u/Pirate_Potato

Sorry if this tag is wrong, idk what I'm doing.

So a friend of mine is currently renting out a place in Scheveningen and she's gonna move out of there soon. I am also currently looking for a place to move in with my girlfriend and start a family, so I was immediately interested when she said the landlord is chill and just wants her to find him a new tenant. She told me her rent is 1600 euros for 80m², and utilities are included.

Today I had a chat over the phone with the landlord (he lives abroad), and now I am not so sure about this place anymore.

He says that he wants to raise the utility charges by 80 euros as apparently my friend had to pay extra for using more than was in the agreement. That's fine and all but he also said that apparently there is a cleaning lady coming to the apartment every month and we have to also pay extra for that. On top of that apparently there is a locked room in that apartment which is probably another extra 8 to 10 sqm which the landlord plans to clean out and add it to the final rental price as extra space.

The man was really unclear about some things. He's not giving me a final price yet and says he needs to calculate that, he doesn't have a floor plan and he doesn't even know the energy label of the apartment, and he also didn't give me the price for the cleaning lady. The only positive thing about this so far is that he agreed to secure me a parking permit free of charge.

My gf and I will go to visit my friend and view the apartment and after that we'll have a proper meeting with the landlord to finalize the contract and go through it together. He told me he's open to answer any questions but I am not sure if I can even negotiate anything since the housing market is so fucked up right now.

I really don't understand the cleaning lady thing. I think this can't be legal but maybe I'm wrong. I am quite desperate to find a place since I'm a ZZPer and I've been rejected from so many places already due to that factor alone. I'm a first time renter so I would appreciate any help or advice.