Search for an apartment

We started seriously looking for an apartment to live today.  We have 6 weeks left in the place provided by my work, and the sooner we can find our own place the better.  The process is proving to be a bit more complicated than looking for a place in Australia, and significantly more expensive. In Australia the apartment search can basically all be done via the internet- log onto realestate.com.au or domain.com.au, look for places you like, schedule inspections via email and wait until you find something suitable.

In the Netherlands, real estate searching is done via an agent (makelaar, literally 'broker').  It seems the most reliable way is to sign up with one or two of these agents, give them your requirements, and they look after the search for you.  This sounds great but like in any field there is a chance of getting a dodgy agent, or one that pushes their own agenda rather than looking for the place that suits the client best.  Finding an agent that has good reviews from friends or on the internet is important.

Also the initial cost is high- the agents charge 1 month rent + 19% tax (only if they fund you a place of course), and the bond is normally 2 months rent.  Even though this bond is refunded at the completion of the tenancy, this still adds up to a fairly sizable outlay.

There are a few websites (e.g. www.funda.nl) but these seem to be listings mostly as fronts to the agents, and also some private listing sites which might agent fees to be avoided (e.g. www.marktplaats.nl) but there often seems to be a reason that the landlord has cut out the middleman.  We are finding that the concept of Registration (''inschrijving") is quite important.  Whenever you move to a different address, you must register with the local council e.g. for tax and electoral purposes.  A number of these private listings have said that that they do not allow the tenant to register at the address, which is illegal and often for some sort of tax dodge.  While the rent price might look good, it is not worth the problems that may arise.

A website with lots of good information for this is expatica nl, and in particular this renter's guide was useful.

We haven't made much progress yet, but have contacted a few agents.  I'll be continuing to post updates on the progress of our house search, and will give a review of the makelaars that we use (in case someone else is looking for a good agent).