House Moving Checklist Netherlands: Expat Guide 2026

It was not done.

Four weeks before: the foundations

Boxes are easy. The admin tail is what eats your evenings for two months.

Send your rental notice in writing

If you are on an indefinite contract (huurovereenkomst voor onbepaalde tijd), your notice period is one calendar month, ending on the last day of the month. Send notice by email AND aangetekende post (registered post). Keep proof: a registered letter (aangetekend) gives you evidence of the date your landlord received the notice, which settles any dispute about when your notice period started.

If you are on a temporary contract (bepaalde tijd), Rijksoverheid says you as tenant may end it early. Since 1 July 2024 new temporary contracts last at most 2 years and are only allowed in specific situations. A tussenhuur contract with a diplomatic clause is different: Rijksoverheid says the tenant may not end it early, so read that clause carefully.

Practical pointers:

• Notice must reach the landlord before the first of the month to count for that month.
• Some landlords ask for two months’ notice in the contract. This is legally allowed.
• Always reference the contract date and your address in the notice email.
• Ask in the same email for the inspection date and the deposit refund timeline.

Lock in the overlap

Inspect the new place properly

A bad inspection report costs people their deposit. The Huurcommissie (rent tribunal) sees these disputes constantly.

Understand the deposit handling

Dutch law (as of July 2023) caps rental deposits at two months’ rent and requires landlords to return the deposit within 14 days of the contract ending, minus any agreed deductions. They must itemise deductions. If they do not respond within 30 days they owe you the full amount plus statutory interest.

Three weeks before: the booking week

Removal van or full-service movers?

You have roughly three options in the Netherlands:

DIY with a rental van. Bo-rent, Diks, and Hertz all rent vans. Expect EUR 80-150 per day for a Mercedes Sprinter sized vehicle, plus fuel, plus a kilometre charge above the included allowance. You will need a category B driver’s licence and at least one strong friend who owes you a favour.

Budget movers like Brenger or Mondu. These are marketplace platforms that match you with independent drivers. Good for smaller moves (studio, one-bedroom). Prices start around EUR 150 for a few large items and EUR 400-600 for a full studio move. Booking is fully online in English.

Full-service movers. Companies like Mondial Movers, De Haan, and Voerman pack, transport, and assemble. Expect EUR 800-2,500 depending on volume and stairs. Worth it if you have heavy furniture, a piano, or you are moving with kids. See our breakdown in best international moving companies in the Netherlands (the domestic services overlap heavily).

The hidden cost everyone forgets: a verhuislift. If your old or new building has no working lift and you are above the second floor, you will need an external furniture lift (verhuislift) parked on the street. Booking one through Riswick or a local supplier costs EUR 150-350 for half a day, and it needs to be booked at least two weeks ahead in major cities. The municipality usually requires a parking permit (parkeerontheffing) for the day, costing another EUR 30-60.

Declutter ruthlessly

The cheapest box is the one that never needs moving. Two weekends before the move, use a three-pile sort for every cupboard:

1. Keep
2. Sell on Marktplaats or Vinted
3. Donate to Kringloop or leave on the street with a “gratis” sign

Dutch second-hand culture is excellent. A pile of decent items on the pavement on a Saturday morning is usually gone by lunch. Just check your gemeente’s bulky waste (grofvuil) rules so you do not get a fine for dumping.

Order your boxes

Two weeks before: the utilities week

This is the section most expats underestimate. Utilities in the Netherlands do not magically transfer just because you have updated your gemeente address.

Energy contract (gas and electricity)

You have two routes:

Route 1: Cancel and start fresh. Cancel your current contract effective on move day. Sign a new contract at the new address with a start date matching your key handover. Easiest if your current contract is open-ended or about to renew.

Route 2: Take it with you (verhuisservice). Most providers, including Vattenfall, Eneco, and Greenchoice, offer a free address change if you stay with them. Useful if you are mid-contract and would otherwise pay an early-termination fee (boete) of EUR 50-250.

Things to do regardless of route:

• Read both gas and electricity meters on move day. Photograph them with the date visible.
• If the new place has a smart meter (slimme meter), the reading is automatic, but take a photo for backup anyway.
• Send the readings (meterstanden) to your provider within 5 working days.
• If you are moving into a place that was vacant, you may be on a “leveranciersloze periode” tariff for the first few days. This is fine and gets reconciled later.

Internet

KPN, Ziggo, T-Mobile (now Odido), and Delta all offer a free verhuisservice. You typically need to give them 4 weeks notice so the engineer can be scheduled on the right day. Two things to watch:

• If the new address is not on your current provider’s network (for example, your old flat had Ziggo coax but the new flat is fibre-only), you have the legal right to cancel without an early-termination fee. They will try to talk you out of this. Be polite but firm.
• Returning the old modem/router is your responsibility. Keep the PostNL return tracking code for two years.

Our full breakdown sits at Dutch internet providers for expats.

Water

This is the only utility you basically do not have to think about. Water is supplied by regional monopolies (Waternet in Amsterdam, Vitens in much of the rest of the country, Evides in Zeeland and South Holland). You do not switch providers. You just notify them of the move through their website, give a final meter reading, and they send a final bill. Setting up service at the new address takes about 90 seconds online.

