 Hi there! My name is Chinenye and I am a second-year student at Tilburg University's Global Law. Today we're here with Anka, a member of Tilburg University's international team, to help us with the tense topic housing, but in a light-hearted manner. So Anka, can you tell us a little bit about the Tilburg or the Netherlands housing situation? Thank you for having me. I would say that the matter of housing is one of the most important aspects that international students should take into consideration when setting their eyes upon the Netherlands as their study destination. So let us commence with an important piece of information that would also give a realistic perspective on the housing expectations. Dutch universities generally do not own their accommodation facilities, so that means that not all students will have a dorm to stay in, like you would find it for example in different other countries, such as the US for instance. So in Tilburg you have two options, you either go for reserve accommodation or you look for a room or an apartment out there on the private market. Okay, well I've heard quite a bit about these two terms, reserve accommodation and private market. Could you shed a lot more light on it? Absolutely. So when it comes to reserve accommodation versus private market, Tilburg University works with preferred suppliers that reserve accommodation for international students that start at Tilburg University that year, so first year bachelor students or master students. These reserve accommodations have more of a first come first serve policy, so they have a limited number of rooms available, which means that not all students have access to reserve accommodation, so when they're full, they're full. And also good to know here is that the contract extends to a certain time, so there's a limited time that you can spend in a reserve accommodation option. In terms of price, reserve accommodation prices can range from somewhere around 300 to 600 euros for a shared student house with shared facilities. And lastly about reserve accommodation, it's only available for accepted students, so you have to be conditionally accepted into Tilburg University to access these and the registration happens around mid-May, the university will email you to tell you the exact date. My piece of advice here would be to be in front of the computer when that happens, so once they indicate a date, be there one hour in advance. Living in a dorm and reserve accommodation generally is one of the most popular options for internationals and therefore everybody would like to stay there. So if you know the date, save it, make sure that you have that morning free or depending on times on that time free so that you can book a room and have a smooth transition into your studies. It's like Ticketmaster, just waiting for it. It's pretty much like a concert. You're right there like I need that room, let me get it and then you book it and then that's it. All you need to do is pass your final exams. Since Tilburg University can't guarantee me an accommodation, what other options would I have as an international student for housing then besides reserved accommodation? Well there's a private market out there which needless to say it's a bit more complicated to look for a house in the private market but it's likely that you will end up finding accommodation there. My main advice and I can talk from a personal experience as well as a previous international student at Tilburg University is to not wait until reserved accommodation is full to start looking on the private market. So it's always good to take both options into consideration so that you can actually increase your chances of finding a room. In the Netherlands there are these so-called student houses. You can find the room out there on the private market by using social media for example or you can go through an agencies. Again, if you go to our webpage you will see a list of recommendations when it comes to both social media pages as well as agencies. Please note, maybe that's useful to note, that some agencies do require a certain registration time before you can rent a room and you can also find just more information on this topic on our webpage and if you are looking for a room through social media roommates are sometimes chosen by current residents of the house during a visitation which I would say is just more of a Dutch process of looking for a housemate. Yes, I'm familiar with it. You are, you went to visitations. I've been to my fair share of visitations, viewings, yes. Because honestly, I'm an international so the Dutch process of housing really kind of came as a culture shock to me because usually you assume that you go to a place and you think, oh this place looks nice, I'm going to take it. But really you go to the place and the people living there as well as probably the house itself if it had a mouth and eyes would be like, I think you're pretty cool. I think we're going to let you stay here for a while. That's how it was and that's literally how it goes. It's a very culture-shocking experience but worthwhile especially once you get to live in some place. I think that underlines the essence right there. So indeed visitations are these events held by housemates where you try to see if there's a fit between you, the person who is looking for a house and the rest of your roommates, your potentially future roommates that are already there. So they're just trying to figure out whether you will have a good relationship, whether there's maybe social chemistry there and so on and so forth. So different reasons why they would organize these visitations but to underline the essence it would be to see whether there's a match between personalities for example. And because we keep talking about how international students are struggling with finding accommodation it's actually hard for that students as well so it can take them almost one year to find a house that's really a fit for them. So it's a matter of a housing shortage, not necessarily an international housing shortage. Yeah and I would say that