Address registration in the Netherlands: what if it goes wrong?

Your registration is tied to where you live.

When you are required to register as a resident, you do so in the BRP (Basisregistratie Personen, municipal population register) at the address where you actually live. A refusal by your landlord does not cancel that obligation. Provide your gemeente (municipality) with proof of your living situation. If you share a home, find out how your registration may affect your host’s benefits. If you do not have a home address, ask about a briefadres.

This guide addresses registration difficulties for people who live lawfully in the Netherlands as residents: a landlord’s refusal, concerns about a host’s benefits, and not having a home address. For a standard first registration and your burgerservicenummer (BSN, citizen service number), consult the BSN and gemeente registration guide. The route for non-residents on short stays is described below.

What makes your BRP address important?

Your BRP address is used by Dutch public bodies to record your place of residence and to send official post, such as voting cards. If the gemeente updates your address, the Belastingdienst (tax authority), pension funds, and health insurers are notified of the change automatically.

To check your registration, use MijnOverheid (government account) and sign in with DigiD (digital government login). Then open Persoonlijke gegevens (personal data). If logging in is not possible, the DigiD setup and recovery guide sets out the alternatives.

Every toeslag (benefit) applies its own household test. Huurtoeslag (rent benefit), for instance, counts a medebewoner (co-resident), whereas zorgtoeslag (healthcare benefit) relies on partner rules. The table below compares these with bijstand (social assistance). The toeslagen (benefits) overview explains the broader benefit system.

Holders of residence permits and family sponsors have to tell the IND within four weeks about changes that affect residence conditions, for example if they stop living together. If you report an address change to the municipality on time, it reaches the IND automatically. If your report is late, you must inform the IND yourself.

What can you do if your landlord refuses registration?

Even when your landlord objects, you are required to register at the place where you live. !WOON (tenant support service) states that your landlord’s permission is not needed for registration. It provides free and confidential help in Amsterdam and surrounding municipalities.

If you plan to remain in the Netherlands for at least 4 months during the next 6 months, you must register in person within 5 days of your arrival. A later registration may be possible if you are waiting for a required residence status. It may also be possible when the gemeente has to investigate your identity. Ask the gemeente which rule applies in your case. For a move inside the Netherlands, report it from 4 weeks before until 5 days after the moving date.

No clause in a rental contract can take away the gemeente’s registration duties. If registration is missing or incorrect, the fine can be as high as €325 in 2026. It can also block huurtoeslag for that address and cause official mail to go to another place. A “no registration” condition may point to an illegal sublet or another issue with the rental.

What reasons might a landlord have for objecting?

An objection may be based on reasons such as:

• The room is being sublet without permission. A main tenant must have the landlord’s permission to sublet a room, and the contract may prohibit it.
• A resident is concerned that another adult will change their huurtoeslag or bijstand.
• The rental arrangement violates a local rule. Some gemeenten require a huisvestingsvergunning (housing permit) for social housing.

These possibilities do not establish what the landlord’s motive is. Your obligation to register where you live remains in force.

How can you register if the landlord will not cooperate?

You may ask the gemeente to register you on the basis of proof of where you live. Take these steps:

1. Ask Burgerzaken (civil affairs) what documents it requires when your landlord will not cooperate.
2. Provide your rental contract and any other evidence the gemeente asks for.
3. Check the BRP address that results on MijnOverheid.

If the gemeente declines to register you, request a written decision so that you can look into the objection procedure.

Amsterdam’s move-reporting page provides one local example. If you move in with someone, it requires a signed toestemmingsverklaring (consent declaration) from the resident who has been registered longest, plus a copy of that person’s identity document. Should that person refuse, explain your living situation to the gemeente. The gemeente may begin an adresonderzoek (address investigation) to determine your BRP address.

With correct registration, public bodies can assess benefits and send mail to the proper address. If you rent directly from the owner, tenancy protection may apply. The rental contracts guide explains when a landlord may end a tenancy.

When you sublet a room from a main tenant, you have to leave once the main tenancy ends. If you must leave sooner than agreed, you may be able to claim damages from the main tenant. Seek advice about that risk, particularly if the subletting was not permitted.

Intimidation, for example threatening to end your tenancy because you register, is prohibited by the Wet goed verhuurderschap (Good Landlord Act). From 1 January 2024, every gemeente is required to have a meldpunt goed verhuurderschap (good-landlordship reporting point). Making a report is free, and the gemeente can fine a landlord. Look on your gemeente’s website for that reporting point.

Where can you get help?

