I have a Dutch bank account. Do I need to close it before I leave?

Normally, the specific legal aspects to consider when terminating a rental contract, such as the notice period, are written into the contract. If you are the tenant, read the terms and condition carefully to be sure you are not overlooking anything. First consider the notice period should you give to the landlord in order to terminate the rental agreement. You should do this exactly as the relevant contract clause indicates. In some cases, if you are thinking of terminating the contract before the agreed rental period is completed, there may be a financial penalty to pay. For other rental contracts, you may find that you are only obliged to live for a given period of time, e.g. one year in the property. After this point, you are free to serve notice of your intention to end the rental agreement, even if the contracted termination date has not yet been reached.

After giving notice, you should expect the property owner or his/her agent to arrange for an inspection of the accommodation with you at least two weeks prior to the date you wish to vacate the premises. A comparison will be made of the state of the property with the details provided in the inspection report drawn up at the start of the tenancy agreement. A transfer report may be issued by the owner or his/her agent which specifies any maintenance and restoration work that is required to be undertaken by the tenant prior to termination of the tenancy agreement.

Another important aspect is the refund of the deposit. Theoretically, the owner should refund this amount in full. However, the owner has the right to make deductions for damage to the property or to cover any rental arrears or any services or utilities provided by and paid for by the landlord and not included in the rental fee.

Sometimes, the rental contract requires you to clean the carpets, windows, curtains, cooking appliances, etc. before leaving the house. A cleaning company can help you with this. To find a cleaning company in your area, have a look in the Gouden gids (yellow pages)  or your local newspaper under schoonmaakbedrijven (cleaning companies). Ask if they also carry out work for particulieren (individuals)

If you own property in the Netherlands, you have two obvious possibilities, i.e. either sell it or rent it out. There are benefits and downsides for both options.

If you decide to sell your property, you will need to consider how long it may take to find a buyer and any potential difficulties that you may experience if you are unable to complete the sale before you leave the Netherlands. Whatever you decide, it is advisable to make use of a makelaar( real estate agency). Estate agents in the Netherlands have their own trade association, the  Nederlandse Vereniging voor Makelaars– NVM (Dutch association of estate agents) is a recognised body with their own code of ethics which its members are obliged to follow. The association can provide information on registered agents in your area, which you can find by visiting their website at: www.nvm.nl. All estate agents who are members of NVM also have access to Funda.nl which is a popular residential property website in the Netherlands.

Once a price has been verbally agreed with a potential buyer for your property, an official presale agreement or koopovereenkomst (contract of sale) must be prepared. Your estate agent will normally arrange this in conjunction with a lawyer or notaris (notary). The buyer and the seller will normally use the same notary as this saves on cost and paperwork. Both parties are required to sign and the buyer is allowed three days to withdraw without penalty. Once this three-day period has passed, the lawyer will be given the contract of sale and will set a date for completion.

If completion is likely to take more than two months, you can ask the buyer to pay a ten percent deposit at the time that the purchase agreement is signed. Once both parties are ready to complete the sale of the property, an akte van levering (transfer contract) will be signed by both parties demonstrating the change of ownership for the property. As soon as this deed is signed, the notary will register the details of the change of ownership with the Land Registry.

If you have a mortgage remaining once you have sold your property, you should check the terms and conditions of the contract to see whether or not it is advisable to pay off the balance early, or if there are any financial penalties or restrictions.

Depending on the type of mortgage you have, it may be more beneficial to continue the mortgage going once you leave the country, especially if you decide to rent out the property. You are advised to make an appointment with your mortgage provider to discuss the most convenient and sensible options open to you. We suggest you to check whether you are allowed to have a mortgage when you are no longer resident and that you can rent the property with the given mortgage.

As soon as you know that you are leaving the country, but at least two weeks in advance, notify (by email or telephone) the companies providing you the service for electricity, gas and water, telling them that you wish to terminate the service from a specific date. They will send you a form to fill in (you might be able to do this online). Afterwards, they will send you an account statement detailing the total amount payable or indicating the amount that will be reimbursed to your bank account. If you are renting a property, this may be done by the rental agent or landlord when you vacate the property.

