Geertsema presented the petition and an action plan to Alderman Roeland van der Schaaf. ‘The meeting went surprisingly well’, says Geertsema. ‘He was impressed and promised to present a response this week, after having consulted with the University and Hanze University of Applied Sciences.’

Geertsema has personal experience with poor student housing and is now an advocate for better information for students on the quality of student houses.

‘There’s so much choice that you simply can’t see the wood for the trees. And there is no way of finding out whether a landlord is reliable or not. One solution that we have suggested is a website called Host me right!, where students can post reviews of their landlords so that everyone can see whether a particular landlord is good or not. The site should also contain high-quality information about the housing market for prospective Dutch and international students.’

Geertsema has already worked out the plan in detail and started developing the website. ‘It will only cost a few thousand euros and can be up and running within a few weeks.’ A team of students will start building and filling the website as soon as the alderman has talked with the University and Hanze and given the go-ahead.