How to find a room through SSH Short Stay

Instructions for international students of Utrecht University

Utrecht University (UU) has reserved about 500 rooms for their international exchange, bachelor’s and master’s students. This reserved housing offer is only available for international students who enrol in an international degree or exchange programme, and who do not yet live in the Netherlands.

Below, you find instructions as well as a step-by-step action plan on how to register on our website and reserve accommodation.

PLEASE READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY. Registering correctly is your own responsibility. If your registration is not correct, you will NOT be able to reserve accommodation. Also read the “Terms and Conditions STUDENTS” on our website carefully to be informed about the rules and regulations.

1. General Information
1.1 Correspondence
The Short Stay online housing system will send automatically generated e-mails (like the accommodation confirmation e-mail) to you from noreply@sshxl.nl. Make sure this e-mail address is accepted by your e-mail provider as safe e-mail so that our e-mails will not end up in your spam box!

1.2 If you are currently renting or have previously rented from SSH Short Stay
If you already registered in the past and have lived, or currently live in a Short Stay accommodation, you do not need to register again. You can use your original user name and password to log in and add a new rental period. If you have any questions, contact us via info@sshxl.nl

1.3 Explanation of important terms
• Rental Period
This the period during which student and SSH Short Stay have agreed to rent (out) accommodation. The rental periods for Utrecht University students are always fixed periods. You should not register for any other period than the ones mentioned under paragraph 2 "Registration" (desired rental period). The first day of your rental period is always the 1st day of the month. The last day of your rental period is always the last day of the month, even if you arrive some days later, or leave some days earlier. Note that you must enter one of the fixed rental periods, otherwise your application will not be approved and you will not be able to reserve accommodation.

• Gender
Apartments with 3 rooms or fewer are same-gender apartments. The first person to reserve a room determines whether the apartment has only male or only female tenants. Apartments with 4 rooms and more have at least two people of the same gender

• Number of applicants
You should always register as a single (1) applicant. Even if you are accompanied by a friend, partner and/or children, you cannot register them as secondary applicants, because the student accommodation reserved for international University students are not suitable for (married) couples or families. Therefore, you should always enter the number of applicants: 1. If you are a student and want to rent an apartment for you and your partner and/or family, you can apply for the so-called Direct Offer (please note that different terms and conditions apply to the Direct Offer).
 
2 Registration
First you will have to register on our website www.sshxl.nl/shortstay. By clicking -> “Register” on top of the home page. The yellow fields are obligatory.
• Enter your personal information. Make sure to enter the same name as the one with which you have registered with at Utrecht University!
• Enter an account name (logon name) You should make one up yourself.
-> Click on "Next"

On the next page you will have to enter
• Your address and a valid e-mail address.
• Address: first enter your country, then enter your home address. 
• Please also enter your (mobile) phone number.
-> Click on "Next"

On the next page you'll see
• Secondary Applicants
Do not enter a secondary applicant!
As a student, you can only apply for accommodation for one person, never for you and a friend or family. Therefore, as a student, you cannot enter secondary applicants. If you do, your registration will not be approved and you will not be able to reserve accommodation.
-> Click on "Next"

• Desired rental period
Note that the rental periods for Utrecht University students are always fixed periods:

Exchange Students
International students who temporarily study at Utrecht University as part of their degree programme at another university.

Semester I:  1 September - 31 January
Semester II:  1 February - 30 June
Full year:  1 September - 30 June

Bachelor’s Students
International students who enrol in the first year of their international Bachelor’s degree programme at Utrecht University.
Important: although international Bachelor’s programmes run for 3 years, Bachelor’s students can only apply for reserved housing for the first 12 months. After the first year, you have to find accommodation yourself. To continue your stay in The Netherlands after the first year, check your options with SSH, or check your options via the website of Utrecht University.

Full year:  1 September - 31 August

Master’s Students
International students who enrol in an international Master’s degree programme at Utrecht University.

Full year: 1 September - 31 August

Important: Although international Master’s programmes may run for 2 years, Master’s students can only apply for reserved housing for the first 12 months. After the first year, you have to find accommodation yourself. To continue your stay in The Netherlands, check your options with SSH, or check your options via the website of Utrecht University.

