
LUNTERO
Find your way home in the Netherlands with 20,000+ rental listings at your fingertips!


© 2025 Luntero. All rights reserved.
LUNTERO
Find your way home in the Netherlands with 20,000+ rental listings at your fingertips!
© 2025 Luntero. All rights reserved.
Luntero
A unique personal identification number required for virtually all administrative tasks in the Netherlands, including renting a property.
Expat Considerations
A short-stay visa that allows travel within the Schengen Area for up to 90 days, which is entirely unsuitable for long-term renting.
A citizen of a European Union member state, who enjoys the right to freedom of movement and work within the Netherlands.
An internationally recognized form of certification that validates the authenticity of a public document for use in another country.
A legally valid translation of an official document performed by a translator who has been officially sworn in by a Dutch court.
The process of converting official documents from a foreign language into Dutch or English to make them understandable and acceptable for official procedures.
A person's record of managing debt and credit in a country other than the Netherlands, which is often difficult or impossible to verify for landlords.
Luntero consolidates rental apartments, rooms, studios, and houses from the leading Dutch real estate platforms (including Funda, Pararius) into a single, constantly updated database. Easily filter by price, number of bedrooms, pet policy, specific neighborhoods, and more to find your dream home in the Netherlands much faster.
Comprehensive Dutch Rental Listings
Discover every available rental property from Funda, Pararius, Kamernet, and more. Stop switching between multiple sites – no more missing out on hidden gems in the Dutch housing market.
Intuitive User-Friendly Interface
Navigate our clean and straightforward design effortlessly on both desktop and mobile devices for a seamless apartment, house, or room hunting experience in the Netherlands.
Multilingual Support for Expats & Locals
Browse rental listings in English, Dutch, Spanish, French, German, and more. Luntero ensures you can find your next home in the Netherlands in the language you're most comfortable with.
Real-Time Listing & Price Updates
Get instant notifications for new rental listings and price changes. Stay ahead of the competition in the dynamic Dutch rental market and secure your ideal home.
The Burgerservicenummer
(BSN), or Citizen Service Number, is the single most important piece of data you will be issued upon moving to the Netherlands. It is a unique, personal number that the government uses to identify you across all of its systems. Obtaining a BSN is not optional; it is the fundamental prerequisite for participating in Dutch society. You cannot work, open a bank account, see a doctor, or arrange health insurance without one. Crucially for a woningzoeker
(house seeker), most landlords and real estate agents will require a BSN from all prospective tenants before they are willing to draw up a rental contract. The BSN serves as the link between you, your address, your income, and the tax system, making it the ultimate proof of a legitimate, registered residency.
You are automatically issued a BSN upon your first registration (inschrijving
) in the Personal Records Database (Basisregistratie Personen
- BRP) at the local municipality (gemeente
). For EU citizens, this involves scheduling an appointment for first registration. For non-EU citizens, the process is often linked to the collection of their residency permit. The number itself is for life; it does not expire or change, even if you leave the country and return years later.
The process of obtaining a BSN creates a famous and deeply frustrating 'chicken-and-egg' problem for newcomers. To register with the municipality and get a BSN, you need to provide a residential address where you will be living. However, to rent a property and get that address, most landlords will ask you for a BSN. This bureaucratic paradox can leave new arrivals in a state of limbo, unable to secure a home without the number, and unable to get the number without a home. It is one of the most significant initial hurdles faced by anyone moving to the Netherlands.
Navigating this dilemma requires a specific strategy. The most common solution is to initially use a temporary address for your BSN registration. This could be the address of a friend, a family member, or a specialized short-stay hotel that explicitly allows registration. Once you have the BSN, you are then 'unlocked' and can more easily rent on the long-term market, after which you must update your address with the municipality. Another approach is to specifically seek out landlords or agencies that cater to expats and understand this problem. They may be willing to sign a rental contract conditional upon you providing the BSN within a few weeks of your arrival and registration. A skeptical view is that this systemic catch-22 is a significant, if unintentional, barrier to entry that adds immense stress to the relocation process. It is a flaw in the system that rewards those with existing social networks or the funds for expensive short-term solutions, while penalizing those who lack these resources.