Can you place a garden home at a rented house?
Yes, but you need permission twice: from the municipality and from your landlord. The rules for permit-free building do not look at ownership, so nothing changes in planning terms. Your tenancy agreement does: you need permission for changes to the rented property, and without agreements on paper the home can become the landlord's property through accession (natrekking).
Yes, that is possible. The rules for permit-free building in the back garden area look at the building and at the plot, not at whether you are the owner or a tenant. So in planning terms nothing changes because you rent.
What does change is that you need a second permission, and in practice that is the hardest one: the permission of your landlord (verhuurder). On top of that comes a question that is often asked late and that involves a lot of money. Who actually owns the garden home (mantelzorgwoning) once it is there?
What the municipality thinks of it
For the municipality (gemeente, your local council) the assessment is the same as for an owner-occupied house. Is the building in the back garden area, does it stay within the dimensions the omgevingsplan (the municipality's zoning plan) allows, is it ground-based and single-storey, and is there a genuine informal care relationship (mantelzorg: unpaid care for a family member or someone close to you). Ownership of the main house plays no part in that assessment.
The permit check retrieves what is allowed at your address. Do that first, even if you do not yet know whether your landlord will cooperate. A concrete plan with the outcome attached makes for a much better conversation than a general question of whether it is allowed.
Why your landlord has to agree
You rent the house including the garden, and that garden is part of the rented property. For changes to the rented property a tenant in principle needs the landlord's permission; that is set out in tenancy law and it applies whether your landlord is a housing association (woningcorporatie, a non-profit landlord of social housing) or a private individual.
Without that permission you run two risks. At the end of the tenancy the landlord can demand that the property is restored to its original state, and during the tenancy he can take action against a change he has not approved. So ask in writing, and keep the reply.
Who will own the home
This is the point where the most money is at stake. Under Dutch law, a building that is permanently attached to the ground becomes the property of the owner of the ground. The ground belongs to your landlord. Without agreements, you could therefore pay for a home costing tens of thousands of euros that legally becomes someone else's.
There is something on the other side: a tenant may in principle remove changes he has made himself at the end of the tenancy, provided he returns the property to its original state. For a relocatable home that is not theory but exactly what happens: it arrived by crane and can be taken away again just as easily.
Put that in writing in advance, and be specific. Who owns the home, may you take it with you if you move, within what period must that happen and who pays for the removal. A right of superficies (recht van opstal) drawn up by a civil-law notary (notaris) is the most robust form; a written agreement with the landlord is the minimum.
What landlords do in practice
| Landlord | What you usually encounter | What helps |
|---|---|---|
| Housing association | Its own policy, often cautious, assessed case by case | A written request with the care situation and the outcome of the check |
| Private landlord | No policy, so a personal decision | Clarity that the home can be removed again and costs nothing |
| Family as landlord | Quickly arranged, but rarely put in writing | Especially here, something on paper, in case someone is no longer around |
What almost always counts is whether the home is temporary. A landlord thinks about the next tenant and about the condition of the garden. If you can show that the home is installed in one day and can be removed just as quickly, you take away his biggest objection.
How to write the request
A request that is turned down is usually a request that says too little. Include these six things, and the landlord will not have to find anything out.
- The care situation in two sentences: who needs care, who provides it, and why being close by is necessary.
- The outcome of the permit check for the address, so it is clear that the municipality has no objection or which route applies.
- What will be placed: model, external dimensions, position on the plot, with the floor plan attached.
- That the home is relocatable and can be installed and removed in one day.
- What happens to the garden: which foundation, which pipes and cables, and how the ground will be restored.
- Your proposal for the agreements on ownership, removal and insurance.
Ask for a written reply and for the conditions under which it would be possible. A refusal without conditions is harder to counter than a list of requirements you can meet.
The four agreements that belong on paper
- Ownership and removal. Who owns the home, and what happens at the end of the tenancy or when moving.
- Restoring the garden. Who returns the ground to its original state, and what that means in practice for the foundation and the pipes and cables.
- Insurance and liability. Report the home to your contents or liability insurer and put in writing who is insured for what.
- Maintenance and utilities. The utility connections usually run via the main house; put in writing who bears the costs and who acts if there is damage.
Renting instead of buying
For tenants this is more often the sensible route than for owners, and for a reason that has little to do with money. If you rent the garden home, you do not invest capital in a building that stands on someone else's land. If the care ends or you move, you give notice.
With us, renting starts at around €1,100 per month, depending on the size and the term, with installation and the foundation separate from that. The contract renews automatically until you give notice, because a care situation cannot be planned for a fixed period. For the conversation with a landlord it also makes a stronger case: something is placed in the garden that is not yours and that demonstrably goes away again.
If the landlord says no
First ask for the reason, in writing. If it is about the condition of the garden, the next tenant or the fear that the building will stay, those are objections that can be answered. If it is about a policy that allows no exceptions, that is a different conversation.
There are then two more routes that work in practice. Placing the home in the garden of another family member, for example a brother or sister who owns their house, because the care relationship does not have to be linked to the owner of the ground. Or the person receiving care moves to a home that does fit, and then the question has become a housing question instead of a building question.
What rarely works is starting without permission, hoping it will be fine. You are then building something whose ownership is unclear, on the land of someone who did not know, with a landlord who can demand restoration afterwards.
A second question that goes with it
If the person receiving care lives in a rented home themselves and is moving to your garden, take into account that their tenancy will be ended. A social rented home (sociale huurwoning, subsidised housing with a waiting list) that is given up does not come back; anyone who wants to live independently again after the period of care is back at the bottom of a waiting list. That is no reason not to do it, but it is a reason to discuss it in advance with everyone involved.
The order that works
First do the permit check for your address, so you know what is possible in planning terms. Then ask your landlord for permission in writing, with the outcome of that check attached and stating that the home is relocatable. Put the four agreements above in writing. Only then choose a model.
If you want to see what would be placed, look at the models with their floor plans. A drawing with dimensions makes the conversation with a landlord considerably easier than a description.
Sources
- [Act] Burgerlijk Wetboek Boek 7, art. 7:215 (changes made by the tenant) and art. 7:216 (right of removal), consulted 20 August 2026
- [Act] Burgerlijk Wetboek Boek 5, art. 5:20 (accession) and title 8 (right of superficies), consulted 20 August 2026
- [Decree] Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving (Bbl), permit-free ancillary buildings, consulted 20 August 2026
- [Act] Omgevingswet, art. 5.1, permit requirement for building and use, consulted 20 August 2026
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.
