Rental conditions International Student House
Rental agreement
Our rental agreements are per full calendar month. They start on the 1st of the month at 12.00 hours p.m. (noon) and end on the last day of the month at 12.00 hours p.m. (noon). Always check the starting date and the departure date on your rental agreement carefully before signing it.
We maintain a minimum rental period of 5 months, and a maximum of 12 months. If you have signed a contract of 5 months but you decide to stay longer you can prolong the contract to a maximum of 12 months.
In case you follow a short programme at the RUG or HG, you may rent a room with us for only 1, 2, 3 or 4 months. We call this an ultra short stay rental agreement. Your contact person at the University needs to approve a request for a short stay programme. Do keep in mind that an ultra short stay rental agreement cannot be shortened nor prolonged.
Please note: If you come for 1 month or less, you don't have to pay the registration costs of € 300,-. However, you do need to pay the deposit of € 375,-. When you arrive in Groningen you need to pay a full month of rent (also if your stay is just for 1, 2 or 3 weeks). The contract will be for one month, for example June. It is not possible to rent a room for instance from the 15 of May till the 10th of June. You then need to rent the room for two months.
Curious about our rental agreement for International Student Houses? Click here to see a copy.
How to pay your rent
Your rent needs to be paid directly to Housing Office by (international) bank transfer. If you don't have a (Dutch) bank account. You can also pay in cash at ING bank. The ING bank can be found at Hereplein 51 (this is located between the city centre and the central train station). Unfortunately it is not possible to pay your rent in our office.
When making a payment always mention the following details:
1. Your Housing Office registration number.
2. Your name.
3. Your address.
It may take some time to arrange a (Dutch) bank account. Therefore most students pay their first month of rent cash at ING bank. Keep in mind that the ING bank will charge you a small fee for paying the rent in cash at their counter.
The rent should be paid before the first of the coming month, as written in your rental agreement.
Our banking details
Name of Bank: ING
Address of Bank: Bijlmerdreef 109
Postal code and city: 1102 BW Amsterdam
Country: The Netherlands
Our account number: 68.35.98.260
Swift/BIC code: INGBNL2A
For Europe; IBAN: NL51INGB0683598260
Pay to: Housing Office
Postbus 546
9700 AM Groningen
The Netherlands
How to change your departure date
It is possible to change your departure date after you have signed your rental agreement with your student manager. Please note that we maintain a 5 month minimum stay and a 12 month maximum stay.
Example 1: Your current contract is 5 months; it started on the first of September and will end on the 31st of January. Your study programme will take longer and therefore you need to stay till the 30th of April. In order to prolong your contract you need to inform us at least before the 31st of December.
Example 2: Your current contract is 12 months; it started on the first of September and will normally end on the 31st of August. Your study programme will be shorter then expected and therefore you need to leave on the 30th of June. In order to end your contract you need to inform us at least before the 31st of May.
To change your departure you can either come by to our office, send us an email or you can fill in the form on this website. There are no costs involved when you want to change your departure date.
Please click here to fill in the change of departure date form. After we have received the form we will send you a confirmation by e-mail. Please note! Informing your student manager about an earlier departure date is not enough. You need to have a confirmation sent by the Housing Office.
How to apply for a change of room
It may be possible that, for whatever reason, you would like to change your room and move to another International Student House. We are happy to facilitate this to our guests. In order to get a so-called 'bedhop' you need to fill in a change of room form at our website or in our office.
The costs for a bedhop are € 75,- and only have to be paid when we can change your room. A bedhop will always be per the 1st of the month and only if the room you prefer is available. We deal with the bedhop requests on a first come, first serve basis.
It is not possible to bedhop from an International Student House room to a room at the private sector or visa versa. To apply for a bedhop, please click here to fill in the change form.
Departure
At some point your experience in Groningen will come to an end and it will be time to leave your room and the city. When this is coming you need to make an appointment with your student manager. Together you will check your room to see if anything is missing or broken and that the room is clean to our standards.
Our rental agreements will end on the last day of a month. On this day you should vacate your room before 12.00pm (noon). Of course you can leave earlier, but you always have to pay the rent for the whole month.
It is allowed to stay a little longer after the last day of your rental agreement, for a maximum of 3 nights. This is only possible if the room is not booked for a new student. These extra nights will cost you € 20,- per night.
You are not permitted to stay longer at another International Student House. There should be at least 30 days between the date of your departure and your stay at another International Student House as a guest.
Make sure that you paid all the rent when you leave your room. Otherwise we can't return your deposit to you. When you have the checking out appointment with your student manager you will sign a deposit form together. Without this form, which needs to be signed both by you and your student manager as, we can't refund the deposit to you. Your student manager will bring the deposit form to our office. After we have received the forms we will send you an email asking for your banking details. When we have received the correct banking details we will refund the money to you by (international) bank transfer within two weeks.
Some tips about how to leave your room
• Make sure you don't leave any personal items.
• Make sure nothing is broken (if so, please let your student manager know).