The following services deal with registration or tenancy problems:

• Het Juridisch Loket (legal advice service) offers free personal advice to people who have a low income and little savings. Call 0800-8020 or go to a walk-in location. Its BRP page includes a model objection letter.
• The municipal meldpunt goed verhuurderschap accepts free reports about landlord intimidation or other conduct covered by the law.
• A huurteam (tenant support team) can assist with local rental problems. !WOON provides confidential help with registration, contracts, and rent in the Amsterdam region. Search your gemeente’s website for a local huurteam, and check what services and fees it has.
• The gemeente’s Burgerzaken desk deals with registration and can investigate where you live.

What should you do if you live with a friend or relative?

If your friend’s or relative’s home is where you live, register there. Ask your gemeente what evidence it requires. Amsterdam, for instance, asks for a signed consent declaration from the longest-registered resident and a copy of their ID. Before you move, check each benefit separately.

These three benefits follow different rules. The table provides the first check, while the conditions below explain the exceptions.

Wide tables can be scrolled sideways.

How is your household counted for huurtoeslag?

Dienst Toeslagen (benefits service) treats most people registered at the same address as medebewoners. A toeslagpartner is counted separately. If you register on the 1st, you are counted from that date. In all other cases, you are counted from the 1st of the following month. A person who uses the address only as a briefadres is not counted as a medebewoner.

A genuine onderhuurder (subtenant) may also be excluded. Your host has to live in the home and rent part of it to you under a rental agreement. A toeslagpartner, parent, or child cannot use this exception. The official subtenant rules also lists step, adoptive, and in-law family relationships that cannot use it.

Your host has to report the subtenant by telephone to Dienst Toeslagen within 4 weeks after registration. Dienst Toeslagen determines whether the exception applies and may request the rental agreement and bank statements.

If your host rents, they need their landlord’s permission to sublet a room.

To check the effect, use a proefberekening (trial calculation) through the huurtoeslag guide.

If you host a refugee from Ukraine, that person usually does not count as a co-resident for huurtoeslag while they receive temporary protection in the Netherlands. For a guest who is not Ukrainian, check whether temporary protection still applies before you rely on this exception.

How are you counted for bijstand?

The kostendelersnorm counts eligible housemates who are aged 27 or over. The income and assets of housemates do not determine the count. People under 27 have been excluded since 1 January 2023. The gemeente also excludes these groups:

• Students taking a course that can qualify for study finance or education-cost assistance.
• Students enrolled in a Beroeps Begeleidende Leerweg (BBL, work-based vocational route).
• Commercial tenants, subtenants, and boarders, together with the landlords or hosts who live with them, when the commercial-rental exception applies.
• Informal carers who move in temporarily in order to provide care.

Separate rules apply if you are spouses, partners, or form a gezamenlijke huishouding (joint household). When the gemeente assesses your right to bijstand, that person’s income and assets are counted. Before you move, ask the gemeente that pays the bijstand to confirm which rules apply.

For 2026, the per-person rates are 70% of the couples’ benefit for one eligible adult, 50% for two, 43.33% for three, 40% for four, and 38% for five. Larger households are also covered by the rule. For instance, if your host lives alone and you move in at age 30, the host’s rate can drop from 70% to 50%. That example assumes you are counted under this rule and do not form a joint household.

How are you counted for zorgtoeslag?

Zorgtoeslag looks at your own income and assets, as well as those of your toeslagpartner. Simply sharing an address does not make you partners. Use the official toeslagpartner rules and checker to check your situation.

A spouse or registered partner is a toeslagpartner. For other people who share an address, any one of the following conditions can create a partnership:

• There is a notarial cohabitation contract between you.
• You share a child, or one of you has acknowledged the other’s child.
• You are partners under a pension scheme.
• You own the home where you both live jointly.
• A child under 18 of one of you is registered at the address, and exactly two adults are registered there.
• You were already toeslagpartners in the previous year.

The minor-child condition has exceptions for a subtenant, for a Ukrainian refugee who stays with someone who is not a Ukrainian refugee, and for an au pair with a contract. A subtenant is not exempt from the other partner conditions.

From January 2025, a parent and child who live together are no longer toeslagpartners. This also applies to step and foster relationships.

Partner status begins on the 1st of the month after the qualifying change. If the change occurs on the 1st, it begins that same day. If you become partners after 1 January, the new partner’s assets are counted from 1 January of the next year. Check the income and asset limits that apply for that year.

Check your benefits before moving.

Before you move, go through the three checks together with your host. Your address in the BRP is updated automatically, yet whether you qualify for benefits still follows the rules listed above. Review the new benefit decision, and if a change is missing or wrong, tell the organisation that pays the benefit.

