You can terminate your rental contract via the Stadswonen Portal. If you decide to do this, pay close attention to the required notice period and whether this overlaps with when you plan to start renting your next place.

Notice period 

The standard notice period is one month. If the last day of this notice period happens to fall on a weekend or public holiday, your last rental day will be set as the next working day. If you’re moving into another Stadswonen accommodation, you can submit a request to shorten the notice period to two weeks.

If your rental agreement is through your employer or educational institution, there may be other agreements in place about the notice period.

Cancelling your termination request

What if you change your mind about moving out? You may be able to withdraw the termination request if the process of renting to a new tenant hasn’t yet started. Email us to find out. If we agree to cancel your termination request, you’ll be charged a €100 cancellation fee.

Preliminary inspection

Once you’ve terminated your rental contract, we’ll come round to do a preliminary inspection of the accommodation. We’ll then explain what you need to do in terms of clearing it out before you leave.

Clearing and cleaning

You must ensure all your personal belongings are removed and the accommodation is left clean and tidy. Just follow the checklist we’ll give you. We won’t visit again for a final inspection, but you will be required to send us clear photos showing how you’ve left every part of the accommodation.

Repairing damage

We will check whether you’ve left the accommodation in the required condition. If this is not the case, we will arrange for any necessary removals, repairs and cleaning, the costs of which will be passed on to you. See the cost list.

You should therefore make sure you’ve repaired any damage before you leave. If there are any repairs needed which fall under our responsibility, then make sure you report these to us before you leave.

Leaving items for the next tenant

You can make an agreement with the incoming tenant to leave certain items behind, either for free or for a price. If you do this, you need to submit a handover statement, signed by both parties, before you leave.

Outstanding rent and repairs

If you have any outstanding rent or repairs to pay for, you’ll receive a final bill from us within one month of your last rental day.

Service costs

Your accommodation’s rental price includes service costs, which are mostly charged as advance estimates. At the end of the calendar year, the amount you’ve paid is balanced against the actual costs. If you’ve overpaid, you’ll receive a refund. If the costs work out to be higher, you’ll receive a bill for the balance within six months after the end of the calendar year.

Make sure you hand in all the keys you have that are associated with the property, no later than your last rental day. This must include any spare keys. If we don't receive all the keys back from you, we have to change the locks for security purposes, and the costs will be passed on to you.

Moving out checklist

Apart from packing your belongings and handing back the keys... what else do you need to think about?

• Got bulky household items to dispose of (furniture etc.)? Arrange for Roteb to collect this for free.
• Deregister from the address you’re leaving, with the municipality of Rotterdam.
• Register at your new address, with the applicable municipality.
• If you receive rental allowance, notify the tax office of your change of address.
• Are you renting any other facilities from us, for example a parking space or storage room? You also need to terminate these agreements, or change them to show your new address if you decide to keep them.
• Make sure all relevant parties are informed of your change of address. You can also consider using PostNL's redirection service, to be sure that your mail moves with you.
• Agree a plan with the new tenant or the housemates you leave behind to hold on to any mail that arrives for you. Either for you to collect or, even better, have them forward it to your new address.