Are there national rules for garden homes in the Omgevingswet?
Yes, but there is no "garden home" chapter. The framework consists of four layers: the Omgevingswet (Environment and Planning Act) determines whether a permit is needed, the Bbl sets the technical building requirements, the Bkl binds the municipality to instruction rules, and your municipality's omgevingsplan (environment plan) fills in the rest. The concept of informal care itself comes from the Wmo 2015 (Social Support Act), and it is precisely that link that makes the permit-free route possible.
Yes, there are national rules that apply to garden homes (mantelzorgwoningen). What does not exist is a separate chapter for this type of home. The framework consists of general rules on building and use, and the garden home falls under them as a special case.
That explains why it is so hard to find a clear answer online. The rules are spread across four layers: three of them are national, while the fourth differs per municipality.
Which regulation covers what
| Regulation | What it covers | National? |
|---|---|---|
| Omgevingswet (Environment and Planning Act) | Whether a permit is needed for building and for use | Yes |
| Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving (Bbl, Buildings Decree) | Technical building requirements for residential use | Yes, the same everywhere |
| Besluit kwaliteit leefomgeving (Bkl, Environmental Quality Decree) | Instruction rules the municipality must follow in its omgevingsplan | Yes, addressed to the municipality |
| Omgevingsplan (municipal environment plan) | What is allowed on your own plot: floor area, height, location and use | No, per municipality |
| Wmo 2015 (Social Support Act) | What informal care is, and therefore when the exception applies | Yes |
That bottom row is the key. The whole construction rests on the definition of informal care (mantelzorg) in the Wet maatschappelijke ondersteuning (Social Support Act): help given to a person in need of care that arises directly from an existing social relationship and goes beyond the usual help. No care relationship, no exception.
What is fixed nationally
Two things are the same everywhere in the Netherlands, whichever municipality you live in.
The technical building minimum. A garden home is a residential building, and the same requirements apply to it as to any other house: structural safety, fire safety, daylight, ventilation, ceiling height, smoke alarms and energy performance. That also applies if you are allowed to build permit-free. Permit-free only means you do not have to ask for permission in advance; the rules apply in full.
The system of permit requirements. The Omgevingswet asks two separate questions: may the structure be there, and may people live in it in this way. Each can require a permit independently of the other, and that is exactly where people get stuck. A shed that stands there legally may not, for that reason alone, become a self-contained home.
What the municipality fills in
The rest is in the omgevingsplan, and that is where the figures that shape your plan are found: how many square metres may be added in the back garden area, what building height is allowed, how close to the plot boundary you can build and whether a specific policy on informal care has been laid down.
These differences are real. The same home can be permit-free in one municipality and require an application in the neighbouring one. That is why "is it allowed in the Netherlands" is never the useful question; "is it allowed at this address" is.
Why you find outdated information online
The Omgevingswet came into force on 1 January 2024 and replaced a large number of laws in one go, including the Wet algemene bepalingen omgevingsrecht (Wabo, the General Provisions of Environmental Law Act), the Besluit omgevingsrecht (Bor, the Environmental Law Decree) and the Bouwbesluit 2012 (Building Decree 2012).
Many pages on the internet, including those from reliable sources, have not been updated since that date. If you come across a text that talks about the Wabo, about Annex II to the Bor or about the Bouwbesluit, you are reading about the old system. The substance of the informal care arrangement has largely been carried over, but where the rules are found and some details have changed.
There is also something temporary going on. When the new law was introduced, national rules were transferred by operation of law into the municipal omgevingsplannen, the so-called bruidsschat (literally "dowry"). Municipalities have until 2032 to put their omgevingsplan in its final form. Until then, your municipality's plan consists of a temporary part and a new part, and that makes looking things up yourself harder than it sounds.
How to look up the omgevingsplan yourself
The omgevingsplan is public and can be viewed online via the Omgevingsloket (the government's online portal for permits and planning rules), under "regels op de kaart" (rules on the map). You enter your address and get the rules that apply to that plot.
Expect the reading to be disappointing. You get legal text without explanation, divided between the temporary and the new part of the plan, and the terms you are looking for are called something other than you expect. In any case, look for these points:
- What ancillary structures are allowed in the back garden area, and up to what floor area.
