How Not to Find a Home in Amsterdam

By Robin Pascoe

 

The experiences of a young Brexit escapee trying to find a place to live in Amsterdam have proved quite an eye-opener to DutchNews.nl editor Robin Pascoe.

When your own offspring have flown the nest, the rooms they have left behind collect all manner of waifs and strays who need a place to stay. The longest was with us for almost a year while she found her feet after 15 years away from the Netherlands, but most stay a few days while they Interrail around Europe courtesy of the European Union or the like.

We’ve recently had a house guest who stayed with us for a month – a Brexit refugee, willing to work hard where ever she was needed, if she could find a place to live. Although flat sharing as in the television series Friends may be quite normal in many parts of the world, in the Netherlands things are not quite that easy – particularly if don’t have an extremely well-paying job, a permanent contract and heaps of savings to use as a deposit.

 

www.dutchnews.nl

Author
Robin Pascoe
Issue
2019 Winter

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