When are you allowed to use a briefadres?

With a briefadres, you can get government post even when you do not have a home address. Some people living in an institution may also use one. The official briefadres rules also include safety reasons. It is the gemeente that determines whether you satisfy the conditions.

A briefadres can be supplied by someone who is registered in the BRP at a home address, or by an institution that the gemeente has designated. If the provider is an individual, the address used must be their registered home address. The briefadres has to be located in the Netherlands and may not be a PO box. The provider is required to forward government mail to you, and the gemeente must still be able to reach you.

Amsterdam’s briefadres page includes homelessness or being thuisloos (not having a stable home), as well as a brief period between homes. It also includes not having a fixed place to stay because of your job, such as being an inland barge skipper. Further examples are a stay abroad of no more than 8 months without a Dutch home address, or living in a shelter for domestic violence, a care institution or a prison.

Have your own gemeente assess your situation. If you will stay abroad, the national departure rule also applies: when you expect to be outside the Netherlands for at least 8 months within one year, you must report your departure rather than keep your resident registration.

When you do not have a home address and are unable to find a briefadresgever (address provider), the gemeente has to arrange a briefadres for you. This obligation has been in force since 1 January 2022. The gemeente may use the gemeentehuis (town hall). You must still satisfy the legal conditions and give the gemeente the information it asks for.

How can you apply for a briefadres?

Use these steps to apply for a briefadres:

1. Contact Burgerzaken in the gemeente where the briefadres will be located to request the application form and find out which documents are required. If you are unable to find a provider, ask the gemeente about using its own address.
2. Where a provider is available, hand in your ID, the provider’s written consent with their signature, and their ID or a copy of it. State the reason, the start date and how long you expect it to last.
3. Respond to any requests for additional information.
4. Stay in contact with the provider so that government mail can reach you.

If someone is registered as using the address only for post, that person is not a medebewoner for the provider’s huurtoeslag. Any other benefit must be checked separately.

A briefadres cannot be used in place of the address of a room where you live just because the landlord will not allow registration. When you live at more than one address, the gemeente considers where you expect to spend the most nights during the next 6 months. If you do not have such a home address, the gemeente also checks whether you expect to spend at least two-thirds of your nights at a single address over 3 months. Ask the gemeente to determine your home address. An incorrect registration can result in a fine of up to €325 in 2026; in Amsterdam the range is €240 to €325. It can also have consequences for benefits at the borrowed address.

Registratie Niet-Ingezetenen (RNI, non-residents register) is for people who live abroad or who stay in the Netherlands for less than 4 months. A resident who has no home address must use the briefadres route instead. The BSN and gemeente registration guide linked above describes the RNI and first-registration procedures.

How should you respond to an adresonderzoek?

An adresonderzoek is used by the gemeente to determine which address should be in the BRP. An investigation can be started by the gemeente’s own checks, a report from a public body or a report from a resident. You may also ask for one if someone is registered at your address but actually lives somewhere else. The gemeente can contact you by post, telephone, email, social media or a visit to your home.

When the gemeente contacts you, take these steps:

1. In the letter, read which evidence the gemeente asks for and the date by which you must respond.
2. If you have moved, send the evidence requested and your current address.
3. Review the decision made by the gemeente.
4. If the decision is incorrect, file a bezwaar (objection) within 6 weeks.

The gemeente can ask for your rental agreement, an energy bill or records of your commute. If you do not provide information that was requested, you may receive a fine.

The gemeente can register you as vertrokken onbekend waarheen (VOW, departed with destination unknown) only when all three conditions are met. It cannot get in touch with you, it has not received a move or departure report, and after a thorough investigation it cannot determine where you are. You then lose your resident registration. This can stop payments for toeslagen, kinderbijslag (child benefit), bijstand or WW (Werkloosheidswet, unemployment benefit). Health insurance and DigiD may end, and applications for a passport, ID-card or driving licence may be blocked.

Which fines and service interruptions may result?

A fine and the loss of services are two separate possible outcomes. They do not automatically follow in every case. The table lists the registration problems that can lead to them. If the gemeente’s decision is incorrect, correct the record and object within 6 weeks.

Wide tables can be scrolled sideways.

What options do you have for common registration problems?

What you should do next depends on whether the issue is about your tenancy, benefits, deregistration or missing evidence.

What can you do if your landlord threatens to end the tenancy?

