If you live in true service accommodation (dienstwoning) and your employment contract ends, your right to live there in principle ends at the same time, without a separate termination of a tenancy. That is different if the housing is only arranged through your employer and is not needed for the job: then ordinary tenancy protection may apply.
The subdistrict court (kantonrechter) in Roermond applied this rule on 9 July 2026 to a campsite manager (ECLI:NL:RBLIM:2026:6727). The court dissolved his contract for a disturbed working relationship, ordered him to leave the accommodation by 1 September 2026, and awarded him €10,797.09 gross for unpaid overtime. Below we explain the rules on dismissal under Article 7:669 of the Dutch Civil Code (BW), service accommodation, notice periods and overtime.
Table of contents
What happened in the campsite case?
The employee started at Huttopia De Meinweg B.V. in Herkenbosch in July 2025 as a camping assistant and became campsite manager in December 2025, at €3,234.83 gross for a 38-hour week. Under Article 4 of his contract he lived in service accommodation on the campsite for as long as the employment lasted.
In April 2026 he received an official warning on three points and was suspended the next day. The employer asked the court to dissolve the contract on the grounds of culpable conduct and a disturbed working relationship, and in the alternative underperformance. It also asked for an order to vacate the accommodation. The employee asked for a transition payment, fair compensation, continued use of the house and payment of his overtime.
When may the subdistrict court dissolve an employment contract?
Only if there is a reasonable ground listed in Article 7:669(3) BW and redeployment within a reasonable period is not possible or not appropriate (Article 7:669(1) BW). The employer files the request under Article 7:671b BW.
The grounds include culpable conduct of the employee (the e-ground, Article 7:669(3)(e) BW) and a disturbed working relationship (the g-ground, Article 7:669(3)(g) BW). Article 7:669(3)(i) BW also allows a combination of grounds that are each insufficient on their own. The g-ground does not require serious fault by either side, which affects the compensation.
Why was the contract dissolved on the g-ground?
The court found a serious and lasting disturbance, without either party being mainly to blame. The employee should have raised problems with his supervisors in writing, instead of involving staff, other managers and the municipality. The employer, for its part, gave no guidance or support: no improvement plan, no coaching, only a warning followed by suspension.
The Whistleblowers Protection Act (Wet bescherming klokkenluiders) did not block the dissolution. No formal report of a suspected wrongdoing had been made, and the employer objected to how the employee spread his complaints, not to the concerns themselves.
What did the employee receive?
Under Article 7:671b(9)(a) BW, the end date is the date of regular notice minus the duration of the proceedings, with at least one month remaining: here 1 September 2026. The employee received the transition payment (transitievergoeding) of €1,354.11 gross. Fair compensation (billijke vergoeding) under Article 7:671b(9)(c) BW was refused, because the employer had not acted seriously culpably.
Must you leave service accommodation when your job ends?
Yes, if it is true service accommodation. The court treats housing as true service accommodation when the employer designated it because of the nature of the work, and living there is part of the obligations under the employment contract.
In that case the right to live there flows from the employment contract, not from a separate tenancy agreement, and ends with it. The court rejected the employee’s claim to an independent right of use and his request to stay until 31 December 2026, because his contract allowed early termination.
He had to leave by 1 September 2026 and pay the agreed user fee until then. For each month, or part of a month, that he stays longer, he owes an extra €1,000.
Does the employer need court permission for a forced eviction?
No separate authorisation is needed. The court held that the power to enforce the eviction already follows from Articles 555 and following in conjunction with Article 444 of the Dutch Code of Civil Procedure (Rv). It refused to decide in advance whether the employee must bear the costs of a forced eviction.
Can a longer notice period for the employee extend the employer’s notice period?
No, not automatically. The statutory notice period for the employee is one month (Article 7:672(4) BW). It may be extended in writing up to six months, but the employer’s period may then not be shorter than double the employee’s (Article 7:672(8) BW).
