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Dutch GAF |OT| We're just going our gang

nickcv

Member
Gratz on the job! Not too familiar with Rotterdam so can't help you too much on that end. I know Kralingen has a nice park/forest, but its one of the more expensive parts in town.

Thx daeda! The links you gave me were very useful btw!

Blijdorp does have some green and there is a pretty big ZOO in that area so you could always watch trees and animals there. It is pretty close to central station. You can actually walk from Blijdorp to CS in less than 30.

That would be nice... I need a short commute.
Now it takes me two trains and a grand total of minimum 90 minutes to get to work


edit: btw guys are there any apps / websites / twitter / Instagram worth following / installing?

Like in my hometown they have a foodporn instagram that recommends places to go
 
I would say Blaak, puts you right in the center of everything. Unless you have a family, then I would argue something a little bit more 'suburby' (we don't really have those, but it's the idea that counts). But since you likely have a professional job I don't think it really matters where you live as long as it's close to the job. It's not like major Dutch cities are hotspots for racism anyway (though it does remain a concern if you're non-white, even here). But that might be white privilege talking, which it probably is.

Also, you might want to use a bike when it's faster. For one, if you are using the transfer of Blaak-CS to CS-whatever, you can cut out the transfer by just cycling to CS directly.

and food related:

justeat.nl
or: thuisbezorgd.nl
Because home delivery > actually going out. THIS. IS. NEOGAF! *kick*
 

hiro4

Member
If your company is in front of the Central Station it might be worth looking in the cities surrounding Rotterdam.

Like I previously said, Schiedam for example. And it has a great connection to the City with Train and Metro. If you want to stay in Rotterdam places like Kralingen and Blaak are good ones too.
 

Linius

Member
You can't even use Justeat anymore, once you enter your zipcode it redirects you to the thuisbezorgd website. There's also hungry.nl by the way.
 

Daeda

Member
Thuisbezorgd will never be the same without the ability to search for a specific product. 😞

Stond altijd op mijn lange wishlist van features. Beetje rommelig bedrijf helaas qwaardoor dat soort dingen blijven liggen. Nu werk ik er niet meer dus weet verder niks, maar gok dat het nog altijd geen prioriteit is.
 

JDB

Banned
Stond altijd op mijn lange wishlist van features. Beetje rommelig bedrijf helaas qwaardoor dat soort dingen blijven liggen. Nu werk ik er niet meer dus weet verder niks, maar gok dat het nog altijd geen prioriteit is.
De website zelf had ooit de optie, maar toen die een nieuwe laag verf kreeg verdween deze. Het was een donkere dag voor lui, online ongezond eten bestellen.
 

nickcv

Member
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Ok I'm slightly confused here.
I'm looking at apartments and I've read every document and guide I could find online.

I understand that exclusive means that I will have to pay for the bills separately, but I assumed that the service costs were electricity, gas etc...

What is exactly the difference between the first two?
 

Aiii

So not worth it
Service costs are maintenance of shared areas, normally this includes cleaning, window washing if you're not on the ground floor, and general things like occasional painting, and maintenance of the heating unit, for instance.

Similarly, the company or person you rent for has to maintain things like plumbing, so if something breaks in your house, call them first and find out if they cover it. They will send whatever company they employ to fix that shit as covered under the service costs.

Whether gas, water and electricity are covered by them or you personally differs from apartment to apartment. For instance, where I live we share a water connection, so we collectively pay for the water bill divided by the number of apartments (Also why I take way too many baths). As said, it all depends on the situation, but expect to pay each for yourself.

In your case I guess you share one house with multiple people, which is why your service costs include all, as well as internet and TV. When you rent an apartment with your own front door, rather than sharing one with others, you are likely to have to pay for utilities yourself.
 

nickcv

Member
Thanks Aiii!

Actually the house with everything included is not a share. Maybe the agency is including everything to better inflate the price without anyone noticing

Edit:
One more thing if I do rent a place am I usually allowed to make any changes to the property?

i.e. put a hook on the wall to hang a painting

I'm asking because I've noticed this to be very different in each country.
In Italy for instance you can even repaint the walls if you like as long as you return the property in the same state you found it.

In England on the other hand rentals are glorified hotel rooms where you can't do anything and you might have the landlord / agency coming every now and then to check on you
 

Kabouter

Member
Thanks Aiii!

Actually the house with everything included is not a share. Maybe the agency is including everything to better inflate the price without anyone noticing

Edit:
One more thing if I do rent a place am I usually allowed to make any changes to the property?

i.e. put a hook on the wall to hang a painting

I'm asking because I've noticed this to be very different in each country.
In Italy for instance you can even repaint the walls if you like as long as you return the property in the same state you found it.

In England on the other hand rentals are glorified hotel rooms where you can't do anything and you might have the landlord / agency coming every now and then to check on you

You are allowed to make changes that increase the value of the property (but no structural changes etc. obviously, no taking out walls and what not). Minor changes that can be reverted like hooks on the wall or painting it are usually (always?) fine as well (unless the wall is unsuited for it for whatever reason). You'll just be expected to put the wall back into its original state when you move out.
 

nickcv

Member
You are allowed to make changes that increase the value of the property (but no structural changes etc. obviously, no taking out walls and what not). Minor changes that can be reverted like hooks on the wall or painting it are usually (always?) fine as well (unless the wall is unsuited for it for whatever reason). You'll just be expected to put the wall back into its original state when you move out.