Make a copy of the threat. Intimidation is prohibited under the Wet goed verhuurderschap. Report it to the municipal reporting point, and ask Het Juridisch Loket or a local huurteam to review your contract. Whether the landlord is allowed to end the tenancy depends on the contract. Do not sign a promise to remain unregistered. If you sublet a room, ask about the risk that you will lose it when the main tenancy ends.

What can you do if your host fears losing benefits?

Use the table and the exceptions above to check each benefit. The rental arrangement has to match the way you live and pay. A host who rents must have the landlord’s permission to sublet a room. If you live at the address, register there; remaining unregistered can lead to a fine of up to €325 in 2026. If you do not have a home address, ask about a briefadres. That postal registration does not make you a medebewoner for your host’s huurtoeslag.

What can you do if the gemeente deregistered you?

Get in touch with Burgerzaken and bring your ID plus evidence of where you live. Ask what you must do to restore your resident registration at your current address. If you do not have a home address, request a briefadres and give the information needed to assess whether you qualify. If the decision was incorrect, object within 6 weeks. Once you are re-registered, contact Dienst Toeslagen and your health insurer to check whether benefits or insurance need to be corrected.

If deregistration also blocks your inburgering (civic integration) account, DigiD problems in Mijn Inburgering (civic integration account) guide explains how to fix login problems and use official paper forms.

What can you do if you cannot prove where you live?

Ask the gemeente what evidence it is able to use. During an adresonderzoek, it may ask for a rental agreement, an energy bill or commute records. From the beginning of an informal tenancy, keep evidence:

• Request a rental contract in writing.
• Pay the rent by bank transfer, and put huur (rent) and the address in the payment description.
• If possible, put an energy or internet contract in your name. utilities guide explains the steps.
• Keep mail that is addressed to you at the home.

The gemeente evaluates your evidence and determines which address should be in the BRP.

If you are searching for another home, rental search guide covers the checks to make before signing, including registration conditions. rental scams guide covers suspected fraud.

For benefit amounts and the complete eligibility rules, use the huurtoeslag guide and toeslagen overview linked above.

If you live at an address, ask Burgerzaken to correct or confirm that registration. If you do not have a home address, ask Burgerzaken to assess a briefadres. If you disagree with a decision, follow the objection instructions and the 6-week deadline stated in the letter.

• BSN and gemeente registration guide
• Reporting a move or leaving the Netherlands
• Free and subsidised legal help in the Netherlands

