What can you build without a permit?

In the back garden (the 'achtererfgebied') you can often put up an extension or outbuilding without an environmental permit (omgevingsvergunning). There are two sides: the technical side (the Buildings in the Living Environment Decree, Bbl) and the spatial side (your municipality’s environment plan, with the rules of the 'bruidsschat'). On the technical side, a structure lower than 5 metres is permit-free in most cases. On the spatial side the conditions below apply, and your municipality’s environment plan may say something different.

The basic conditions

On the spatial side, an extension or outbuilding (an 'ancillary structure') is permit-free if it:

stands on the ground;
is in the rear yard area;
is more than 1 metre from publicly accessible land;
is no higher than 5 metres;
has no habitable space on the second storey or higher;
has no roof terrace, balcony or other outdoor space above ground level.

What the rear yard area is

The rear yard area is the yard that starts 1 metre behind the front of the main building. Building in the front yard area always requires a permit. The yard between the extended side walls behind the main building is always rear yard area. Land designated as nature, forest or farmland is not a yard: this exemption does not apply there.

How much you may build on

Add up the rear yard area and the ground under later extensions of the original main building: that is the building zone (bebouwingsgebied). Of that, ancillary structures may cover:

up to 100 m² of building zone: half;
from 100 to 300 m²: 50 m², plus 20 % of the part above 100 m²;
above 300 m²: 90 m², plus 10 % of the part above 300 m², with a total of no more than 150 m².

Any outbuildings already there are deducted from this.

How high

Within 4 metres of the original main building: no higher than 30 cm above the floor of the first storey; if the main building has only one storey, no higher than the main building.
Further than 4 metres: no more than 3 metres.
Higher than 3 metres is only allowed with at least two sloping roof surfaces, eaves of no more than 3 metres, a roof pitch of no more than 55° and a ridge no higher than 5 metres and no higher than the distance to the boundary times 0.47 plus 3 metres.

Within 4 metres you may use the structure like the house (a kitchen, bedroom or larger living room); further away only as a shed, garage or greenhouse.

When you do need a permit

For a listed home: the exemption for building activities does not apply there.
In a townscape or village view protected by central government: there, only work inside, a rear wall or rear roof surface not facing public land, a structure in the rear yard and a structure on public land remain permit-free.
If the main building was built or is used without the permit that was required.
If your municipality’s environment plan has stricter rules.

How to check it

Do the permit check (vergunningcheck) on the Omgevingsloket. Only the municipality can say whether your building plan is really permit-free; take any questions about the outcome to it.

What the Perceelscan does with it

We will soon calculate for each plot how many m² you may add in the back garden without a permit, and we already tell you whether there is a monument or protected townscape.

Can I put an outbuilding in my front garden without a permit?

No: an ancillary structure in the front yard area always requires an environmental permit.

How many m² can I add without a permit?

That depends on your building zone: up to 100 m² half of it, above that a sliding scale up to no more than 150 m² in total, minus what is already there. Your municipality’s environment plan may say something different.

Sources

Check it for your address

Updated on 25 October 2026