THE HAGUE, 15/07/06 - Former students can from now on be forced to leave their student accommodation. Housing Minister Sybilla Dekker on Friday announced a law to encourage flow-through on the housing market.

The law comes into effect immediately. It provides that public housing corporations and private house-owners can force ex-students to leave their accommodation if it has been categorised as student housing.

The owner will in future have the right to ask the tenant for a certificate of registration at an educational institution. "If the tenant refuses, the owner can then end the rental agreement," Dekker said. Additionally, the law allows the rental agreement to state in advance that the accommodation is only intended for students.

Due to high housing prices, graduates often stay on for years in their small student accommodation. Dekker wants to encourage ex-students to flow onto the housing market via the law, so that new students no longer have to wait for housing for years.

Student housing builder DUWO almost simultaneously announced that it will build campuses in Amsterdam, Leiden, Delft and The Hague with a combined 3,900 student units. The company wants to complete the plans in 2010. In Delft, DUWO is also building a congress hotel and an International Student House.