Few subjects cause as many disputes between neighbours as the boundary partition (erfafscheiding). A fence stands just over the boundary, is just too high, has its ugly side facing the wrong way or is replaced without the neighbours knowing. At the same time, a fence, gate or hedge is one of the easiest jobs to get right, because the rules are clear: the Omgevingswet (Environment and Planning Act) determines how high you may build without a permit, and the neighbour law in Book 5 of the Burgerlijk Wetboek (BW, Dutch Civil Code) determines what you may ask of your neighbours and they of you. This article covers both, plus the practical side: the property boundary, the materials, the foundations and when to bring in a landscape gardener or carpenter. For the wider relationship with the neighbours during renovations, read Renovating and the neighbours.
How high can a boundary partition be without a permit?
The Omgevingswet has applied since 1 January 2024. A fence, gate or wall is a structure, and two tests apply to structures: the technical building activity (does it comply with the technical building rules of the Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving, the Bbl or Dutch Building Decree) and the environment plan activity (does it fit in the municipality's omgevingsplan, or environment plan). For an ordinary boundary partition, the technical side is simple: a property or plot partition of up to 2 metres is exempt nationwide from the technical permit and from the building notification; Article 2.26(2)(c) Bbl only makes partitions higher than 2 metres subject to a permit, and in practice a building notification is sufficient for those (Article 2.18 Bbl). The question that matters is the spatial one: is this partition allowed in this location at this height?
Two rules apply here, and you need to keep them clearly apart.
- Up to 1 metre high: permit-free everywhere. A property or plot partition of no more than 1 metre is designated nationwide as a permit-free environment plan activity (Article 2.29(j) Bbl). That rule takes precedence over the omgevingsplan: your municipality cannot make a low fence in the front garden subject to a permit. This also applies in front of the front facade and right next to the street, except for a listed building or in a rijksbeschermd stads- of dorpsgezicht (nationally protected townscape or village view), see below.
- Up to 2 metres high: permit-free behind the front of the house, subject to conditions. A boundary partition of up to 2 metres is permit-free if it stands on a plot that already has a building on it with which the partition has a functional relationship, and behind the line along the front of that building, extended parallel to the adjoining publicly accessible area. Unlike under the old Besluit omgevingsrecht (Environmental Law Decree), there is no longer a requirement of one metre's distance from public space. This rule is not in the Bbl itself, but in the so-called bruidsschat (literally "dowry"; Articles 22.27(f) and 22.36 of the temporary part of the omgevingsplan, supplemented by Article 2.1b of the Vangnetregeling Omgevingswet, the safety-net regulation): the former national rules that ended up in every municipality's omgevingsplan when the Omgevingswet came into force. The municipality may amend those rules, and many municipalities have done so on precisely this point.
The voorgevelrooilijn (front building line) is the imaginary line along the front facade of your home, extended across the plot; the regulation refers to the line along the front of the main building. Everything between that line and the street is the front yard; the 1-metre limit applies there. With a corner house, the side garden along the street needs attention: the part of the side garden next to the front facade often counts as front yard. Under the old national rules, a 2-metre-high fence along the pavement was not permit-free; the bruidsschat no longer has that distance requirement, so a partition of up to 2 metres in the side garden behind the front facade can in principle be permit-free. However, many municipalities have tightened precisely this point in their omgevingsplan, for example to 1 metre along public space for the sake of visibility for traffic. So with a corner house, the permit check is no formality.
How you measure is laid down: height is measured from the adjoining finished ground level, with local raised areas and depressions at the foot of the structure not counting. A fence of 1.80 metres on a raised border of 30 centimetres is therefore 2.10 metres and thus requires a permit. If the partition is on the property boundary and your neighbours' ground is lower than yours, the measurement is taken on the side where the adjoining finished ground level is highest (Article 2.23(2) Bbl); so the difference in height with the lower neighbouring garden does not count.
