Safe to assume the owners aren’t holding an open-house today.

Note: This post will probably not be up forever. Your local secrets are safe.

This post refers to the process of ‘rentbusting’: moving into an overpriced rental home with the intention of getting the rent lowered. I repost this every so often because many people, particularly expats have no idea. No offense intended to the long term followers of the r/amsterdam subreddit who might hate seeing this information again

Hi

I am Shane. I screw landlords. I operate a subreddit called r/rentbusters that points out instances where rental properties are grossly overpriced and then help tenants move into them with the intention of getting the rent lowered. I also help tenants who are already in such homes get their rent lowered retroactively.

The Dutch housing market is in crisis: low supply plus high demand equals high prices which property owners/investors are taking full advantage of to gouge workers, tenants and anyone not fortunate enough to qualify for low-income housing,

While many expats here come from countries where tenants are used to bending …

While walking around at night in the Netherlands, I noticed these blue circles painted directly on the road surface. Some are smaller, others are quite large like this one in the picture. I couldn’t figure out their purpose. Does anyone know what they mean?

Actually it’s been for a while. Check the comments on the mineral water / pee post for examples.

Seriously gives the wrong impression of Dutch people for outsiders here. All the Dutch people I know are great people and good values.

The trolls lurking on this sub are the opposite.

I’m sorry if there’s a housing crisis. It’s not us immigrants or god forbid we say expats. I’m sorry we speak English. Most of us are trying to learn but there are other stresses associated with moving countries. It will come in time - our time not yours.

I’m sorry Geert Wilders made such a mess of things. Most locals don’t support him and are tolerant and accepting of outsiders.

In fact I’m not sorry at all. You are a fraction of an unpleasant minority here. Your bitterness and gaslighting tells us everything we need to know about you.

Had a strange experience in a hotel recently. One of the “sealed” complimentary water bottles in our room smelled strongly like urine and was yellow. I’m not sure if it was actually sealed, but it looked sealed from the side and was perfectly placed.. I even tested by closing it again and putting it back the same way with a little force ( I did not make a picture of this ). My wife unfortunately took a sip before realizing something was very wrong and spat it out immediately.

We told the night manager, but they brushed it off as “probably a factory error.” The next morning we spoke to another manager who took it more seriously, sent us an email, and asked for the bottle for their investigation.

They stated for health and safety reasons bottled water whether opened or closed is by their standards changed with each guest.

They also said they would test the bottle in an independent lab. We’ve stayed at this hotel five times before and really like it this is also one of the reasons I am …

Reading this sub, I was getting quite anxious about my move to the Netherlands, because hot damn, y’all are negative. I’ve only been here a week, so I accept that this could all change (especially come winter!) but so far the Netherlands has just been wonderful, and pretty much everyone we’ve met has been really friendly.

Only unpleasantness I’ve seen was yesterday in Albert Hein by Waterloo place. Some guy started a fight and staff and members of the public subdued him and carried him out back somewhere? In the UK everyone would have just left him alone to cause chaos, so it was good to see people step up to contain this kind of violent behaviour.

Yes, finding an apartment is bloody tough, and I’m unemployed which is also tough. But this is 2025, few important cities in the world make it easy to find good housing and a good job. It’s a competitive world out there.

Anyhow - just want to say, I’ve had about a half a dozen random conversations …

I got a phone call from my daughter’s juf (teacher). She was sick at school, and I needed to pick her up immediately.

When I arrived in front of the school, some workers were still INSTALLING a new sign: No parking from 11:30 to 14:30. NOTE: The sign was not even installed. It was 11:50.

There were also three handhaving agents around. One of them came to my car and said:

“Sorry, you can’t park here now.”

I explained:

“My daughter is sick, I just want to pick her up really fast… 2 minutes.”

She said:

“It’s fine, YOU CAN GO. But really fast.”

While I was talking to her I WAS NOT PARKED YET. Then I noticed another agent behind my car… taking pictures. I WASN’T even parked yet.

I believed in what the first agent told me and quickly went inside to get my daughter. I was literally gone for 2 minutes.

Anyway.. About 15 days later, I received a €120 ticket.

This made me rethink Handhaving procedures and their honesty. If you talk to an agent, get permission, and still end up with a …