Accommodation sought (any)

I am helping a Maltese family to settle in the Netherlands and their prefered city is Tilburg. However, as they do not have jobs yet, but plenty of contacts, they need a place to live, till they can move into a more permanent house/apartment.

They can pay 3 months rent without any problem. They are moving the 1st of August or there abouts, and any form of accommodation will do: holiday home, mobile home, 2 bedroom flat. They are a family of 5.

If anybody can advise us as how to go about this, or if anyone has a solution, a property, or any other form of accommodation, please reply to me.

I have been the teacher for the family for 6 months and I think they really deserve to make a new start.

thank you,
Annemie

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

Without getting into the technicalities of the difficulty of being able to rent without having first registered with the Gemente (so have a BSN number), or not having a Dutch bank account to set up rental payments.  There is also a possible problem in that there is a real shortage of affordable rental accommodation in the whole country at the moment.

Long range accommodation searching is never a good idea; there are too many scammers who are all too ready to take peoples money from them for accommodation that does not exist.  We've had people being scammed in the doorway of the house they thought they had just rented.

Our advice is always to start off with something like Airbnb or a local hotel.  If they wait a few weeks until the end of the Bouwvak, they could also look for local camping sites who may have an out of season stacaravan available; Google will help you find those; trying to rent anything temporary in the Bouwvak will be very expensive.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Thanks so much for your answer. To add to my story, the family has already been to see the council and schools etc. however, you need an address before you get any BSN.
They are guided by a Dutch lawyer of mine. And yes your advise is clear and exactly the way we are thinking. Thank you so much. A mobile home or Airbnb sound good advisee

Annemie

Hi again.

Then I wish them the best in their journey; one last thing they may find useful, you can buy a pay as you go Dutch SIM card in the arrivals area at Schiphol.  It will make communicating may be a bit cheaper and easier for Dutch organisations/people to contact them.  Remember to advise them to get their cell-phones unlocked before they leave Malta.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team