Municipality, listed buildings and protected townscapes
Because the 2-metre rule is in the bruidsschat and not in the Bbl, your municipality may have amended it in the omgevingsplan, or may still do so. That can go either way. Some municipalities are stricter and, for example, don't want solid fences along rear footpaths in certain neighbourhoods, or require a planted partition. Other municipalities are more lenient and also allow a higher partition at the front. The only way to get certainty for your address is the vergunningcheck (permit check) in the Omgevingsloket (the national environment and planning portal) on omgevingswet.overheid.nl, and if in doubt, the omgevingsplan itself or a question to the municipality's environment desk. Keep the outcome of the permit check; it is your evidence if a discussion arises later.
For a listed building and in a rijksbeschermd stads- of dorpsgezicht, the national exemptions do not apply or apply only in part. On a national, provincial or municipal listed building, including one with provisional protection, and on its grounds, you as a rule need an omgevingsvergunning (environmental permit) for a boundary partition; in a nationally protected townscape or village view, that applies to partitions in the front yard and in a side yard facing publicly accessible space; only at the back, out of sight of public space, does the exemption continue to apply (Article 2.30 Bbl and Article 22.28 of the bruidsschat). A municipally protected townscape can also have its own rules through the omgevingsplan. If you live in such an area, don't assume that a simple fence is automatically allowed.
If you need a permit, the regular procedure applies: the municipality decides within eight weeks of a complete application and may extend that period once by six weeks; after that comes an objection period of six weeks. For the fees, the municipality refers to its fee regulation (legesverordening). Putting up a fence without a required permit can lead to an order subject to a penalty payment and removal at your own expense, and neighbours who object to it can ask the municipality to take enforcement action. More about the procedure in When do you need a permit.
Neighbour law: what you may ask of each other
The fact that a fence is permit-free says nothing about the relationship with the neighbours. For that, the neighbour law in Book 5 of the Burgerlijk Wetboek is decisive. Four articles keep coming back with a boundary partition.
- Cooperation on a dividing wall (Article 5:49 BW). In a built-up part of a municipality, so within the built-up area, each of the owners of adjoining plots can at any time demand that the other cooperates in erecting a dividing wall 2 metres high on the property boundary, unless a by-law or local custom regulates the method or the height differently. The costs are then shared equally. This does not apply if one of the plots is a public road or public water. According to Article 5:43 BW, a dividing wall is any opaque enclosure made of stone, wood or other suitable material; a fence therefore falls under it, an open railing or a hedge does not. So if your neighbour doesn't want a fence and you do, you can in principle enforce one, but only on the boundary and with shared costs.
- Joint ownership, mandeligheid (Article 5:62 BW). A free-standing dividing wall, a fence or a hedge that stands exactly on the property boundary is the joint property of both neighbours: it is mandelig (jointly owned). Neither of them may then remove, replace, raise or lower it without the other's consent; painting your own side or attaching something to it is allowed, as long as the other suffers no harm. Maintenance is at joint expense (Article 5:65 BW). This is the core of many conflicts: anyone who replaces "their" old fence on the boundary without consultation is replacing something half of which belongs to the neighbours.
- Trees, shrubs and hedges (Article 5:42 BW). Trees may not stand within 2 metres of the property boundary, and shrubs and hedges not within 0.5 metres, measured from the centre of the base of the tree or plant, unless a municipal by-law or local custom permits a smaller distance, or the neighbour has given permission. The neighbour cannot, however, object to planting that does not reach higher than the dividing wall between the plots. Many municipalities have reduced the distance for trees in their APV (general local by-law); check this before you plant a hedge or a row of trees as a partition.
- Nuisance (Article 5:37 BW). An owner may not cause their neighbours unlawful nuisance, for example by taking away light or air. A 2-metre fence that complies with the rules almost never amounts to unlawful nuisance; a boundary partition that is deliberately higher or more solid than necessary in order to annoy the neighbours can.
In addition, Article 5:50 BW comes into play if the partition is part of a structure with windows, and Article 5:48 BW confirms that you may enclose your plot. Anyone who has used part of the neighbours' land as their own garden for many years, for example because an old fence was in the wrong place, may have become the owner through acquisitive prescription (verjaring): after ten years of uninterrupted possession in good faith, or after twenty years even without good faith. That makes establishing the boundary correctly before putting up a fence all the more important.
