Rent a room with a host who lives there too, or rent out your own spare room to a student at the RUG or Hanze. Since December 2025 Groningen has its own homestay rule: one room, one tenant, no permit.
Groningen is the student city of the north: some 240,000 inhabitants and tens of thousands of students at the University of Groningen and Hanze. Every year thousands of students and young professionals look for a room, while the waiting time for social housing runs past eight years. Homestay rental is one of the fastest ways to ease that pressure, and the municipality now sees it that way too.
Since the homestay policy rule (12 December 2025) you may rent out one room to one person while living there yourself, without a conversion permit.
Conditions: you are registered at the address, own at least 50% of the home, have lived there for at least two years, share the kitchen, bathroom and toilet, the room is at least 5 m² and you sign a written contract.
A conversion permit is then required, which Groningen grants only in exceptional cases: a housing and liveability test plus parking norms. In practice an almost complete stop on new room conversion.
A nine-month trial period, up to €6,633 a year tax-free through the room rental exemption, and no effect on your benefits.
At the end of 2025 the municipality of Groningen made room for homestay rental with its own policy rule and is amending the environmental plan (expected end of 2026) to anchor it formally. Hospi Housing helps Groningen hosts with the conditions, the tenant and the contract.
Yes, one room to one person, if you live there yourself, own at least half of the home and have lived there for at least two years. You share the kitchen, bathroom and toilet and sign a written contract.
The municipality's homestay rule covers one room to one person. More residents require a conversion permit, which is rarely granted. We look at your situation at the intake.
It differs per room; the current rents of the rooms on this page come straight from the platform. A homestay room is usually cheaper than a self-contained studio.