The Kamernet 'Hospita' Trap: When Your Landlord's Departure Becomes Your Eviction

A student in Delft finds a room on Kamernet. Rent is €550 a month, utilities included, and the person listing it seems friendly. They move in, register at the gemeente, get their BSN sorted. Six months later, the main tenant — the hospita — announces they're moving abroad for work.

The student gets 28 days to leave. The property owner, who has never spoken to the student, has no obligation to offer a new contract or even acknowledge their existence. No appeal. No extension. No compensation.

This is not a rare edge case. It's the routine legal outcome of a hospita arrangement, and it's happening more frequently in student cities across the Netherlands as housing corporations expand pilot programs for this type of rental.

A hospita arrangement is a living situation where you rent a room in the same dwelling as the main tenant or owner, who also lives there. You share common spaces — kitchen, bathroom, living room. This is fundamentally different from renting an independent apartment or a self-contained studio.

Dutch rental law treats hospita subtenancies as 'lodger' agreements, not standard residential tenancies. The legal rationale is that the hospita relationship is personal and domestic, not commercial. The law recognizes the right of individuals to control who lives in their own home when spaces are shared.

This distinction matters enormously. Standard residential tenancies in the Netherlands are protected by the Dutch Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek, Book 7). Since the Wet vaste huurcontracten took effect in July 2024, most new residential contracts are indefinite by default. Landlords can only terminate for specific legal reasons — serious arrears, urgent personal use — and must give three to six months' notice. A court order is required if the tenant doesn't agree to leave.

Hospita subtenants get none of this.

There is a legal safeguard for subtenants in the Netherlands, but it doesn't apply to hospita arrangements. Article 7:269 of the Dutch Civil Code says that if a main tenant's contract ends, a subtenant's agreement can — under certain conditions — continue with the property owner as the new landlord. This is a crucial protection for people subletting whole apartments or self-contained units in Amsterdam, Utrecht, or Rotterdam.

But Article 7:269 does not cover hospita subtenancies. Your contract is with the hospita, not the property owner. When the hospita's own right to the property ends, your right to occupy the room ends automatically. There is no legal mechanism for the subtenant to 'take over' the tenancy or remain in the property.

The policy rationale is rooted in privacy and property rights. Forcing a property owner to accept a stranger as a new tenant — someone they've never met, never screened, never agreed to — simply because they previously shared a kitchen with the hospita would be an unreasonable intrusion into the owner's home. The Dutch legislature has consistently upheld this distinction, even as tenant protections have expanded in other areas.

Kamernet is the Netherlands' largest platform for room and short-to-medium-term rentals. It's where students and young professionals go when they need something affordable fast. The platform facilitates hospita arrangements by connecting room-seekers with individuals willing to let out part of their home.

The problem is that Kamernet listings frequently do not make clear to prospective tenants that they are entering into a hospita arrangement with minimal legal protection. Many internationals assume they're covered by standard Dutch rental law — the same protections they've read about online, the same indefinite contracts, the same Huurcommissie appeal process.

They discover the truth at the worst possible moment: when the hospita gives notice and they have weeks to find a new place in a market where rooms in Groningen and Eindhoven are already scarce.

There is no legal requirement for Kamernet to disclose the specific risks of hospita arrangements in each listing. The platform connects parties; what happens after that is between the tenant, the hospita, and whatever contract they signed — which, in many cases, is a generic template that doesn't explain the legal distinction either.

Tenants in standard Dutch rental arrangements can appeal to the Huurcommissie (Rent Tribunal) or the courts to challenge evictions, unfair rent increases, or unreasonable treatment. This is one of the strongest tenant protection systems in Europe.

Hospita subtenants have no such recourse. The Huurcommissie does not have jurisdiction over lodger agreements. You cannot challenge the termination of your contract, dispute the notice period, or demand a hearing. The only exceptions are cases of discrimination or gross misconduct — rare and difficult to prove.

This means the entire risk of sudden eviction falls on the subtenant. No requirement for the property owner to offer alternative accommodation. No compensation for the disruption. No guarantee that your deposit will be returned — though standard deposit rules technically apply, enforcing them without tenancy rights is practically very difficult when you're already out of the property and possibly out of the country.

International students and expats are particularly vulnerable. They may not understand the legal distinction between a hospita arrangement and a standard tenancy. They may lack the Dutch language skills to navigate a dispute. And they may not have the financial resources or time to pursue whatever limited legal options exist.

If you're looking at a room on Kamernet or any similar platform, the single most important question is whether the person listing it lives in the same dwelling. If they do, it's almost certainly a hospita arrangement, and you need to understand what that means for your security of tenure.

Ask directly: 'Is this a hospita arrangement?' Ask what happens if they move out. Ask what notice period applies. Ask whether the property owner knows about the sublet and has given consent. Get the answers in writing.

Check whether the listing mentions 'onafhankelijk' (independent) or 'afhankelijk' (dependent) living. A hospita arrangement is dependent — you share facilities and living space with the main tenant. Independent accommodation, even if sublet, may qualify for Article 7:269 protection.

And if you're an international who needs stability — a multi-year master's program in Delft, a work contract in The Hague — think hard about whether a hospita room is worth the risk. The rent might be lower than a self-contained studio, but the legal security is dramatically different.