It was a pandemic, right? I left the apartment, went straight to the airport, and mailed the apartment key back first chance I got.
I figured it would be fine because I had about an almost 2-month notice period thanks to the bullshit Dutch tendency to use “calendric” months in contracts. (you must give notice before the first of that month, otherwise the notice period is the remainder of the month AND the next month. Second time I’ve been caught out.)
The Australia Post lady said express post might be delayed a couple of weeks because commercial flights are mostly grounded. That turned out to be a bit of an understatement. The package has been sitting at Brisbane Airport, and the tracking website says it hasn’t moved since it got there.
So now my “calendric” month is up, and my landlady is being shitty. Apparently it’s a “very expensive” system to change the lock, and she’s going to get back to me with the price.
The ONE piece of advice I had about living in the Netherlands is to stop paying rent two months before you move out, in order to recoup your two-month security deposit. Alas.