Note that even though the system will allow you to enter different dates than the ones above, your application will NOT be approved by your faculty if you do not comply with the dates mentioned above!

IMPORTANT ! When you get to the option • I’m searching for housing via ... Tick the box: company/university (do not tick the box ‘housing corporation’!) >> This is very important! Only when you tick the box 'company/university', you can search for accommodation that is reserved by Utrecht University. If you tick the box ‘housing corporation’ you will be redirected to our ‘Direct Offer’ and you will not get access to the reserved University accommodation offerings!  •  Select Utrecht University •  Select your faculty. If you register with the wrong Faculty, your registration will not be approved and you will not be able to reserve accommodation!

• In the box "Name of department or program you will attend", enter the name of the department or the name of the programme at Utrecht University that you are enrolling in
• Income above boundary: select 'yes' if your income is above the boundary stated in the 'info'. Select 'no' if your income is below this boundary.

-> Click on "Finish"

Your registration is now completed. SSH Short Stay will e-mail you the confirmation of your registration. With this e-mail, you will also receive confirmation of your account name and your password.

3. Authorisation
Your contact person has to authorise (approve) your application. When your contact person has approved it, you will receive an e-mail that informs you that you can start looking for a room in our online housing database.

IMPORTANT If your registration is not correct, it will NOT be approved and you will NOT be able to access the housing database to reserve accommodation. If you do not receive an e-mail to inform you that your registration has been approved or rejected, your application might not be correct. Therefore make sure to check if you have entered all information correctly:   •  Did you spell your name correctly? •  Did you enter a valid e-mail address?  •  Did you enter the correct rental period? •  Did you tick the box “I am looking for housing offered by company/university” ? •  Did you register with Utrecht University? •  Did you enter the right Faculty? Etc.

To change your registration information, log on to the Short Stay website by clicking on -> "Log in" and enter your account name and password. On this personal account page you can edit your personal data. Here you can also change the rental period if you have entered it incorrectly. If you change your rental period or faculty, your contact person has to approve your application again.

4. Log In
On the website of SSH Short Stay -> click on “Log In” and enter your username and password to log in to your account. 

5. Check for available accommodation
To access the housing database click on “Offer by University”.

6. Terms and Conditions
Before you can see the available accommodations you will have to agree with the Terms & Conditions. Please read the Terms & Conditions carefully before you tick the box “I agree with the Terms & Conditions”. 
-> Then click on “Proceed”

IMPORTANT You should read the Terms & Conditions carefully! If you agree on them and rent accommodation from the Utrecht University reserved offerings, you are committed to these Terms & Conditions. If you do not agree with the Terms & Conditions, you should not engage a rental agreement with Short Stay under the Terms & Conditions of Utrecht University - Students. You could register for the Direct Offer instead or find accommodation independently. You may find some useful information on www.uu.nl/housing

7. Search and reserve accommodation
-> Click on ‘Search’ to see all available accommodation. You can enter your preferences (address/ city/ price category) if you want to narrow your search, but it is recommended to search with as less criteria as possible. Note that some of the accommodation offered to Utrecht University students is not in Utrecht, but in a town named Zeist just outside Utrecht.

The information is shown to you in this order: Apartment - Room - Building.  First you see a list of apartments. -> Click on an address to see information about the room. Then go to “Complex” (under Details). Here you find detailed information about the building, living area and facilities. To reserve the accommodation of your choice, -> click on Reserve.

8. No accommodation available?
It is possible that all accommodation that is reserved by Utrecht University, is fully booked.

9. Add changes or edit your registration
To edit your registration, log in to access your personal account. Click on “Edit Registration”. Click on the rental period, then you can click on "Edit". On your personal account page you can edit your personal information, rental period, etc.
Make sure to save the changes. Note that if you change your rental period or register with another Faculty after your registration has been approved, your registration will go back to the status For Approval and you will not be able to access the housing databases unless it is approved again by the contact person of the concerned Faculty.

10. Information
For the Terms & Conditions, general information on your accommodation, check our website. For more detailed information, log on to your account.

