Leiden University Housing Allocation

I’m an EU student about to start my MA in Leiden this September. I submitted my application back in January and applied for university housing at the same time, since the university advises students not to wait for admission decision in order to improve their chances of securing accommodation.

At the moment I’m on the waiting list and I think I have a decent chance given Leiden University’s first-come, first-served policy plus the prioritisation of shorter-term students (my MA is only one year). From what I’ve heard, the housing platform opens around June 15 and it’s important to be very fast, since rooms disappear almost instantly. I wanted to ask students who’ve gone through this process (whether in Leiden or at another university) and managed to secure accommodation: is there anything you’d recommend doing beforehand to improve my chances? For example, should I have any documents prepared in advance, like a motivation letter? Is there anything you wish you had known at the time?

My second question is about backup options. Since university housing isn’t guaranteed, I’ve also signed up for ROOM.nl and Stekkies. How do people usually handle contacting landlords while there’s still a possibility of getting accommodation through the university later on? I assume it’s not really possible to sign a contract if there’s a chance I might end up accepting university housing instead.