Review the contract before you sign

Built for the pre-signing pause

Signing a Dutch rental contract while you are still learning the market is stressful. Agency mediation fees may be charged to you even when the agent mainly works for the landlord. Deposits may exceed the statutory kale-huur cap that applies to many contracts from mid-2023 onward. Registration (BRP) may be left vague or banned in ways that create later problems with banking, healthcare, and residency admin.

This funnel assumes you already have a document — usually a PDF from an agency or landlord. Upload is the default so you do not have to retype twenty pages. If you only have text, switch to paste. The free teaser tells you how many issues turned up and unlocks one example when there are two or more findings.

When you want every clause explained with severity and a next step, plus a PDF you can keep, unlock the full report for a one-time fee. That is the primary conversion on this path: deliberate reviewers who want the complete checklist before they sign.

What the clause review covers

The scanner screens for registration bans or unclear BRP language, tenant-paid bemiddelingskosten in dual-representation situations, deposit size relative to the statutory framework when a contract date is visible, termination and temporary-contract wording, maintenance shifts, and other unusual clauses. Findings are written in plain English even when the contract is Dutch.

It also runs an indicative rent check against current WWS band maxima. That screen is not a formal points calculation. For a binding Huurcommissie-style assessment, use the official Huurprijscheck. Linking you there is intentional: credibility matters more than pretending a band glance replaces a tribunal tool.

Scam signals still appear if the uploaded file looks more like a listing pitch than a real agreement. The emphasis here, though, is signing risk rather than deposit-wire urgency.

How to prepare a useful upload

A text-based PDF or DOCX gives the cleanest read, but scanned PDFs and photos of the pages now work too — they are transcribed before the check runs. Include the pages with rent, deposit, fees, registration, and duration; skipping annexes that only list house rules is fine if you are short on time, but fee schedules often hide in annexes.

After the teaser, unlock the full report if you want every issue with quoted text (while quotes remain available), suggested questions for the landlord or agency, and a downloadable PDF. Email capture is available too, but on this funnel the paid report is the main next step for people who plan to negotiate before signing.

Nothing here creates a lawyer-client relationship. If a high-severity issue appears, consider independent advice before you commit.

After you have the findings

Take the flagged clauses back to the agency in writing. Ask for amendments, deletions, or written confirmation of BRP registration. Keep dated copies. If they refuse to discuss illegal-looking fees or registration, that refusal is itself useful information.

If you decide not to proceed, you still leave with a clearer checklist for the next listing. The same scanner can be used again on the next draft — each scan is separate, and unpaid results expire after twenty-four hours unless you unlock or email yourself a link.

Expats often sign under time pressure from a start date, a job relocation, or a viewing schedule that only leaves one evening free. Use that evening for the upload on this page before you send the signed PDF back. A short delay beats discovering a registration ban after you have already paid the first month and the deposit.

If the agency sends a revised draft, run the new file again. Clause edits sometimes reintroduce fee language in an annex. Comparing two teasers side by side is crude but useful when you are negotiating line by line without a Dutch-speaking lawyer on call.

Share the unlocked PDF with a roommate or partner who is co-signing so everyone sees the same flags. Misaligned expectations about BRP, pets, or early termination are easier to fix before ink than after the first rent payment clears.