Step-by-step Action Plan

Log in to check your Registration Status:
for approval: you have registred and you are waiting for approval
approved: your faculty has approved your registration and you can log in to reserve a room.
not approved: your faculty has not approved your registration. You have received an e-mail with the reason and instructions.
pending: you have made a reservation. Short Stay is checking the housing database for availability.
definite: you have transfered the first payment and your reservation is finalized.

1. Registration

Info  After having been (conditionally) admitted to Utrecht University (UU) you will receive information from UU about housing. You may also register before you have received confirmation about your admission. What to do  Register on-line at www.sshxl.nl/shortstay. Register according to the instructions: #2 Registration, see above. Registration Status  For approval Correspondence  After registration, you will immediately receive an automatically generated e-mail to confirm your application. In this mail you also receive a user name and password. What to do next   Wait for the Faculty to approve your application.

2. Authorization

Info  After you have registered, the contact person of the Faculty that you have entered is notified by an automated e-mail. They will verify if your registration is correct and check if you have indeed been admitted to the study programme. If this is the case, the contact person at the Faculty will approve your registration

Option 1: Your registration is approved

Registration Status  Approved Correspondence  If your registration has been approved, you will receive an automatically generated confirmation e-mail. What to do next? You can access the housing offerings on the website and reserve accommodation. Go to www.sshxl.nl/shortstay and log in.

Option 2: Your registration is not approved

Registration Status Not approved Correspondence You may receive an e-mail explaining why your registration has not been approved. The most common reasons for not being approved are: - you did not enter a valid, fixed rental period - you did not enter the correct Faculty name - you registered as a staff member instead of as student What to do? Log in and change your registration accordingly. After you have saved the changes, the Faculty is your registration is again being sent to your faculty for authorization.

Option 3: Your registration is not treated

Info  In some cases your registration remains untreated. This could happen if your registration is not correct, for instance when you have entered an invalid e-mail address, if you register with the wrong educational institution, with the wrong Faculty or if you register as a Staff member. In these cases you may not be notified: you do not receive an e-mail in which your registration is approved or rejected. What to do? If you do not receive an email in which your registration is approved or rejected you should check if you have registered correctly, and if so, contact the Faculty at Utrecht University where you will be studying to enquire about your case. Registration Status For approval

3. Reserving accommodation

Info  With your account name and password you can log on to access the housing database and reserve accommodation. What to do? Log in with your account name and password. You will have to agree with the terms & conditions, by ticking the box. You have now access to the accommodation database. When you have made your choice of accommodation click on ‘reserve’. Registration Status  Pending Correspondence  After making the reservation, you will immediately receive an automatically generated e-mail with confirmation of your request. What to do next ? Wait for Short Stay to confirm your request

4. Confirmation of your accommodation reservation

Info  SSH Short Stay will check your accommodation request for availability. What to do?  Within 10 working days you will receive a preliminary confirmation of the reservation with a request to pay your first and last month’s rent and the reservation fee of € 160,-. This payment is necessary to make your reservation definite. The complete down payment is non-refundable. Registration Status  Definite What to do next ?  Transfer the down payment (first month, last month, reservation fee). We advise you to pay as soon as possible. The payment has to be on our account within 2 weeks of receiving the preliminary confirmation. After we have received the amount within these 2 weeks, your reservation is definite. For international bank transfers you will need the following information: BIC code: INGBNL2A IBAN code: NL84INGB0003170505 Bank account number: 3170505 Short Stay Solutions Utrecht Address Bank: ING P.O. Box 1800 1000 BV Amsterdam The Netherlands Clearly state your last name and the address we reserved for you with the transfer!

5. Definite Reservation

Info  Once we receive your payment (in time!), your reservation is definite. Cancellation of a definite reservation is only possible before commencement of the rental period. However, the downpayment will not be refunded (see Terms and Conditions). Registration Status  Definite Period  Within 10 working days after receipt of your payment Correspondence  We will send you a confirmation that your payment has been received and that your reservation is definite.

6. Cancellation

If we do not receive your payment within 2 weeks after we have sent you the Confirmation of your Accommodation reservation, your reservation will be cancelled without further notice.