The contract set two months for both sides. The employee argued that the employer’s period was therefore four months. The court disagreed: the rule protects the employee, who may annul his own longer period and fall back on one month, but the employer’s period is not doubled by law.
Who must prove overtime?
The employer. Under settled case law, the employer must keep a proper, reliable and accessible system of time recording; without it, the evidential difficulty is at the employer’s risk.
Both parties agreed that the employee had built up between 357 and 367 overtime hours. The employer argued that these hours were taken as time off during the winter closure of the campsite, but could not show any agreement to that effect, or that it had told the employee to record his hours separately during the closure.
The contract referred to the collective labour agreement for the recreation sector (cao Recreatie), but its articles on the duty roster and overtime outside the roster (Articles 11 and 13) had been declared inapplicable. The court therefore found no basis for rostering the employee off with compulsory use of overtime, and awarded €10,797.09 gross. His holiday from 18 December 2025 to 6 January 2026 was set off against his ordinary holiday entitlement. On the counterclaim, the employer was ordered to pay €721 in legal costs; on the dissolution request, each party bore its own costs.
What should you check as an employee?
- Read your contract: is the housing linked to the job, and does it say what happens when employment ends?
- Check whether you pay rent under a separate tenancy agreement, which may give you tenancy protection.
- Keep your own record of the hours you work, especially in closure or off-season periods.
- Check the agreed notice periods against Article 7:672(8) BW before you resign.
- Raise workplace problems in writing with your supervisor, and use the internal reporting procedure for suspected wrongdoing.
- Plan for alternative housing as soon as dissolution proceedings start.
What should you check as an employer?
- Record in writing that the accommodation is provided because of the nature of the job and ends with the employment.
- Agree the user fee and the handover procedure for keys in the contract.
- Keep a reliable time-recording system and give written instructions for off-season periods.
- If you extend the employee’s notice period, make your own at least twice as long.
- Document coaching or an improvement plan before you ask for dissolution.
- Check which articles of the applicable collective labour agreement apply to the employee.
What can we do for you with service accommodation and dismissal?
Our employment lawyers assist employees and employers in dissolution proceedings that involve housing, notice and overtime.
- We assess whether your housing is true service accommodation or falls under tenancy protection.
- We draft or defend a dissolution request before the subdistrict court.
- We calculate the transition payment and assess whether fair compensation can be claimed.
- We calculate and claim unpaid overtime on the basis of the available records.
- We check notice periods and draft the termination or settlement agreement.
- We draft housing clauses for employment contracts with service accommodation.
Summary
- The right to live in true service accommodation ends with the employment contract, without a separate tenancy termination.
- A disturbed working relationship (Article 7:669(3)(g) BW) can justify dissolution without serious fault on either side; fair compensation then does not apply.
- A longer notice period for the employee does not automatically double the employer’s notice period under Article 7:672(8) BW.
- Without proper time recording, uncertainty about overtime is at the employer’s risk.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between the e-ground and the g-ground?
The e-ground (Article 7:669(3)(e) BW) requires culpable conduct by the employee. The g-ground (Article 7:669(3)(g) BW) requires a disturbed working relationship, without either party necessarily being seriously at fault. Under both grounds the transition payment is in principle owed, unless the employee acted seriously culpably.
Do I always have to leave my service accommodation when my job ends?
Only if it is true service accommodation, designated because of the nature of the work and linked to the employment contract. If you rent the housing under a separate tenancy agreement that merely runs through your employer, tenancy protection may apply and the employer cannot simply require you to leave.
Can my employer agree a longer notice period for me without extending its own?
Not validly. Under Article 7:672(8) BW, the employer’s notice period may not be shorter than double the extended period for the employee. If it is, you can rely on the statutory one-month period yourself, but the employer’s period is not automatically extended.
When am I entitled to fair compensation?
Only if the dissolution results from seriously culpable conduct of the employer (Article 7:671b(9)(c) BW). In the campsite case both parties contributed to the disturbed relationship, so no fair compensation was awarded.
