Accused of not living at home: document the disputed period

Read the residence clause and the requested consequence

Find the relevant provision in the contract and general conditions. Does it require personal occupation, exclusive principal residence, notification or prohibit third-party use too? Record the exact wording and identify the attachment actually agreed. The contract guide helps collect conditions, but their application to your living pattern needs its own assessment.

Also distinguish an information request, notice, dissolution claim and eviction claim. They are not automatically equivalent. List penalties and costs separately. A letter asserting your tenancy has ended does not itself establish a contested legal basis. Do not ignore it either: retain the full text and next date for legal assessment.

Specify the period and pattern of living

Ask which months or weeks the allegation concerns. Put your occupation, temporary absence and return on a timeline. Why were you elsewhere, for how long, and what use of the property continued? An explanation about today does not answer an allegation about a previous period.

Describe actual daily activities, personal belongings, use of facilities and relevant circumstances. Do not invent a rule that four nights always suffice or a holiday removes principal residence. The overall facts and applicable agreement matter. Illness, employment or caring responsibilities may be supported by appropriate documents without distributing your entire private history indiscriminately.

Read the landlord’s evidence before responding

What specific records exist: visit reports, statements, payments, adverts or residents’ messages? Link each to a place and date. A single unsuccessful home visit does not automatically establish the whole living pattern. Conversely, a coherent collection of evidence may not be adequately answered by a general denial alone.

Request missing parts or context where necessary and identify what you challenge. Distinguish someone who did not see you from someone describing specific other occupation. Answer the factual core rather than attacking the individual. Obtain targeted advice if personal data or the investigation method is disputed, without consequently ignoring the contents altogether.

Separate proof risk from a concrete explanation

In Amsterdam on 1 May 2026 the landlord retained proof of missing principal residence within the framework described, but factual explanation could still be required from the tenant. The judge provisionally considered a contractual reversal unfair while an enhanced duty to substantiate the denial remained relevant. Challenging the clause was therefore no reason to supply no residence information.

Have the applicable clause and current allocation of proof checked for your case. Do not conclude that every provision is always invalid or you need explain nothing. Opportunities to prove disputed facts may also differ between interim and ordinary proceedings. Ask which facts now require specific explanation and what documents appropriately address them.

Gather consistent counter-evidence

Choose dated records that actually address the alleged pattern: usage information, correspondence, personal furnishing or a specific witness account. Explain what each establishes and does not establish. An energy bill in your name, for example, does not automatically prove daily presence. A connected series can show more than a snapshot.

Be open about payments or messages susceptible to another interpretation. In the Amsterdam case, unsupported explanations about loans were insufficient against specific payment records, and contradictory accounts mattered. This does not prohibit loans or visitors generally. It shows why an alternative explanation needs a verifiable basis and internal consistency rather than a different label alone.

Separate other occupants from your own residence

Another resident, visitor or partner and your own principal residence are different matters. Show who used which space and on what terms. The subletting guide explains other contractual positions. If prohibited subletting is alleged too, make a separate entry for permission, use and payments.

Do not assume calling somebody a partner resolves the whole file. Never ask for an invented retrospective statement to fit your account. Keep original messages and ask witnesses to describe only their own observations. Contradictions can harm reliability. Explain an earlier mistake to your adviser directly so that it does not emerge unexpectedly during proceedings.

Assess consequence, penalty and urgency separately

Even where a breach is established, the appropriate remedy in the chosen proceedings still needs assessment. In the Amsterdam interim case, eviction was awarded while a periodic penalty and certain monetary requests were refused. The outcome supports no simple rule that disputing always works or that eviction makes every sum payable.

Explain the effect of losing your home and relevant circumstances, but also answer the facts. Your tenancy protection remains a separate question. Forward a summons immediately for a proper procedural response. An old judgment or general online advice does not determine urgency, evidence opportunities or your final response date.

Make an honest, navigable residence file

Organise each period into alleged absence, your explanation, supporting record and remaining uncertainty. Number attachments and refer to the correct page in your text. Rechtspraak describes submitting supporting documents with the defence; an unstructured folder of hundreds of photos does not automatically explain their relationship.

Ask legal assistance who will assess statements, private information, the evidence clause and the deadline. Use the dossier tool for missing records. Report changes in your current occupation, but remember they do not rewrite the past. This guide supports specific assessment and cannot guarantee your tenancy through one registration or document.

• Full residence clause and conditions
• Precisely disputed period
• Investigation records dated
• Coherent residence information and explanation
• Other use and money claims separate
• Evidence position and procedural response professionally assessed