- The maximum building height, and whether it depends on the distance to your house.
- Whether a distance to the plot boundary is prescribed.
- Whether the word mantelzorg (informal care) appears, and if so under what conditions.
If a permit is needed
In most cases the regular procedure applies: eight weeks, with the possibility of an extension of six weeks. For an application that deviates from the omgevingsplan and requires a more extensive assessment, it can take longer.
One change compared with the old system is important to know: the permit granted by default (vergunning van rechtswege) no longer exists. Under the Wabo, an application could be granted automatically if the deadline was exceeded; under the Omgevingswet this has been abolished. So if the municipality fails to act, you no longer get a permit as a result, and that makes submitting on time more important than it used to be.
If you disagree with the decision, you can lodge an objection and then an appeal. With an application, the municipality also asks whether and how you have involved the people around you, so talking to the neighbours beforehand is not a courtesy but part of the file.
Permit-free is not a free pass
Even without a permit, the municipality can take enforcement action, namely when the situation turns out to fall outside the rules. In practice this almost always happens after a report from the neighbourhood, and then it is usually not about the structure but about its use: someone is living there independently while there is no (longer a) care relationship.
So keep whatever supports the care situation from the very start: a needs assessment decision (indicatiebesluit), a statement from the GP or from the district nursing service. That is the file that lets you deal with a report in one letter instead of in a procedure.
What the national rules do not do
- They do not give you a right to a garden home. They determine when no permit is needed, not that it is always allowed.
- They do not regulate the end. What happens when the care stops is set out in the omgevingsplan and in your own agreements. See what happens when the care stops.
- They say nothing about ownership. Who owns the building follows from the Burgerlijk Wetboek (Dutch Civil Code), not from the Omgevingswet. See movable or immovable property.
- They do not bind your neighbours. Neighbour law on windows, planting and rainwater follows a completely different track.
- They do not regulate the tax side. The WOZ (the municipal property valuation), OZB (municipal property tax) and the tax treatment follow from their own laws.
Where the policy comes from
The arrangement is not there by chance. Behind the informal care exception is a policy line that has pointed in the same direction for years: people live at home for longer, the number of older people is growing, and there are not enough places in nursing homes to absorb that. Living close to family is one of the few solutions that helps without an institution being needed.
Add to that the pressure on the housing market. A garden home adds living space without needing an extra plot, and that makes it an interesting category in the debate about the housing shortage. At the same time, municipalities are cautious about building more densely on existing plots, and that tension explains why one municipality is cooperative and another is strict.
What that means for you is limited: long-term policy does not change what is allowed on your plot today. If you run into a no, the route is not to wait for different rules but to see whether the plan fits within the current rules. See objecting to a refusal.
If something changes in the rules, it feeds through into your municipality's omgevingsplan. So that is also the place to look, not national politics.
What this means in practice
National rules set the minimum; the municipality makes the decision. For you as a reader, that means you want to know three things, in this order.
First: is there a care relationship within the meaning of the Wmo? That is the condition under which living independently in the garden is possible at all.
Second: what does your municipality's omgevingsplan say about your plot? That is where the dimensions come from.
Third: does the home comply with the Bbl? With a supplied home, that is the builder's responsibility; with self-build or the conversion of an existing building, it is yours.
The first two questions are answered in a few minutes by the permit check for your address: it retrieves the rules of your own municipality instead of the general national rule. What the permit question involves further is explained in do I need a permit.
Sources
- [Act] Omgevingswet — art. 5.1 — permit requirement for the building activity and for the omgevingsplan activity; in force since 1 January 2024 — accessed 2026-08-20
- [Decree] Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving (Bbl) — national technical building requirements for residential use — accessed 2026-08-20
- [Decree] Besluit kwaliteit leefomgeving (Bkl) — instruction rules for municipal omgevingsplannen — accessed 2026-08-20
- [Act] Wet maatschappelijke ondersteuning 2015 — art. 1.1.1 — definition of informal care — accessed 2026-08-20
- [Explanation] Informatiepunt Leefomgeving — the bruidsschat and the transition phase of the omgevingsplan — accessed 2026-08-20
Curious what is allowed in your own garden?
The rules differ from one municipality to the next. Our free permit check looks up the rules that apply to your address. It takes two minutes and there is no obligation.
