Proving You Can Pay: The Central Hurdle
Employment verification is the absolute cornerstone of the tenant screening process in the Netherlands. It goes beyond simply showing a paycheck; it's a deep dive into an applicant's employment status, income level, and perceived job stability. Landlords and agents are laser-focused on one question: can this person reliably pay the rent for the entire lease term? To answer this, they demand a specific set of documents designed to provide a comprehensive picture of an applicant's financial situation. How well an applicant's employment fits the narrow, traditional model of a permanent, high-income job often determines their success or failure in the housing market.
The Holy Trinity of Documents
To pass the income check, an applicant is typically required to produce a combination of the following documents:
- Recent Salary Slips (
Loonstroken): Usually the last two or three months' payslips are required to show consistent, recent income.
- Employment Contract (
Arbeidsovereenkomst): This document proves the terms of employment, including salary, start date, and, most importantly, the type of contract.
- Employer's Statement (
Werkgeversverklaring): This is a crucial, standardized document that the applicant's employer must complete. It confirms the details of the employment contract and includes information about the applicant's salary, position, and any outstanding salary garnishments. It serves as a verified, up-to-date summary of the employment situation.
The Tyranny of the Permanent Contract
The Dutch rental market is notoriously biased in favor of applicants with a permanent employment contract (vast contract or contract voor onbepaalde tijd). This is seen as the gold standard of job security and, by extension, rental payment reliability. This creates immense difficulties for a growing segment of the workforce, including:
- Freelancers (
ZZP'ers): Must provide extensive documentation, such as 2-3 years of tax returns and financial statements. Their income is often averaged and then assessed conservatively, putting them at a disadvantage.
- Workers on Temporary or Fixed-Term Contracts: They are often viewed as high-risk. Their only chance is often to obtain a letter of intent (
intentieverklaring) from their employer. This is a section within the werkgeversverklaring where the employer states their intention to offer a permanent contract upon the expiration of the current one. Many employers are hesitant to provide this, as it carries a moral, if not fully legal, obligation, leaving the employee in a difficult position.
This rigid focus on permanent contracts reflects a conservative, risk-averse mindset that has not kept pace with the realities of the modern labor market, effectively penalizing a large number of financially stable individuals who do not fit the traditional employment mold.
