Amsterdam City Council wants to allow homes to be rented to groups of friends again
The scarce housing space available in Amsterdam is currently not being used to its full potential, according to the city council. That is why it is now being examined whether so-called Friends contracts can be reintroduced, allowing homes to be rented out to groups of young people. Five questions about these Friends contracts.
1. What exactly is a Friends contract?
Much like in the famous TV series Friends, after which the arrangement is named, a Friends contract allows groups of friends to share a home. This is done through a joint tenancy agreement. In this way, several people can share the rent and responsibilities of a property without being a couple, a family or a single household. Under such a group agreement, all housemates are named on the same contract, with one main tenant who transfers the full rent to the landlord each month. The rest is then settled among the tenants themselves. Especially for young people, who struggle on Amsterdam’s overheated housing market, this flexible form of housing offers new opportunities.
2. Why did the city ban Friends contracts in 2019?
Although renting to groups of friends proved to be a useful way of tackling the housing shortage, the municipality became increasingly concerned about exploitation. With an individual contract for each resident, it is easier to prevent more people from sharing a property than is permitted. According to the aldermen, joint contracts could lead to rogue landlords renting out homes to excessively large groups. Not only would this jeopardise tenants’ rights, but too many residents in one property could also cause significant nuisance.
For this reason, the regulations were tightened by the municipality in 2019: Friends contracts were banned and homes had to be ‘subdivided’. In other words, each room had to have its own occupant with a separate contract. Sharing an entire property has since only been possible with a special permit. Since 2020, a maximum of thirteen thousand such permits has applied in the city. This year, that number was increased by six thousand. By keeping the number of permits limited, the municipality hoped to curb nuisance caused by shared housing. At the same time, however, this meant that even fewer rooms were available in the city.
3. Why are Friends contracts now being reconsidered?
The municipality has decided that, given the housing shortage, the supply of rooms in Amsterdam must be used to its full potential. Friends contracts therefore appear set to play a role once again. A motion by Volt and the VVD, calling on the municipality to investigate how housing associations could reintroduce joint contracts, easily passed the vote. According to the parties, the restrictive regulations currently mean that many rooms in the city are unnecessarily left empty. They also argue that the alleged nuisance caused by groups of young people is, in practice, greatly exaggerated.
4. What about the concerns over tenants’ rights, which were previously a reason to ban joint contracts?
These concerns mainly apply to the private rental sector. This is how it works: for non-self-contained accommodation – such as a single room where the occupant has their own individual contract – Amsterdam uses a points system to determine a maximum rent. By offering joint contracts, landlords can rent out their property as a self-contained dwelling and thus bypass this points system. In this way, they can charge a much higher rent and prevent tenants from enforcing a fairer price through the Rent Tribunal.
These practices were also the reason why an earlier plan to reintroduce Friends contracts failed to go ahead in 2023. However, these concerns now appear to be addressed by limiting Friends contracts to housing associations only. For private landlords, the permit requirement currently in place would remain unchanged. In this way, tenants’ rights would be better safeguarded.
5. What does this mean for students?
Before Friends contracts were banned in Amsterdam, students were among the main groups making use of them. When this form of shared housing disappeared from the city in 2019, students responded with protest. The student union ASVA opposed the decision, and petitions were signed online in which student associations spoke out against the ban. If Friends contracts are indeed reintroduced, this could make it significantly easier for students to find a room.
