You still have to apply as a couple, rather than as two single people applying in parallel.
Your advantage: incomes add up
Most landlords ask for gross income of three to four times the rent. Alone, on €3,400 gross, you top out around €970 of rent with a 3.5 multiplier — which buys nothing in Amsterdam. Together, the same €3,400 each makes €6,800, a ceiling of roughly €1,940, which opens up decent studios and one-bedroom flats.
The full calculation, including the vakantiegeld and thirteenth month people forget to count, is in the income you need to rent in Amsterdam.
Apply together from the first message
This is the classic mistake: one of you writes to the landlord, with one salary, and the file falls below the threshold. The landlord cuts it, and nobody ever learns the household could comfortably pay.
Your first message should carry both jobs, both gross incomes, the move-in date and the length of commitment you have in mind. In one line, before you even ask for a viewing: that is what gets you through the sorting described in the seven real reasons for a rejection.
Prepare a single file in both names too — documents for both people in the same PDF, ready to go in one send. What it should contain is in our rental application guide.
Studio, one bedroom or two?
The 2026 ballpark in Amsterdam:
- studio: from around €1,800, often €1,800 to €1,900;
- one bedroom: from €2,100, generally €2,100 to €2,300;
- two bedrooms: from €2,500, and well beyond in the most sought-after areas.
The step from studio to one bedroom is the best value for a couple working from home, if only for a room with a door. The step to two bedrooms is expensive: keep it for a real need — a permanent desk, regular visitors, a child on the way.
Watch the furnishing: many homes are let bare (kaal), and equipping one is a real sum to plan for on arrival. Our guide to furnished and unfurnished leases explains the three levels, and the real-cost calculator prices the whole thing, deposit included.
The areas that work for a couple
De Pijp: central, lively, extremely well connected — the reflex of young professionals and couples without children, and the prices follow that popularity.
Oud-West: the buzz of De Pijp with a little more calm, popular with couples and young families.
Oost: a real neighbourhood to live in, parks and cafés, on a more contained budget — the best compromise for many working couples.
Westerpark: green and creative, minutes from the centre by bike.
Our neighbourhood matcher weighs all thirteen areas against your budget and household, and the files give the real rents by type of home.
Flat-share, or a place of your own?
The question comes up whenever the budget is tight: sharing a large flat with a third tenant lowers everyone's share, but not every home allows it — some listings say so in Dutch (geen deling), others say nothing at all. Our flat-sharing guide explains how to ask and what changes in the file.
On two decent incomes, a place of your own is almost always the better call: no flat-share friction, and a lease in your own names, which counts later.
The detail not to overlook: both names on the lease
A lease signed by one person makes the other invisible: settle it when you agree terms, not afterwards. The same goes for registering with the city (inschrijving) at that address, which conditions each person's admin — the subject is covered in our administrative guide.
Ask the landlord explicitly before signing, and get it in writing.
What to take away
State both incomes in the first line of the first message, with a single file in both names. Target the type of home your real ceiling allows — one bedroom is often the sweet spot — and look at Oost and Westerpark if De Pijp is beyond budget. Finally, settle the both-names question before signing, not after.
