Housing is the step that most often derails an otherwise well-organised move, and the timing is counterintuitive: allocation runs from the moment of admission, not from when a student feels ready to start looking. The same scarcity concentrates rental scams around exactly the people with the least local context to spot them.
Not literally impossible, but the odds are bad enough that "start now" is the honest answer regardless of when you're reading this. The safest route is university-linked housing: SSH and DUWO are the big student housing corporations that work with most institutions, and DUWO allocates through its own platform, room.nl — apply the moment you have an admission or conditional offer, because these run on waiting lists tied to enrollment, not to when you personally feel ready. Outside that system you're in the open rental market alongside everyone else, on sites like Kamernet, where demand from students, internationals and regular renters collides against a housing shortage that's been getting worse in most university cities. That's also where scams cluster: never transfer a deposit or first month's rent before seeing the room in person or on a real-time video call with the actual keyholder, never for a room advertised suspiciously below market rate, and be wary of anyone rushing you because "others are interested." A realistic timeline is applying for housing as soon as you're admitted, often four to six months ahead, and treating a confirmed room as a precondition for finalising enrollment, not an afterthought. If nothing's confirmed a month or so before term starts, contact your university's housing office directly — some hold emergency options for exactly this.