that pretty much underlines it there. Okay well okay so imagine this. So I'm an international. I live somewhere in America, Kenya, Australia. I can't come to the Netherlands at any point in time that I want besides coming here to learn. What do I do if I've found a place that I want to live in but can't come for the viewing in person? That's a good point and a good question. It's not going to be the end of the world. There are some houses that organize virtual meetings or virtual visitations nowadays but of course you'll have to check that with the housing, your potentially future housemates. And maybe this would be the right time for you to make the first step regarding the proactive so you can just message them hey can we set up a video call to get to know each other a bit better. So just for them to know you and for you to know them as well. It's important to have an idea at least the slightest one about the people that you're going to share a kitchen, a bathroom, a living room with. Definitely. So for international students there are a lot of things that they have to overcome. Well that we have to overcome, you and I included, aside from virtual viewings. What exactly would you say to international students to help them overcome a multitude of issues? And even if you could mention some of the issues that they could face? Sure. Just from maybe personal experience as well I can think about the Dutch only policies that students would sometimes notice on Facebook pages for example that deal with housing matters. Tilburg University discourages the Dutch only policy however there's little that we can do practically about it. And this is why you should take the matter of looking for housing seriously and you should start looking at it in time so that you don't face a major stress factor during summer months for example when it's already a bit too late to have a realistic expectation that you will easily find a room. But also from personal experience I've been living in the Netherlands for a couple of years now so again a former international student myself. What I would advise students is to not take the Dutch only rule too personally. Many Dutch students just prefer to live with people that speak their language in the same room. What would an international student have to do as soon as they're accepted into Tilburg University especially along the lines of looking for accommodation? I would start going to our web page and check our preferred suppliers list so take a look at the reserve accommodation options then keep an eye on the registration opening for those options so as I said it's around mid-May and this date is to be confirmed via email so the university will email those students. Then I would advise students to register on click phone cameras as soon as they are admitted and to also take a look at the options on the private market so Facebook pages also they can take a look at the agencies that we recommend. Our web page focused on accommodation is updated and designed to help students orient themselves within this entire process of looking for housing so they can start with our web page and a thorough research into the housing options that they have here. Okay, that's honestly a lot. So much, just so much. But with that in mind I've faced situations, myself and my sister we were looking for a place to stay and someone asked us to pay our deposit through something like TripAdvisor or then they would send us the key via mail we didn't do it, we didn't do it, we still have our money but what would you advise to certain people who look for their housing through agencies that they find online or Facebook and someone just saying I have a house, come live here if you pay me that kind of thing. I'm glad you followed your instinct there because it was the right call indeed. Sadly there are people who take advantage of students looking for housing, especially international students since they start this process where they are not in the Netherlands and if I were to offer some tips maybe I can go along the idea of always checking whether that address actually exists in Tilburg never transfer money to a landlord that claims that they are abroad and you just wire transfer him or his deposit and then you get the keys after via mail so this is indeed a sign that is likely a scam generally if something sounds too good to be true then it probably is so in that regard if you do a research take some time a day and look at how much an unfurnished room would cost versus how much a furnished room would cost so just go out there on the private market and use those online tools those social media pages to make an idea for yourself about the cost that you can expect and I would say that that would already be a good start especially when it comes to the private market and if you need a second opinion or if you feel that something is not right then you can contact us at Student Housing at Tilburg University that EDU and our colleagues there can help you, they can take a look at your contract for example to see whether there is anything fishy about it there would definitely be a lot of things fishy about paying through TripAdvisor a deposit you're a law student of course you didn't fall into that trap either that or it's just delayed reaction with that in mind there are a lot of contracts that people have to sign when they're getting into finding a house or finally actually selling down when looking at the advertisements online there's a lot of terminology that's mentioned could you help shed some light on some of it speak Dutch obviously would you mind helping with that of course I abuse Google Translate when I moved to the Netherlands as well totally all so you can expect that speaking Dutch is not going to be the most familiar sound that you hear and of course there are some legal terms that might seem unfamiliar for example Kamer actually means room and you're going to find this word in different platforms conversations in different terms in the contract on the web page so Kamer is a room then maybe what's good to know is there are different