Where in the Netherlands the office and appartment rents are lowest. Please guide?
fari447 asked:
I am planning to open a HR & relocation consultantancy business office in Netherlands I will also need to live near the office with a family of 3 persons. so please guide me which is the cheapest and best place for office of 1 person and home for 3 persons.
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Well in principle, the further away from the Randstad area in the Netherlands and from major cities elsewhere, then the cheaper it will be for office & apartment rentals (unless it is a area in demand e.g. for natural beauty etc).
The Randstad area encompasses the area around the four largest cities being AmsterdamDen HaagRotterdamUtrecht but also includes towns/cities like Almere, Haarlem, Zaanstad,
Amersfoort, Zoetermeer, Dordrecht & Leiden
However even renting outside but closeby to this area means that the rentals are cheaper but not cheap. I live just outside of this area but within commuting distance and the rentals are not so much cheaper I can assure you and thus the exact area of the Randstad is difficult to define exactly.
Anyway, one other point I wanted to mention on the basis of your previous questions is for you to be aware of the immigration requirements because if you hold a non-EU passport then it is not as simple as just moving over and starting a business.
You would have to have a visa to move here legally using the self-employed visa option. However the business would have to be proven as being an “essential interest to the Dutch economy”. You can read more on the official Dutch immigration site here p19 and by following the wizard here. I am not an expert on immigration but knowing this market and having read the conditions of the visa requirements then I would suspect that this business would not be accepted as being of vital interest because it is not in demand and if anything overpopulated as it is.
To be honest there are no end of HR/recruitment agencies in the Netherlands which serve the market and have established routes. Also if you plan to serve the expat market then you will find that you will need to be based in this location (Randstad where the majority of International companies are based). Companies like this will not travel to the North or East of the Netherlands to a HR consultant when there are plenty on the doorstep to serve their needs.
I just wanted to warn you that this is a niche market if you are focusing on non-Dutch natives, but one that is very well served already and thus you might want to make a proper analysis of the market before taking any steps that involve financial implications. Also you will need to know about Dutch labour laws and practices as well? Are you familar with this as your business will be subject to this?
If you are looking to Dutch natives as well then you will need to speak Dutch fluently as of course to be successful.
You can contact the Chamber of Commerce in the Netherlands which might be able to help you further
Also do check the immigration requirements as I mentioned.