Renting a House in Delft

Delft is almost fully built up to its municipal borders. That sounds like a problem, but it also explains why the city has such a diverse range of housing types. Each decade has produced its own district, each with a recognizable architectural style and structure. Those looking for a house in Delft — not an apartment, but a single-family home with a garden, a terraced house, a semi-detached house — will find themselves in districts that are fundamentally different in terms of architecture and urban planning. The city center is the domain of apartments and upper-floor dwellings; the houses are located outside of it.

This distinction is important. Delft has the highest percentage of single-family homes not in the center but in the suburbs, with Tanthof as the absolute frontrunner. At the same time, the turnover in these districts is slow: many original residents have lived there for decades. The free-sector supply therefore consists of a combination of homes that become available due to relocation or death, new construction in incidental locations, and sometimes corporate housing offered through the free sector. It pays to know which neighborhood suits which life stage.

Tanthof: The “Cauliflower” District Delft Almost Didn't Build

Tanthof is the district that tells Delft the most about how the Netherlands thought about housing in the 1970s. The original plan, designed by Van den Broek and Bakema in 1969, envisioned megastructures around a cross-shaped road network — large-scale high-rise buildings as built elsewhere in the Randstad. Delft rejected that plan. Urban planners from the municipal Public Works department designed a radical alternative in 1972: a district consisting exclusively of low-rise buildings, with angular and curved streets, woonerven (residential yards), staggered building lines, and varied terraced houses. The typical 'cauliflower district', as the type later came to be known.

Tanthof-Oost is the oldest part, with buildings from the late 1970s and early 1980s. Street names follow themes: Boerderijbuurt (Farmhouse Neighborhood), Dierenbuurt (Animal Neighborhood), Vogelbuurt (Bird Neighborhood). The homes are predominantly terraced houses and corner houses with gardens, two to three floors, with the typical brown-red brick and dark window frames of that period. Tanthof-West, built slightly later, has a more business-like character with lighter materials.

Bright corner house (174 m²) with an expansive terrace

€3,500 / month

Molenweide 88, Delft

4

174 m²

Townhouse

Corner house with roof terrace in Hof van Delft

€2,400 / month

Sint Olofsstraat, Delft

3

100 m²

4/1/2026

Townhouse

Spacious house (123m²) in Delft Marlot

€2,650 / month

Lambrecht van Linschotenstraat 6, Delft

4

123 m²

Immediately

Townhouse

Family home with garden and energy label A

€2,500 / month

Mienette Stormstraat 59, Delft

4

110 m²

Immediately

Townhouse

The area on which Tanthof was built was originally medieval polder land, reclaimed even before the year 1000. Along the Abtswoude road — the old reclamation axis towards Schiedam — there are still a few original farms, including an active dairy farm. This transition from polder to residential area is still visible in Tanthof: Abtswoudsepark forms a green corridor from the district to the open meadow area of Midden-Delfland.

The downside: Tanthof is aging. Many original residents — the young families of the 1980s — still live there, now as seniors. They want to move to ground-floor homes but remain in the neighborhood due to a lack of alternatives. This hinders turnover. If a single-family home in Tanthof comes onto the free rental market, it is usually quickly gone.

Vrijenban and Bomenwijk: Interwar and Post-war Mixed

North of the center are Vrijenban and Bomenwijk, two districts that are less pronounced than Tanthof but precisely because of this offer a broader mix of housing types. Vrijenban is predominantly green and quiet, with single-family homes from the 1970s and 1980s complemented by newer projects. Families choose the neighborhood because of its primary schools, Wilhelminapark, and relatively affordable rents compared to anything closer to the center.

The Bomenwijk (Tree District), with its streets named after tree species, has a similar profile but is more compact. You'll find corridor apartments next to terraced houses, and the distance to the city center is less than ten minutes by bike. These are not districts with architectural-historical pretensions, but they offer what is scarce in Delft: houses with a garden, within cycling distance of everything, for a rent that is not subject to the city center surcharge.

Voordijkshoorn and Hof van Delft: The Village-like Edges

On the north and west sides of Delft are Voordijkshoorn and Hof van Delft, districts that feel more like a village than a city. Hof van Delft encompasses the rural area towards Midden-Delfland and Schipluiden, with scattered houses, farms, and small clusters of new construction. Those who rent a house here technically live in Delft but overlook meadows.

Voordijkshoorn offers affordable single-family homes in a quiet setting. The district scores lower on urban amenities — there's no shopping center around the corner — but higher on space and tranquility. For tenants who commute to work by car and want to enjoy their garden in the evening, these are the locations worth keeping an eye on. The supply is limited, but when something becomes available, the price-quality ratio is often better than elsewhere in the municipality.

Voorhof: The District That is Always Underestimated

Voorhof is Delft's largest district and has the lowest entry prices. Its reputation is mixed — residents give liveability lower ratings than in Tanthof or Vrijenban — but the district is more varied than the cliché suggests. In addition to the well-known high-rise flats around Poptahof and Martinus Nijhofflaan, there are also low-rise neighborhoods with terraced houses and gardens, especially on the edges of the district.

Voorhof is undergoing phased renovation. The De Reiger complex in Poptahof is being renewed, and the proximity of Nieuw Delft and the Schieoevers development is changing the character of the northern edge. Tram 19 towards The Hague stops in the district, and Delft Campus station (formerly Delft Zuid) is on the border. For tenants with a more limited budget who still want to live in Delft, Voorhof is the district to seriously consider — as long as you look at it neighborhood by neighborhood and don't tar the entire district with the same brush.

What Does It Cost to Rent a House in Delft?

The price difference between districts is significant. In Voorhof and Tanthof-West, you pay less than in the city center neighborhoods or Hof van Delft. A single-family home with three bedrooms and a garden consistently costs more than an apartment with comparable floor space, simply because the supply is smaller and the demand from families is constant.

The free sector dominates the housing supply. Landlords typically require a gross income of three to four times the basic rent. The deposit usually amounts to one to two months' rent. For new-build homes, service costs for communal greenery or parking facilities are sometimes added to the basic rent — always explicitly ask about this.

The apartment and new-build market in Nieuw Delft and Schieoevers is covered on our apartments page. This is where the large volume of new rental housing supply will end up in the coming years. But those looking for a house with a garden should look at the existing districts — and there, the supply changes more slowly.