parts and different let's say items that you have to pay for so you have the basic rent which is quite common so this is the cost of your accommodation but without anything else and this will not be the final amount that you pay at the end of the month there are always extra costs for example extra costs for electricity for water for extra costs for internet and so on so this is the monthly cost of your utilities and you always have to pay electricity and water so you can also find them under the terms of GWL and GWE there's also this that's not sure if it's really Dutch but this is the service cost concept which means that sometimes the landlord will charge a monthly fee to maintain common areas for building that you're living in such as cleaning the hallways cleaning the stairways or if you live in a taller building paying people to clean the windows that would be ideal right? I think it mostly happens in taller buildings I live in a somewhat tall building so every now and then there's some guy who's right outside cleaning the window and your service cost does not include it? I have no idea I need to check my contract now so these would be the main terms that you can expect so you're not going to be alone in this entire process you can reach out to university maybe you read a contract and something sings off to you or you really don't understand it even after you've translated it so if you have questions during this process you can send your contract for instance to the Hoort team Tilburg which is a legal assistance team for the students in the city of Tilburg so they can help you to check the legality of the contract so there are ways to reach out for help there are ways to reach out for information you just have to be proactive about it and I can add a short note here that especially Dutch research universities in the Netherlands look for independently minded students so you will be offered help but you need to reach out for it and this is the profile that universities expect so it's not only related to the academic life but it's also related to practicalities such as looking for housing or finding an internship and so on it's always so helpful to hear these because some internationals really don't know anyone and they just start off from nowhere so Uncle would you have any sum up takeaways that you'd like to share with the viewers? absolutely I will start with the piece of advice that I generally give to international students prospective international students that I talk to not only those who want to live in Tilburg but those who are interested in studying in the Netherlands generally you have to start looking for accommodation as soon as you decided to study in the Netherlands and the moment that you get accepted into a university if you get accepted into Tilburg University then that should become your priority next to your final exams of course so this is essential to find the room not only because you need a roof above your head but also because if you move to the Netherlands then you need an address to register at the Hemante to get your BSN you need to apply for subsidies for example to open a Dutch bank account which might be very useful especially if you don't have a SEPA bank account to buy a phone subscription and so on and so forth so it's very important it's not only about having a roof above your head although that's surely the most important that would be a good plus there indeed another point to sum this up Tilburg is not the only option actually so in case you are accepted a bit later on in the summer maybe you submit your application later and the reserve accommodation options are run out and maybe there is any room that you find in Tilburg there are surrounding cities that you could live and this is something that both some international students do and the Dutch public transportation is quite good so you can travel easily either by bike there are bike lanes everywhere even if you live further away from the university you can take the train Tilburg University has a train station next to the university there are buses available so it's not the end of the world if in the beginning you find a room or an apartment or just an accommodation option that's not necessarily in Tilburg so don't get limited by the idea of living in Tilburg also be aware of scams as I mentioned be careful with paying your deposit be careful with the agreement make sure that you understand it and otherwise reach out for help our website is a very good source of information when it comes to orienting students into this process of looking for a house so I would warmly recommend students to go through our web page and see what their options are and you also might be looking for a housing subsidy so if you're interested in that you can find more information on our website there are of course certain conditions that you need to meet and I will wrap it up with maybe a piece of information that's not that easy to hear as a prospective international student and it's also not that easy for me to say it as a university representative but if you haven't found accommodation one month before the start of your studies so before you actually arrive in the Netherlands then we recommend you to reconsider your decision and the enroll for the program sadly we cannot guarantee that once you arrive in the Netherlands there will be maybe an emergency accommodation spot for you or a short stay accommodation spot for you short term in which case again if you haven't found housing we don't recommend you to take the risk and come to the Netherlands unprepared and this is why it's that important to start housing in time and make it a priority for you this is no light subject to play around with thank you so much Anka honestly it has been amazing having you here I hope we can have you again with me as a host thank you so much to the viewers who tuned in and I hope this has been such an eye-opening experience for those of you coming to Tilburg or coming to the Netherlands looking for housing until next time this has been Anka in Cinenia thanks for watching