Who pays for the fence?
The bill follows ownership. If the boundary partition is on the boundary, it is jointly owned and the neighbours in principle share the purchase, installation and maintenance equally; that is also the outcome if one of them enforces the dividing wall through Article 5:49 BW. If you want something more expensive than the simple, functional dividing wall that courts generally assume under Article 5:49 BW, for example hardwood with concrete posts instead of a simple fence, the neighbour does not have to contribute to the extra cost unless they agree to it. If you place the fence entirely on your own land, so a few centimetres inside the boundary, it belongs to you alone: you pay for everything, you decide on height, material and colour within the rules, and you may replace it later without permission. The neighbours, however, may then not attach anything to it, let climbing plants grow against it or paint it on their side without your permission.
The cost of a boundary partition is determined by the length, the height, the material, the number and type of posts, the foundations, the accessibility of the back garden (does everything have to go through the house or along a narrow rear path?), removing and disposing of the old partition, and the labour. With a hedge, the size of the plants and the time it takes to form a dense screen are added to that. If you have it installed together with the neighbours, you save on call-out charges and material waste and get one continuous whole.
The property boundary: cadastral or actual?
Most discussions about a fence are in reality discussions about the boundary. Important to know: the cadastral boundary as shown on the cadastral map is not by definition the legal ownership boundary. The cadastral map has limited accuracy, the boundary was once indicated by the owners at the time and may have shifted since then through acquisitive prescription. An old fence, a row of paving slabs or a post is not proof either; that is the actual boundary, and it may have been in the wrong place for decades.
If you are in doubt, or the neighbour is, you can apply to the Kadaster (the Dutch Land Registry) for a grensreconstructie (boundary reconstruction). A surveyor then comes on site to set out the cadastral boundary on the basis of the survey data from the archive and marks it with pegs or markers. The cost is listed in the Kadaster's schedule of fees and is borne by the applicant, unless you agree with the neighbours to share it. A boundary reconstruction shows the cadastral boundary; if there is still a difference of opinion afterwards, for example because of a claim of acquisitive prescription, the court can determine the boundary (Article 5:47 BW). Each of the neighbours can also require the other to have the boundary marked by boundary markers (Article 5:46 BW), with the costs shared. For a new fence that is to go on the boundary, a boundary reconstruction in case of any doubt is a small investment compared with having to move posts and concrete later.
Materials: timber, composite, concrete or a hedge
The material determines the lifespan, the maintenance, the appearance and the cost. The table sets the common choices side by side.
| Material | Lifespan (indicative) | Maintenance | Points to note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pressure-treated spruce or pine | Ten to fifteen years | Periodic staining; the posts are the weak point | Affordable and available everywhere; rots at ground level without concrete posts or post bases |
| Hardwood or thermally modified timber | Twenty years or more | Little; turns grey without oil | Look for a sustainability label (FSC or PEFC); heavier, so sturdier posts |
| Composite | Twenty to thirty years | Rinsing off is enough | Expands in the heat; requires the matching system of posts and profiles |
| Concrete (panels, or concrete posts with timber infill) | Thirty years or more | Virtually none | Heavy and cold in appearance; concrete posts with timber panels combine the best of both |
| Hedge (beech, hornbeam, yew, laurel) | Unlimited with good maintenance | Trimming once or twice a year | Takes a few years to fill in; falls under Article 5:42 BW, not under the building rules; no permit needed |
In legal terms a hedge is not a structure and is therefore not bound by the height limits of 1 and 2 metres in the building rules, but it is bound by neighbour law: the distance of half a metre from the boundary, unless the municipality decides otherwise, and the ban on nuisance. A hedge on the boundary is jointly owned, with shared maintenance. A combination of a low fence with an open trellis on top, a railing with climbing plants, or a hedge with a mesh fence behind it is often the friendliest solution for the relationship with the neighbours and the streetscape.