So just like in Italy! I missed continental Europe!

Is there any website I could use to get electricity / gas / water bills estimates?

I'm probably going to get a 1 bedroom apartment and I wanna make sure the utilities won't end up killing me.

And one more thing just to be sure : in England you have to pay to the council each month a council tax. The price depends on the apartment size and the council : i.e. Mine is 200 per month. Are there any other additional hidden fees like this that I'm not aware of?
 

Kabouter

Member
So just like in Italy! I missed continental Europe!

Is there any website I could use to get electricity / gas / water bills estimates?

I'm probably going to get a 1 bedroom apartment and I wanna make sure the utilities won't end up killing me.

And one more thing just to be sure : in England you have to pay to the council each month a council tax. The price depends on the apartment size and the council : i.e. Mine is 200 per month. Are there any other additional hidden fees like this that I'm not aware of?

Can't give you a good website for estimates, but as for municipal taxes, they are normally yearly. For me I think it's about €300/year, but it varies somewhat per municipality. It goes up depending on family size I believe.
 

Daeda

Member
You are allowed to make changes that increase the value of the property (but no structural changes etc. obviously, no taking out walls and what not). Minor changes that can be reverted like hooks on the wall or painting it are usually (always?) fine as well (unless the wall is unsuited for it for whatever reason). You'll just be expected to put the wall back into its original state when you move out.

Id like to add that some rental agencies do allow you to make major changes (like removing walls) if you ask for (and receive) their approval first. Usually this is in case the value increases, which may very ocasionally be slightly subsidised (e.g. renovating a kitchen).

As for holes in the wall, painting etc: you are always allowed to do that unless specified otherwise (for fully decorated houses this may be different). What happens when you leave the apartment differs. Sometimes you can leave it as is (e.g. with purple walls and holes every meter), sometimes you have to clean it up by plugging holes and whiting walls. Your rental contract will always specify these rules.

EDIT:
For energy: https://www.energievergelijker.nl/ (you are free to pick an energy utility provider in the Netherlands so prices differ. If you take an apartment with energy provided you are obviously less free)
For water: https://www.evides.nl/ (as opposed to energy, each city usually has one specific water utilities company)
Municipal taxes differ per city. Its probably a few hundred euros, to be paid yearly or over multiple months.
For water
 

NaM

Does not have twelve inches...
Hey guys! I ask for help. Let's say if I was in Amsterdam what would be the cheapest place to buy a notebook?
 

Aiii

So not worth it
Hey guys! I ask for help. Let's say if I was in Amsterdam what would be the cheapest place to buy a notebook?

Germany.

You're in one of the worst places on the planet to buy any tech related item, high taxes, surcharges thanks to Brein and company and such. We're absolutely shit in every regard.

Anyway, go to https://tweakers.net/categorie/496/laptops/producten/ and find the cheapest online place (with good user reviews) and buy it there.

If you absolutely must buy it in-shop, it doesn't really matter, the Media Markt will do.
 

NaM

Does not have twelve inches...
Thanks a lot guys, I can actually buy it in Germany but I don't really want to carry it with me more than needed but maybe I should.
 

itsgreen

Member
Thanks a lot guys, I can actually buy it in Germany but I don't really want to carry it with me more than needed but maybe I should.

Just go to Mediamarkt, they're fine. There is one near Amsterdam Central Station and Amsterdam Bijlmer Arena
 

Aiii

So not worth it
Ik vertrek 4 dagen na de verkiezingen naar Japan, als Wilders wint ga ik kijken hoe het daar bevalt en dan bezien of ik nog terug wil komen. Anders laat ik de katten overkomen en betrek ik permanent een internet café daaro.
 

Kabouter

Member
Dan doe ik een pro-Geert stem en dan in combinatie met Aiii's blanco stem heffen we elkaar allemaal mooi op. #democratie

:')
Ik ben niet zo van het anti-stemmen. Ik ga zelf lekker gewoon stemmen op een partij die het beste matcht met mijn prioriteiten. Echt ideaal wordt het natuurlijk nooit, maar ach, ik vind dat compromissen sluiten best mag. Dat hele idee van alles moet maar perfect aansluiten en anders blanco, dat bevalt me maar niks.
 

Hrothgar

Member
Alvast een fijne jaarwisseling iedereen!

:')
Ik ben niet zo van het anti-stemmen. Ik ga zelf lekker gewoon stemmen op een partij die het beste matcht met mijn prioriteiten. Echt ideaal wordt het natuurlijk nooit, maar ach, ik vind dat compromissen sluiten best mag. Dat hele idee van alles moet maar perfect aansluiten en anders blanco, dat bevalt me maar niks.

Sluit ik me bij aan.
 

Aiii

So not worth it
:')
Ik ben niet zo van het anti-stemmen. Ik ga zelf lekker gewoon stemmen op een partij die het beste matcht met mijn prioriteiten. Echt ideaal wordt het natuurlijk nooit, maar ach, ik vind dat compromissen sluiten best mag. Dat hele idee van alles moet maar perfect aansluiten en anders blanco, dat bevalt me maar niks.
Is er een partij die actief tegen consumentenvuurwerk is? Dan stem ik daar wel op!

Ik ga mee!
Gezellig!
 
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