A man sentenced to a three-year jail term in January has won the right to keep his housing corporation home, even though he won’t be able to live in it for some time.

Housing corporation Ymere went to court to have the man evicted, arguing that it is wrong to keep a house empty when there is such a shortage of affordable homes in Amsterdam.

The waiting time for a rent-controlled home in the Dutch capital is now 14 years.

The court, however, ruled in favour of the tenant, but did not agree that he could sublet the property while he is in jail.

Ymere allows tenants to sublet for a maximum of one year. ‘And we are not going to make an exception,’ Ymere spokeswoman Annet van Tulder told RTL Nieuws.

The man’s lawyer told RTL that paying the rent could now be a problem ‘in theory’.