Foundations and posts: where fences fall over
A fence almost always fails at the posts, not at the panels. Timber posts set directly in the ground rot at the transition from air to soil. Better solutions are concrete posts with a slot into which the timber or composite panels slide, timber posts on post supports above ground level, or steel posts set in concrete. The usual rule is that about a third of the post goes below ground, so for a 1.80-metre fence a 2.70-metre post with 80 to 90 centimetres in the ground, in a hole that is wider at the bottom than at the top and filled with rapid-set concrete or rammed concrete. On heavy clay or peat, a deeper foundation or a draining layer of gravel under the post is sensible; on sandy soil less is often enough. Take the wind load into account: a solid 2-metre fence catches a lot of wind, especially if it stands in an exposed spot or on a slope. In windy spots, a semi-open panel, heavier posts or a shorter post spacing are smart choices.
Before digging, check the location of cables and pipes. For mechanical digging, a KLIC-melding (excavation notification) to the Kadaster is mandatory; for digging by hand in your own garden it is not mandatory, but the service connections for gas, water, electricity and fibre often run right along the property boundary. A damaged fibre-optic or gas pipe costs much more than the fence.
DIY or a tradesperson: landscape gardener or carpenter?
A simple fence of ready-made panels between concrete posts is feasible for a handy DIYer, although it is heavy work and setting the posts requires precision: a post that is a few degrees out of plumb is very noticeable over twenty metres. Read about the trade-off in What can you do yourself during a renovation. Bring in a tradesperson for long or high partitions, difficult ground, a difference in height between the gardens, a partition that also has to act as a retaining wall, or if you are tackling the whole garden at once.
A landscape gardener is the obvious tradesperson if the boundary partition is part of a garden design: hedges, a combination of greenery and timber, the groundwork, the paving along the partition and the drainage. Landscape gardeners also put up standard fences and know how to stop a hedge from growing the fence to pieces. A carpenter is the choice for bespoke timber work: a partition with an integrated shed or canopy, a garden gate with fittings, made-to-measure horizontal slats, or a dividing screen that has to join an existing wall. For a brick garden wall, a bricklayer comes into the picture; a 2-metre wall like that needs a proper foundation. Always ask for several quotes and check whether removing and disposing of the old partition, the posts and the concrete, and making good the paving are included.
Step-by-step plan and written agreements
- Establish the boundary. Consult the cadastral map, discuss its position with the neighbours and, if in doubt, apply to the Kadaster for a boundary reconstruction.
- Choose the position. On the boundary (jointly owned, shared) or on your own land (yours alone). Explain why you are choosing what you choose.
- Do the permit check in the Omgevingsloket for the desired height and location, and keep the outcome. Check the municipality's rules if you have a corner house, live in a protected townscape or want to go higher than 2 metres.
- Consult the neighbours before you request quotes. Show them a sample of the material and height and discuss which side faces whom with panels that have a front and a back.
- Put the agreements in writing. An e-mail confirmed by the neighbour is sufficient; with a jointly owned partition, a short agreement is better. Include: the position (on the boundary or on your own land), the height, the material and the colour, how the costs of purchase and installation are split, how future maintenance is split, who engages the contractor and who is the point of contact, and what happens to plants growing against the partition.
- Plan the work. Agree when the old partition comes down and the gardens are temporarily open, how the materials are delivered and who informs the neighbours if part of it has to go across their land.
- Check at handover that the posts are plumb, the panels are at the same height, the partition does not cross the boundary and the paving has been neatly made good.
In short: up to 1 metre, a boundary partition is allowed everywhere without a permit; behind the front of the house, 2 metres is allowed, unless your municipality has decided otherwise in the omgevingsplan. In a built-up area you can require your neighbours to cooperate on a 2-metre dividing wall on the boundary, with shared costs; whatever stands on the boundary is jointly owned and whatever stands on your own land is yours alone. Know where the boundary lies, choose a material that matches how much maintenance you are willing to do, set the posts properly and put the agreements with the neighbours on record. On VerbouwPro you can post your boundary partition as a job free of charge, and landscape gardeners and carpenters from your area will respond.