Antikraak in Utrecht for Students: What You Sign Up For
The short answer: antikraak (anti-squat) housing is not a normal rental. Usually you sign a bruikleenovereenkomst, a loan-for-use agreement, not a lease. That means no rent protection, and a notice period that can be as short as 2 weeks or 28 days. It can still turn out to be rent in law if the facts look like rent. Read the contract for the notice period, what you pay, and what is expected of you before you sign.
Sources: Keurmerk Leegstandbeheer, waar staat het keurmerk voor; Woonbond, bruikleen of antikraak (1 July 2023); Rijksoverheid, heb ik recht op huurbescherming. All read 21 October 2026. The Woonbond is a tenants' association, so its page is an advocacy reading, not the law itself. General information, not legal advice.
| Question | Short answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Is it a normal rental? | No; normal rental rules do not apply to temporary use of vacant buildings | Keurmerk Leegstandbeheer |
| What contract is it? | Usually bruikleen: use free of charge, no rent protection | Woonbond |
| How fast can it end? | No reason needed; usually 2 weeks or 28 days; no replacement housing | Woonbond |
| Can it count as rent? | Yes, if you pay a monthly amount plus your own utilities, or work as payment | Woonbond |
| Does a normal room have protection? | Yes; a kamer is on the list of homes with huurbescherming | Rijksoverheid |
What antikraak is
The Keurmerk Leegstandbeheer describes leegstandbeheer as a way to keep a vacant home tidy and prevent vandalism. Someone lives there so it is not empty. The keurmerk is a quality mark, which the Woonbond says the large managers have joined, and its own page is the clearest primary description of the arrangement: a special form of living, with its own rules, in which you must keep the home in good order and accept that the period is often not fixed in advance.
What you give up
The Keurmerk Leegstandbeheer says the normal rental rules do not apply to this kind of temporary use. The Rijksoverheid, by contrast, lists a kamer among the homes where you normally have huurbescherming, which means the landlord cannot simply put you out. In an antikraak arrangement you usually do not have that protection, because the agreement is not a rental.
The Woonbond spells out what follows from a bruikleen:
- it is temporary and lasts as long as suits the other party, from a few weeks to a few years;
- it can be ended without a reason, with a short notice period, usually 2 weeks or 28 days;
- you have no right to replacement housing;
- the other party may not charge a fee for the use, only a contribution to service or administration costs.
The Keurmerk Leegstandbeheer adds the obligations on your side: tidy upkeep, reporting when you go on holiday so the manager knows the home is empty, and cooperating with viewings by potential buyers.
When it is rent after all
The label on the contract does not decide it. The Woonbond says that if you pay a monthly amount for the space and also pay your own gas, water and electricity, you are in fact paying rent, and the legal rent protection applies. Work that is expected of you, for example guarding the building, maintaining the grounds or doing jobs in the property, can also count as rent paid in kind. That is the Woonbond's reading of the law. If your contract looks like this, ask the Juridisch Loket or the Bond Precaire Woonvormen before you assume either way.
What a good manager does
For managers with the Keurmerk Leegstandbeheer, the keurmerk's own page says:
- people move in only once the building is fire safe, and the manager checks that it is wind and watertight and has the essential facilities;
- each property is reassessed at least twice a year;
- every resident is told about the complaints procedure before the agreement is signed;
- the manager may not enter without permission except in emergencies (the Woonbond lists this among the norms).
Residents can report unsafe situations to the manager or to the keurmerk's independent reporting point, and the central complaints committee takes complaints too. The keurmerk says both are open for managers that do not carry the keurmerk.
Before you sign
Our own advice, built from the points above:
- Ask what the agreement is called and read the notice period. If it says bruikleen, you are agreeing to leave at short notice.
- Ask what you pay and for what. A monthly amount plus your own gas, water and electricity is the pattern the Woonbond says looks like rent.
- Ask what you must do. Guarding, maintenance or viewings are duties; so is reporting holidays.
- Ask whether the manager carries the Keurmerk Leegstandbeheer and when you get the complaints procedure. The keurmerk says it is given before you sign.
- Ask about registering at the address. We found no page that says whether you can, so ask the manager and the gemeente; see our guide to registering at a room.
- Compare with a normal room. Our post on contract types for rooms in Utrecht sets out the options, and telling a legitimate room from a problem covers the checks that apply to any offer.
What we did not find
A source on typical costs or on how long antikraak places last in Utrecht. We state neither. We also did not read the agreements of individual companies; the points above come from the keurmerk, the Rijksoverheid and the Woonbond.
Where Vond fits
We start with Roommates. Vond opens soon in Utrecht, and the first thing that opens is a way to find people to live with. A Roommates profile describes a person: how they live, when they get up, how they feel about guests. It has no field for rent, address or availability. It is free in beta. Join the waitlist for Roommates.
For rooms that appear on Vond, we speak to whoever is letting the place and build the listing with them. We do not verify identity, we do not check a register on your behalf, and there is no verification badge on Vond. A profile here deserves the same care as one anywhere else.
The short version
Antikraak is easy to end. Know the notice period, what you pay, and what you owe in work, and keep a normal room in your search.