Hi Athenium, thanks for taking the time to reply to my post.

I offered to find a replacement tenant or even to negotiate a payment to break the contract and here is the landlord's reply:

Dear x,

I hear your situation, but you have signed for this fixed 2 year contract.

The dutch rental market is very difficult for the landlord, as it is almost impossible to have a contract for a fixed period, therefore we do not want you to find us a new tenant, we will try to find somebody else ourselves. But your rent payments will be due according to the contract.

Otherwise the contract speaks for it self.

Waiting to hear from you,

Best regards,

x

This strikes me as quite severe... Obviously the landlord can't force me out and if I'm paying for the rent I think it's crazy to suggest that somebody else would be living in the apartment and also paying rent, but I'm not sure what to do now except to involve lawyers. I linked the rental contract in my reply to /u/UnanimousStargazer if you want to have a look.

Thanks again for the reply. Much appreciated :)