Buying a former rental apartment in Amsterdam: what to check

Private landlords in Amsterdam are selling up. New figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS), published on 3 November, show that on balance 12 percent of their rental homes in the city moved to the owner-occupied sector in 2024 and 2025. Across the Netherlands that came to 57,000 homes in two years; the CBS release gives no number of homes for Amsterdam.

The Dutch call this uitponden: a landlord selling rented homes one by one. A former rental need not be a worse buy, but the seller usually never lived there, the building may have only just been divided into apartments, and a tenant may still be in place.

Is a tenant still living there?

Under Dutch law a sale does not end a lease. Article 7:226 of the Civil Code passes the landlord's rights and obligations to the buyer. Wanting to move in yourself is not enough. A court ends the lease for urgent personal use only if your interest outweighs the tenant's and the tenant can find other suitable housing. A new owner also has to wait: notice given within three years of the tenant being told in writing about the change of owner cannot succeed on this ground (article 7:274, paragraph 5).

An end date in the contract does not settle it either. Under article 7:271, a fixed-term lease generally carries on after that date. It ends automatically only if it runs for two years or less, the tenant belongs to a category set by law, and the landlord gave timely written notice.

Ask for the lease and any correspondence about its termination before you make an offer. If the home is advertised as vacant, have the purchase agreement state that it will be delivered empty and what happens if it is not. Mention any tenant to your mortgage adviser early, because you will not be able to move in right away.

Buy-to-let rules can turn on the transfer date

For a transfer in 2026, Amsterdam's buy-to-let protection (opkoopbescherming) covers homes with a WOZ value, the municipal tax valuation, of up to €637,000. The housing ordinance looks at the situation on the day the deed is registered. If the home is vacant then, or has been let for less than six months, the rules apply: you must live there yourself and cannot let it for four years without a permit or exemption. If it has been let for six months or longer, it falls outside them, unless that letting relies on a permit or exemption under these same rules.

If a tenant leaves shortly before the transfer, an investor's sums can stop working. If you intend to live in the apartment, this does not affect you. Our article on the WOZ threshold explains how to find the right limit and reference date.

How and when was the building divided?

A building with one owner has to be legally divided into apartment rights before the homes can be sold separately. For buildings from before 1940 in the area designated by the city, that requires a splitting permit (splitsingsvergunning). The ordinance asks the owner to submit, among other things:

• a building survey to the NTA 8060 standard, no more than 18 months old;
• a foundation report of the same maximum age, showing the foundation should need no maintenance for 25 years, or otherwise a permit for repair;
• gas and electrical inspection reports and an asbestos survey.

Ask for the permit and these reports. The city can attach conditions to the permit, such as carrying out building work, so check that the work has been finished. A new owner automatically becomes the permit holder, so loose ends can land with you. If the land is on municipal ground lease, the lease has to be split as well, which needs separate consent.

No permit on file

For a building from after 1940, or one divided long ago, these documents may not exist. Your own building inspection then counts for more.

A new owners' association has little track record

Every divided building has an owners' association (VvE), which you join automatically. After a recent split it will not have years of minutes and accounts to read. The law requires a reserve fund (article 5:126). The annual contribution follows a maintenance plan no more than five years old, or is at least 0.5 percent of the building's rebuilding value. At the start, that fund may be close to empty.

The notary receives a statement from the association at transfer, including the size of the fund, but by then you have signed. Ask for the balance and the maintenance plan earlier, as our guide to checking the owners' association explains. Check too whether the seller keeps other apartments in the building. That owner may hold many votes and, as a landlord, may see maintenance and contributions differently from you.

A buying agent can request and review these documents before you bid. For advice on a specific lease, speak to a lawyer.

If you are a landlord planning to sell

Wanting to sell does not count as urgent personal use; article 7:274 rules that out. A narrow exception applies, under conditions, if you let only one home and lived in it yourself for at least two years beforehand. Otherwise you sell with the tenant in place or wait until the lease ends some other way.

If the building still has to be divided, allow time for the permit. The city can refuse it for homes with a maximum rent below the Dutch rent-liberalisation threshold if it is not guaranteed they will stay rented. Private owners must also declare that they take part in the Amsterdam splitting code of conduct, which sets out how tenants are to be treated.

Sources (in Dutch): CBS, Weer minder particuliere verhuur in 2025; Amsterdam Housing Ordinance 2024 (version in force since 1 January 2026), chapter 3 and explanatory notes; Dutch Civil Code, articles 7:226, 7:271, 7:274, 5:122 and 5:126.