contained space. That is not allowed without the landlord's permission, and the main tenant's own contract sometimes forbids subletting.

If you cannot register at your address

  • The landlord has to make sure that you can register at the address of your rented home. If you cannot, for example because the address does not exist, that is a defect of the home that your landlord has to solve.
  • If someone is registered at your address who does not live there, that is called spookbewoning (ghost registration). It can cost you, for example, your rent allowance. That is not allowed, and your landlord has to solve this too.
  • If you cannot register at the address of your home, or someone who does not live there is registered, you cannot take it to the Huurcommissie. For this you go to the court.
  • Since 1 January 2024 every municipality has a meldpunt for unwanted behaviour of landlords. You can go there, also anonymously, with questions or complaints, for example when the landlord gave you no written agreement or information, charged service or deposit costs wrongly, or discriminated against or intimidated you. A municipality that finds that a landlord or agent breaks the rules has to enforce them, for example with a fine. A report that is not about these rules, or that is about a housing corporation, can be passed on to the right organisation. An overview of the meldpunt per municipality is on the website of the VNG.

Why it matters

  • On MijnOverheid.nl you can see how you are registered; you need a DigiD for that. If you need proof that you are registered with your municipality, ask the municipality for an extract from the BRP.
  • If you are not registered, you have no right to allowances and benefits, such as healthcare allowance or social assistance. If you are not registered at all (any more), it is possible that you are fined, that you no longer get rent allowance, healthcare allowance and child benefit, that your benefit stops, that your health insurance stops, that you cannot apply for a passport, ID card or driving licence, and that your DigiD stops.
  • The municipality can check whether you really live at the address where you are registered. It may ask for proof, such as a rental contract or an energy bill. If you do not live there, the municipality enters your real address in the BRP, and you can be fined.

Official pages

Before you rely on this

This page repeats what the official pages say and shows the parts that fit your answers. It does not know your municipality's rules, your contract or your landlord, it does not say whether you may register at a particular address, and it is not legal advice. Your municipality decides on your registration.

Your answers stay in your browser. We count that the tool was used, and nothing you type.

Official sources

The statements on this page come from these pages, which we last checked on 11 October 2026.

What this page does not cover

This tool applies the rules in our rule pack and the official pages listed below to the answers you give. It does not know your contract or your whole situation, and it is not legal advice. For advice about your situation, see the box below.

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When to talk to a lawyer or the Huurcommissie

  • You are being evicted, your landlord has terminated the contract, or you got a court summons: contact a lawyer or Juridisch Loket today. Deadlines can be short.
  • You already live there and think your starting rent is too high: the Huurcommissie can assess the starting rent. For regulated homes the request generally has to be made within 6 months of the start (Huurcommissie, checked 2026-10-05). Use the official Huurprijscheck first.
  • Your deposit was not returned within 14 days (30 days when there are deductions), or the service-cost statement is missing: write to the landlord first, then ask Juridisch Loket or the Huurcommissie.
  • An agent or landlord charged fees, discriminated, or intimidated you: report it to your municipality's Meldpunt Goed Verhuurderschap. Every municipality has one. Eindhoven: info@goedverhuurderschapeindhoven.nl, 085 11 55 587, Fridays 10:30-13:30 at TU/e Atlasgebouw (municipal page, 2026-10-05).
  • The report says GREY or 'not covered', you are not sure whether an exception applies to you (student, room in the landlord's home, company let), or more than about 3,000 EUR is at stake: get a professional opinion before you sign.
  • Free help: Juridisch Loket, 0800 8020, Monday to Friday 9:00-17:00 (English page, 2026-10-05; the page says personal advice is for people with a low income, so check eligibility). Huurteam Eindhoven (free, online consultation Wed 13:00-16:00, Thu 18:00-21:00, their page). Woonbond (membership, members can submit a contract to lawyers).