Telephone connection

For landline connections, you should call the company providing the service to inform them when you wish to terminate the service. It is advisable to let them know, at the latest, one month in advance.

Mobile telephone

If you have signed a one-two-year contract, check the terms for ending it. Normally, you should notify your provider three months in advance of the reasons for wishing to end the contract. However, you may find yourself in one of two different situations:

• If you wish to cancel the contract at the end of the contract period, you must still give three months notice before the contract is due to end.
• If you wish to cancel before the end of the contract, you must send the letter three months in advance of the date when you want the contract to end. However, you will probably still be asked to pay the charges for the remaining months until the end of the contract.  Your mobile phone provider may also offer the capability for you to cancel your contract online.

Normally, you should contact your provider informing them of the date that you wish the service to be cancelled. Depending on the type of contract you have with the provider, they will then write to you confirming the date the service will be disconnected.

Before cancelling your internet connection, it might be a good idea to open a free web-based email address that can be used worldwide, such as Gmail or Yahoo, so that you can still send and receive emails (assuming you have internet access) until you have arranged a new email account in your new country of residence.

After you have decided which clothes, furniture and other belongings you wish to take with you, you need to consider what to do with everything else. Some items can be sold to friends, colleagues or to other people via internet sales sites such as Ebay.nl or Marktplaats.nl (both sites are in Dutch only) and at second-hand stores. Of course, even then, there will be some unwanted belongings for which you cannot find a buyer. There are collection (recycling) points in all major towns and cities throughout the Netherlands where you can leave any unwanted clothes or shoes. You will often find these recycling points near shopping centres. If your clothes are good quality, you can donate them to the Salvation Army. You can find out how to donate your unwanted items to the Salvation Army family stores at Satruck.org. Alternatively you can take household items to a charity shop (e.g. Kringloopwinkel). You can check the telephone book to find a charity shop in your area or visit their website at Kringloopwinkel.nl (in Dutch only). They may agree to collect large heavy items at an agreed time.

If an item is worn out, it is probably best to just dispose of it. Small items such as clothes, pots and pans can be put in the normal refuse bags. If you have larger items to dispose of, you will need to contact the waste collection company of your municipality to make an appointment for grofvuil ( the collection of large waste itemsl). They will tell you when it will be collected and how much it will cost.

If you feel overwhelmed by all the arrangements that need to be made, you can opt to use a relocation company to assist you in this process. They can also advise you on such matters as contacting an international removal company and offering advice and help with getting settled in your new country.

Most relocation companies offer departure services, moving services and settling-in services. They can also advise whether your belongings should be transported to your new country by air, boat, rail or road.

If you want to use a removal company, you need to bear in mind that prices and services vary considerably from one company to another. It is therefore important to be clear about what services your require and to ask for written offers from at least three different companies. Some companies are more experienced than others at managing the movement of household items internationally. Long-distance shipments are sometimes expressed in terms of standard international container sizes, whereas more local moves will normally use one or more trucks.

In general, the price depends on:

• The nature of the items being transported, volume and approximate weight.
• The distance to be travelled.
• The type of furniture and number of heavy or fragile items.
• The number of staff required to conduct the move.
• The floor on which you live or are you going to live; presence or absence of an elevator and general ease of accessing the premises.
• The extra services that are offered (e.g. packing, unpacking, providing you with boxes and containers- most companies will provide these to your home in advance).

It is essential to make an inventory of what needs to be moved:

• Make a list of everything that you want to move.
• Make a list of valuable items and their worth for the removal company’s (and your own) insurance, with photographs.

The removal company will normally come to your house to estimate the volume and weight of your possessions as well as the number of boxes needed, before giving an estimate of cost. You may feel that you wish to pack some of your items yourself, and you can ask for boxes in advance to do this. However be aware that if you pack and seal the box yourself it will not be covered by the insurance of the packing company.

It is advisable to insure your inventory for the move. Removal companies often offer this insurance as part of the service, but the disadvantage can be that they might question every claim you make. Make photos of your belongings before packing, because they can be used as proof in case of damage.