Buying a house on a temporary contract in the Netherlands

You can get a Dutch mortgage on a fixed-term contract. What matters is which income the lender may count and for how long. A declaration of intent from your employer (intentieverklaring) lets a fixed-term contract count like a permanent one. Without it, there are three other recognised routes: a three-year income average, a labour-market scan, or, if you work through an agency, the Perspectiefverklaring. For expats there is also a second question alongside the contract: what your residence permit allows.

What the law asks for

The Tijdelijke regeling hypothecair krediet (Temporary Mortgage Credit Regulation) tells lenders to base your test income on your current fixed and stable income. If your income is not fixed, a lender may use your average over the last three calendar years or 36 months. There is also a third option. If you have not had fixed income in one or more of those three years but have had at least 12 months of income, the lender may use your current income, provided an expert has analysed your prospects on the labour market and concluded that this income is stable. The labour-market scan and the Perspectiefverklaring are built on that rule.

The detailed working rules below come from NHG, the national mortgage guarantee, and apply to any loan with NHG. For a loan without NHG, each lender may set its own policy.

The declaration of intent

A declaration of intent is a statement from your employer. NHG requires it to say, in substance: if your performance stays the same and business circumstances are unchanged, your fixed-term contract will be followed, when it ends, by a continued or new contract for an indefinite period. Whether you get the permanent contract may depend on nothing other than your performance and business circumstances. A conditional or vaguer promise does not count.

If you have that declaration and your probation period is over, your income counts for the full term of the loan, just as with a permanent contract. The declaration is part of the employer's statement (werkgeversverklaring). NHG publishes a model version, including an English one called the Employer's Statement. When the lender makes its binding offer, the statement and a payslip must each be no more than three months old.

Without a declaration of intent, the employer's-statement route still works, but your income only counts until the end date of your contract. That rarely supports a 30-year loan on its own, which is where the other routes come in.

Routes without a declaration of intent

A few practical points for the last two routes. The Perspectiefverklaring is not available to self-employed people. The foundation that runs it points out that it is not a guarantee of a mortgage; the lender still decides whether you get one and how much. If you have worked for the same client company for at least six months through a different agency, you may still qualify, under conditions the foundation sets.

If you are still on probation, note that for NHG the employer's-statement route needs the probation period to be over. The three-year average and the income assessment can be used during probation.

Your residence permit

Lenders look at your right to stay as well as your job. For a loan with NHG, each borrower needs EU, EEA or Swiss nationality, or one of these:

• a permanent residence permit
• EU long-term resident status
• a permit for a purpose the Vreemdelingenbesluit (Aliens Decree) does not class as temporary

The purposes classed as temporary include study, seasonal work, intra-company transfer and the search year for recent graduates. Work as a highly skilled migrant, regular paid employment and the EU Blue Card are not on that list. If two of you apply and one holds a permit for a temporary purpose, you can still both be on the loan, but that person's income is left out.

The permit's length matters too. The IND issues a highly skilled migrant permit for the length of your contract or job, up to a maximum of 5 years. If the job ends, you have up to 3 months to find a new one. When your permit ends well before a 30-year loan would, ask how each lender handles that, especially if you are applying outside NHG.

Getting the order right

1. Ask HR early. Ask whether your employer will issue a declaration of intent in NHG's wording. A looser promise will not get your income counted for the full term.
2. Collect the papers. You need your contract, recent payslips, your annual income statements (jaaropgaven) for the last three years if you have them, your residence permit and, if it applies, your 30% ruling decision.
3. Mind the expiry dates. The employer's statement and payslip must be no more than 3 months old when the lender makes its binding offer. A labour-market scan or Perspectiefverklaring may be no more than 6 months old. Requesting them too early can mean requesting them twice.

If your income also includes the 30% ruling, that raises a separate question on top of the contract. See the 30% ruling and your mortgage.

Where to go from here

Once you know which income will count, the maximum mortgage calculator turns it into a 2026 borrowing figure, and how Dutch lenders set your maximum mortgage explains the test behind it. Which route suits your contract, and which lenders accept it, is exactly what an adviser can sort out for you. You can request mortgage advice from up to three independent advisers who work in English.

Sources

• Wetten.overheid.nl: Tijdelijke regeling hypothecair krediet, article 2 (version from 1 January 2026)
• NHG: Voorwaarden en normen 2026 (sections C.3.1 and C.7.5 to C.7.9)
• NHG: A mortgage without a permanent contract
• NHG: Employer's statement (werkgeversverklaring)
• Stichting Perspectiefverklaring: For flex workers
• Wetten.overheid.nl: Vreemdelingenbesluit 2000, article 3.5
• IND: Highly skilled migrant

Figures checked against the sources above on 23 September 2026.

Photo: Fons Heijnsbroek, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.