Official Sources

• Rijksoverheid (Dutch central government): Wanneer moet ik mij in de BRP laten inschrijven? - Resident registration at the actual home address, the 5-day arrival deadline, exceptions for pending residence status or identity checks, and the briefadres route.
• Het Juridisch Loket: Inschrijven in de Basisregistratie Personen - the maximum €325 fine for late, missing or wrong registration; the 4-weeks-before to 5-days-after window for reporting a move; how an adresonderzoek runs and the proof the gemeente can ask for (rental agreement, energy bill, commute records); the VOW outcome; the consequence list when you are not registered (toeslagen, kinderbijslag, uitkering, zorgverzekering, passport/ID/driving licence, DigiD); the 6-week objection window; the briefadres via family, an institution or the gemeente; and the free advice line for people with a low income
• Rijksoverheid: Adresonderzoek om adresgegevens te verbeteren - that government organisations such as the Belastingdienst report address doubts to the gemeente, that the gemeente can investigate and visit the home, and that wrong registrations can cost residents huurtoeslag because of supposed medebewoners
• Gemeente Amsterdam: Boete bij verkeerde informatie in registratie - the fine of €240 to €325 for wrong BRP information, including not reporting a move and letting someone register at your address who does not live there
• Gemeente Amsterdam: Verhuizing binnen of naar Amsterdam doorgeven - Amsterdam’s 4-weeks-before to 5-days-after reporting window, consent and ID from the longest-registered resident when moving in with someone, and automatic address updates to tax authorities, pension funds and health insurers.
• Rijksoverheid: Kan ik mijzelf laten inschrijven op een briefadres? - what a briefadres is, who can give one, the application documents (ID, signed written consent, copy of the giver's ID), the no-PO-box rule, and the duty since 1 January 2022 for the gemeente to register you on a briefadres itself when you cannot find a briefadresgever
• Gemeente Amsterdam: Briefadres aanvragen - Amsterdam examples: homelessness, a short gap between homes, having no fixed place to stay because of your profession, for example as an inland barge skipper, a stay abroad of at most 8 months without a Dutch home address, and a domestic-violence shelter, care institution or prison.
• Dienst Toeslagen: Wie telt als medebewoner voor de huurtoeslag? - Huurtoeslag co-residents, when they start counting, the subtenant exception and the exception for someone using only a postal address.
• Dienst Toeslagen: Toeslagpartner voor de toeslagen - Partner conditions and the limits on the minor-child rule, the parent-and-child exception since January 2025, and when partner income and assets start counting.
• Dienst Toeslagen: Kan ik zorgtoeslag krijgen? - that zorgtoeslag counts only your own income and assets and those of your toeslagpartner
• Rijksoverheid: Wat is de kostendelersnorm in de bijstand? - Housemates aged 27 or over, student and commercial-rental exceptions, temporary live-in carers, separate partner rules, and per-person rates of 70%, 50%, 43.33%, 40% and 38%.
• Rijksoverheid: Welke regels gelden voor verhuurders en verhuurbemiddelaars? - the ban on intimidation such as threatening to end the tenancy, the municipal meldpunt for complaints about landlord conduct, and the gemeente's power to fine landlords
• Het Juridisch Loket: Wat zijn mijn rechten als onderhuurder? - Permission from the main tenant’s landlord, possible contractual bans, room subtenants leaving when the main tenancy ends, possible damages, and written rental contracts.
• Rijksoverheid: Kom ik in aanmerking voor een sociale huurwoning? - that some municipalities require a huisvestingsvergunning, requested from the gemeente
• !WOON: Information and advice for tenants (English) - free and confidential tenant support in Amsterdam and surrounding municipalities, including the statement that you do not need your landlord's permission to register at an address
• MijnOverheid - where you check your own BRP registration and receive government mail digitally, with DigiD
• Rijksoverheid: Hoe kan ik mijn verhuizing doorgeven aan de gemeente? - Move-reporting deadlines and the reporting date used as the official moving date after a late report.
• RvIG (Rijksdienst voor Identiteitsgegevens, National Office for Identity Data): Veelgestelde vragen Briefadres - Institution and safety exceptions, provider duties, application details, multiple-address rules and the municipal duty since 1 January 2022, subject to eligibility.
• RvIG: Registratie Niet-Ingezetenen - Non-resident registration for people abroad or staying in the Netherlands for less than 4 months.
• Dienst Toeslagen: Telt mijn onderhuurder mee voor de huurtoeslag? - Subtenant eligibility, excluded family relationships, the 4-week reporting deadline and evidence Dienst Toeslagen may request.
• Het Juridisch Loket: Contact voor gratis juridisch advies - Personal advice for people with a low income and little savings, the 0800-8020 telephone number and walk-in locations.
• Staatsblad (Dutch Bulletin of Acts and Decrees) 2013, 315: Wet basisregistratie personen - Articles 1.1, 2.38–2.42 and 4.17: home address, at least 4 months in half a year, in-person registration, reporting deadlines, briefadres exceptions and the maximum €325 fine.
• Staatsblad 2021, 396: Wijziging Wet basisregistratie personen - Articles 2.23 and 2.43: a municipal briefadres when no home address or consenting provider is available, and departure reporting for at least 8 months abroad within a year.
• Staatsblad 2024, 391: Verzamelwet BZK 20XX (miscellaneous amendments act for the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations) - Article XVII updates the wording of the €325 maximum BRP fine without changing its amount.
• Staatsblad 2023, 103: Wet goed verhuurderschap - The intimidation ban, municipal reporting point and enforcement powers.
• Staatsblad 2023, 193: Gegevensverwerking bij goed verhuurderschap - The official rules for reporting-point data processing, including confirmation of free, anonymous reporting.
• Rijksoverheid: Een breed offensief (plan to help more people with disabilities into work) - The exclusion of housemates under 27 from the kostendelersnorm since 1 January 2023.
• Stroomopwaarts (regional work and income service): Kostendelersnorm - The couples’ benefit as the 100% reference for the cost-sharing percentages.
• DigiD: Home English - The official digital government login service.
• Rijksoverheid: Meldpunt goed verhuurderschap vanaf 1 januari 2024 - Every municipality must have a landlord reporting point from 1 January 2024.
• Inburgeren.nl (official civic integration website): Registering for an exam - Official registration forms are available when you cannot log in to Mijn Inburgering.
• Gemeente Amsterdam: Toestemming inwoningadres - The consent declaration must be completed and signed by the owner or longest-registered resident.
• IND: Obligations foreign national and sponsor of family member - Residence-permit holders and family sponsors must report changes affecting residence conditions to the IND within four weeks, such as no longer living together. An address change reported to the municipality on time reaches the IND automatically. If you report it late, notify the IND yourself.