• Make sure that your kitchen box is complete (if applicable).
• Remove all waste or personal things you are not going to take with you.
• Vacuum or mop the floor of your room.
• Remove your bed linen from your bed and leave it on a pile in your room.
• Empty out and clean your part of the refrigerator and freezer.
• Empty out and clean your part of the kitchen cupboard (if applicable).
• Do not leave your bicycle in the bike shed or anywhere else nearby the house.
• Here you will see a clip of how to leave your room correctly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QYLeTs7NpI
• And most important of all return the keys to your student manager.
House rules
All International Student Houses have the same house rules. They are attached to the rental agreement. Your student manager will explain the rules to you when you arrive. Each house might have additional rules which will be given to you when you arrive.
In general the following rules apply:
- Scheduled cleaning. The student manager manages the cleaning. He/she makes a schedule for the kitchen duties. Please live up to this schedule.
- You are not allowed to smoke and use drugs or strong alcohol in the common areas. Your student manager indicates the smoking areas in your building.
- The fire alarm system: Every student house has a fire alarm system at the corridors and in the kitchens. Some of our locations have a fire alarm inside the room. If you cause the fire alarm to go off, firemen will immediately be made aware and come to the house. Should they find out that it was unnecessary; the fine will be and is paid by the student who caused it.
- Inside the house, avoid loud noise after 10.00 p.m. This means: don’t make any loud noises in the corridors and no loud music inside the rooms.
Internet
In most International Student Houses there is an internet connection per room available. This is included in your rent, so no extra fees will be charged for this. Per building there is a 100Mbit/s glass fiber available. This is connected to a 1Gbit/s internet access of the network of the University of Groningen (RUG).
At Kornoeljestraat every room is directly wired to the glass fibre optic internet facility of the University. Therefore the internet connection of this building is the best of all our International Student Houses.
At Winschoterdiep there is cable internet. There is an utp socket in your room so don't forget to bring your utp connection cable to be able to connect your laptop to our network.
At Antillenstraat there is no internet connection. You need to arrange this yourself and it will take some time before you get online. A contract for basic internet will cost around € 25,-. Since there is already an active television connection in your room you don't need to subscribe for television. These costs are included in your rent and provided by the owner of the building.
In all other International Student Houses we offer a wireless internet connection. Here you can expect approximately 4Mbit/s downstream and 2Mbit/s upstream. You should be able to us the internet for normal surfing, research and basic communication with home. If a lot of fellow students on your access point use the internet access intensively at the same time, the bandwidth may drop to approximately 1 or 2Mbit/s downstream and 1Mbit/s upstream. You might be able to choose another available access point. The total bandwidth on those locations is always sufficient.
Our internet connection is part of the network of the RUG. Our guests are obliged to follow the rules as stipulated in the 'Acceptable Use Policy of the University of Groningen for University Computer Systems' on http://www.rug.nl/cit/security/aup/index
For settings, please check our manuals here for XP, MAC, Vista and Windows7.
What to do if you cannot connect properly to our network
1. You can check your settings by going through the checklist you will receive from your student manager.
2. If you are still not able to connect properly to our network you can contact your student manager. Together you will fill out a digital support request form for our service provider.
3. If it is a network problem our service provider will make adjustments to let you be able to connect to our network properly.
4. If it is your laptop computer which is causing the problem to connect properly to our network, the service provider will charge you € 25,- because of the time they invest in solving the problem
5. If your laptop computer has major problems due to e.g. viruses, etc. our service provider will charge you an amount based on the time they spent finding the problem. Before doing so, the employees of our service provider will inform you of course.
Cleaning and maintenance
In all our International Student Houses a cleaning company will clean the communal areas several times a week. They clean shared toilets and bathrooms, kitchen floors, washing rooms, corridors and stairs and the entrance to your building.
The cleaners won't come into your room. They will also not do your dishes, throw away your rubbish or remove vomit from toilets. All of our students are responsible for keeping the house tidy together so the cleaners can do their jobs. Students are responsible themselves for the insides of the fridges, freezers and kitchen cupboards. Please respect the cleaners by making sure they can do their jobs!
If anything is broken in your house, for example the heating, a washing machine, a light bulb, a blockage in one of the toilets, your furniture or anything else please go to your student manager. He or she will call in the right party to solve the problem. At Winschoterdiep and Kornoeljestraat we have a caretaker who you can consult, as well as, your student manager when something is broken.
If you have any questions, requests or complains, please always go to your student manager first. If you live at Winschoterdiep you may also contact our caretaker between 8.00 - 12.00 hours at his desk at Winschoterdiep. If you live at Kornoeljestraat you may contact our caretaker from Monday till Thursday between 12.30 - 15.30 hours.
If you are not satisfied with the way your student manager deals with your question, request or complaint, please contact Housing Office. You can send us an email, call us or come to our desk at Friesestraatweg 18. Our desk is open on working days from 9.00 - 16.00 hours.
