Buying and renting a house in Eindhoven?

Questioner

We are considering buying a house in the municipality of Eindhoven and renting it out as student housing, with one of our children also living in a room in that house. Now we can't figure out whether that is allowed or what the do's and don'ts are. Inquiry at the municipality of Eindhoven provides a link and some information that we don't understand. See below Whether room rental is permitted, you can consult the zoning plan via www.ruimtelijkeplannen.nl. If it is not suitable, you will need an environmental permit for the activity 'Acting in conflict with spatial planning regulations'. Whether a conversion permit is also required, can be found on the website of the municipality. Here you will also find information about submitting (draft) applications. For applications, we charge you costs based on the Legesverordening. Can it be explained in Jip and Janneke language what we need to take into account? Or can any random house be converted into a student residence and what requirements should that residence meet?

Lawyer

You must distinguish between simple room rental (the so-called hospita rental) where a main resident (sub)lets one/two rooms and student housing where there is no main resident, but only room residents. For the latter case, a special (often expensive) conversion permit is required in most municipalities (in addition to a usually relatively cheap environmental permit). This is because an ordinary home is withdrawn from the municipal housing stock and this loss must be compensated by you in financial terms. It is certainly not the case that the required permits are always also granted. This is because it can be judged that in some neighborhoods the quality of life is affected if too many homes are converted into student housing. If, in addition, the zoning plan that applies to the home also stipulates that the home may only be used as a 'single-family home' / for the benefit of 1 household, then an environmental permit must also be obtained for hospita rental. In short, if, as I can read from your question, you are considering purchasing a normal single-family home to use as student housing, there is a good chance that you will need to obtain both permits and that you will also have to take into account costs to make the home technically suitable as student housing (think in particular of fire safety).