Waste collection (afvalstoffenheffing)

This is paid annually to your gemeente, not to a private company. When you register at the new address it gets added to your municipal taxes (gemeentelijke belastingen). The amount varies wildly: Amsterdam charges around EUR 360 per year for a single household, Utrecht around EUR 290, smaller gemeentes can be EUR 200 or less. You may receive a partial refund from your old gemeente if you paid for the full year upfront.

One week before: the admin sprint

Update your address with the gemeente

This is the legal anchor. You must register the move (verhuizing doorgeven) with your new gemeente. The window is 4 weeks before to 5 days after the move date. After 5 days you risk a fine (up to EUR 325 in some gemeentes) and, more painfully, your government mail starts going to the wrong place.

You do this via DigiD on the gemeente website. For Amsterdam, that is amsterdam.nl/burgerzaken/verhuizing. Every gemeente has a similar URL. The form takes about 10 minutes.

If you are moving to a new gemeente (not just within the same city), you register in the new gemeente only. The new gemeente automatically de-registers you from the old one. Do not try to do both, it confuses the system.

What updates automatically and what doesn’t

Once the gemeente accepts your new address, the change flows automatically to:

You still have to update manually:

• Your bank (every single account)
• Your employer’s HR system
• Your pension fund
• Private insurance (contents, liability, car, travel)
• Your GP (huisarts) and dentist
• Your kids’ kinderopvang or school
• Your OV-chipkaart and NS Flex account
• Any subscriptions you receive physical post for
• Your DigiD profile (yes, even though it logged you in to do all this, the postal address is separate)

For DigiD specifically, the postal address gets updated automatically from BRP, but if you have set a different correspondence address you need to change it. Our DigiD guide walks through this. Your BSN itself does not change, only the address linked to it.

For banks, the process varies. ING and Rabobank pick up the BRP change within a week. ABN AMRO usually wants you to confirm in the app. Revolut, Wise, and bunq do not get the BRP feed and must be updated manually in-app.

Health and family admin

Notify your huisarts. If you are moving to a different city, you usually need to register with a new practice, and good practices in the Randstad have waiting lists of 6-12 months. Start this conversation early. Ask your current practice to send your medical file to the new one (they will not do it automatically).

If you have a baseline health insurance (basisverzekering), the move itself does not affect coverage. If you have travel-related coverage like SafetyWing, update the home address there too so claims are processed against the right country.

If you have kids in kinderopvang or school: notify both the current and new provider. School registration in a new gemeente can take weeks and there may be waiting lists. Toeslagen for childcare (kinderopvangtoeslag) need a separate address update in Mijn Toeslagen.

Belastingdienst (do not skip this)

Address updates can take time to propagate between organisations, and letters may still go to the old address. On move day, take these two precautions:

1. Log into Mijn Belastingdienst and verify the new address on the personal details screen.
2. Set up a forwarding service (PostNL Verhuisservice) for 3 months as a safety net. It costs EUR 21.99 and forwards all post to the new address. Worth every cent.

Also: if you have the 30% ruling, log a note in your file (or email your employer’s tax adviser) that you have moved. The ruling itself is not address-dependent but employers sometimes need the updated address for the annual review.

Move week: the logistics

The day before

• Defrost the freezer (it takes longer than you think)
• Pack a “first night box”: kettle, mugs, tea, toilet paper, phone charger, sheets, a bottle of wine, painkillers
• Confirm the verhuislift booking and check the weather forecast
• Charge a power bank
• Print or screenshot the new building’s house rules and lift booking confirmation

Move day

• Read all meters at the old place. Photograph.
• Read all meters at the new place. Photograph.
• Walk through the old place with the landlord or agent. Use your inspection video from earlier.
• Hand over keys. Ask for written confirmation that the inspection was satisfactory.
• At the new place, check the boiler is on, the wifi works (most providers’ verhuisservice activates the line at midnight on move day), and the smoke detectors have batteries.

The first week

• Walk to your new gemeente’s neighbourhood waste container and figure out where the glass, paper, and general waste go. Every Dutch street has its own rhythm.
• Introduce yourself to immediate neighbours. In the Netherlands this is genuinely expected and it makes future “your bike is blocking my door” conversations much easier.
• Find your nearest huisarts, supermarket, and AH-to-go.
• Update your address on your OV-chipkaart via the NS website (so the season ticket maps to the right station if you have one).

A note on government links worth bookmarking

• Government.nl on registering a move (English overview)
• Belastingdienst contact page (search “verhuizen doorgeven”)
• Your own gemeente’s burgerzaken page (Amsterdam: amsterdam.nl/burgerzaken/verhuizing)

Bookmark them on the day you sign the new contract. Future-you will thank you.

Final thought

Be kind to yourself in the two weeks after the move. You will forget where you put the kettle. The first time you cook in a new kitchen is always slightly bad. And the day you find the last unopened box at the back of a cupboard is the day you have truly settled in.

Good luck with the move. Doei.