How to find a rental in Nijmegen: a practical guide

Radboud University had 23,383 students in October 2025, 10.1% of them international, and HAN adds many more. Young professionals search the same listings. Nationally, the Kences 2026 monitor still counts a shortage of more than 20,200 student rooms, so expect competition for rooms and small apartments.

Since July 2024, the Wet betaalbare huur sorts homes into bands using a points system (WWS):

• Social rent: up to 143 points, with a maximum of €932.93 a month in 2026.
• Mid-rent: 144 to 186 points, with a maximum of €1,228.07 a month in 2026.
• Free sector: 187 points or more.

For current asking rents, check the live Renthaven listing data on this page. This guide focuses on how to search.

No single site shows every home. Rooms, studios and apartments appear on platforms such as Pararius, Kamernet, Direct Wonen and Kamer.nl. Many makelaars also publish homes on their own websites, and not every agency listing reaches the big portals.

• Rental platforms: save a search with alerts on each one you use.
• Makelaars' websites: agencies in Nijmegen and Arnhem post new homes on their own sites.
• SSH&: student housing for international students aged 16 to 30.
• Entree: social rentals in the Arnhem-Nijmegen region.

International students. SSH& rents to international students aged 16 to 30. If you start in September, its priority lottery opens on 1 June, so mark the date. Exchange students go through Radboud University's own housing service instead.

Social housing. Entree lists social rentals in the Arnhem-Nijmegen region. In Nijmegen in 2024, there were 46,151 active seekers and 2,026 homes were let. Each advert drew 608 respondents on average, and the average search time was 22 months.

Areas students and renters often mention include Heyendaal, where the campus is, Bottendaal, Nijmegen-Oost, Galgenveld and Lent in Nijmegen-Noord.

Arnhem is nearby and falls under the same Entree region for social housing. If you're open to commuting, add parts of Arnhem to your search area, or set a travel time from your campus or office.

These national rules protect you whichever home you rent in Nijmegen. Knowing them helps you spot a bad contract before you sign.

• Permanent contracts are the norm since 1 July 2024. Temporary contracts (max two years) are only allowed in listed exceptions, such as students renting for study in another municipality.
• Deposit: at most two months' basic rent since 1 July 2023.
• Point score: since 1 January 2025, the landlord must tell you the home's points at the start of the tenancy. Municipalities can fine landlords who don't.
• Huurcommissie: its rulings are binding. In the free sector you can have your starting rent checked within the first six months, and the Huurprijscheck tool calculates the points.

• Don't pay a deposit or fees before you've checked the home and the landlord.
• Check the address on Street View and run a reverse image search on the photos.
• Red flags: rent far below market, contact only online, a foreign bank account.
• If you can't view the home before paying, assume it's fake. Never pay by MoneyGram or Western Union.

Most landlords ask for a gross monthly income of at least three times the rent, and agents often ask for three to four times. That's a market convention, not a law. Keep your ID, income proof and an employer or university statement ready to send.

Register at your address in the BRP within five days of arriving. Proof of address is usually your rental contract or consent from the main occupant. Staying under four months? You can register as a non-resident and still get a BSN.

With hundreds of responses per social-housing advert, the private market is your most realistic route as a newcomer, and replying early matters there. Keep your saved searches on the platforms running and add Renthaven to cover the rest. Renthaven watches rental sites and makelaars' own websites, matches new homes to your search profile and alerts you. You always reply on the original listing.

1. 1Day 1: if you're an international student, check SSH& and its 1 June lottery date. Register at Entree.
2. 2Day 1: save searches with alerts on the platforms you use.
3. 3Day 2: create a Renthaven search profile. Draw the exact streets you'd live in, for example Bottendaal and Galgenveld plus Lent.
4. 4Day 2: save your ID, income proof and statements as PDFs.
5. 5Day 3: write a short reply template with who you are, your income and when you can view.
6. 6Rest of the week: reply as soon as an alert arrives and book viewings.

The free plan gives you one search profile with email alerts, delivered with a one-hour delay. Premium adds instant push notifications and email the moment a match appears, unlimited search profiles and reply templates that fill in the address. Premium starts from €15 a month, you can cancel anytime and there's a 14-day money-back guarantee.