How to find rented accomodation without being on "the list"

• Hello,
  
  I am hoping to move over to Holland at the end of the summer with my boyfriend,whos dutch. Now he believes that the only way of renting accomodation is to go through this Goverment list, Hes been on it for about 3 Years,though because it takes about 5-6 years for a good chance of getting a decent apartment I have decided that I will look in to other ways.
  Can anybody steer me in a direction where I dont have to be on "the list" and can do it the usaul way, through an estate agent. We are looking to rent in areas such as Almere, Amsterdam and Amstelveen . Can anybody help?

  17 Feb 2009, 10:47 Sarah