What rules apply to placing a garden home (mantelzorgwoning) in my garden?
In most cases, a garden home may stand in the back garden area, behind the front building line. The practical question is where exactly in your garden: where the crane can reach, how far it is to the meter cupboard, what it means for the neighbours and how much of the garden is left. So start by measuring what space is really free.
A garden home (mantelzorgwoning) belongs in the back garden area (achtererf), behind the front building line (voorgevelrooilijn), and in many cases it may stand there without a permit. That is the legal answer. The question that comes next, and that determines far more, is a practical one: where in your garden does it fit, and how much of that garden is left.
We visit plots and see the same four things go wrong every time. The home is bigger than people imagine, the crane cannot reach, the meter cupboard is further away than expected, and the nicest spot in the garden is the spot the neighbours will end up looking at.
How much space a home really takes up
Living area and external dimensions are not the same. Our Kievit with 46.1 m² of living area has external dimensions of roughly ten by seven metres. On top of that there is space around it on three sides that you still need to be able to use.
- Space to walk around it. You want to be able to get around the home for maintenance, and there needs to be a place for the wheelie bin.
- A terrace. A resident who goes out less sits outside by their own front door. Allow a few metres on the sunny side.
- The path. From your back door to theirs, wide enough for a rollator and firm enough to use in winter.
A garden eight metres wide seems enough for a home seven metres wide, but then it stands from boundary to boundary. With a narrow garden you will therefore sooner end up with a more compact model or an L-shape that uses the depth instead of the width.
Measuring your garden in four steps
You can do this yourself this afternoon, with a tape measure and a sheet of paper.
- Measure the back garden area, meaning the part of your plot behind the front building line.
- Subtract what is already there in the way of a shed, canopy, conservatory or extension. These count towards the amount of building that is allowed.
- Draw the home in to scale, using the external dimensions and not the living area.
- Then draw in the terrace, the path and the walking route. What is still green after that is your garden.
That last step is the eye-opener. People who only draw in the home conclude that it fits. Only those who also draw in the path and the terrace see what is left to sit in.
Choosing the spot in five considerations
| Consideration | What you look at | What it costs if you miss it |
|---|---|---|
| Access | Can the lorry get close and where will the crane stand | A bigger crane, sometimes an extra day |
| Distance to the meter cupboard | How many metres of cable and pipe have to go into the ground | Digging, and restoring paving and planting |
| Sun and view | What the living room and terrace look out on | A resident who looks at a fence all day |
| Privacy | View of the neighbours and of your own living room | Two households who see each other sitting there all day |
| The walking route | Length, paving and lighting from door to door | A route that is impassable in the dark in winter |
The fourth deserves some explanation, because it is rarely discussed beforehand. The point of a home in the garden is closeness with a front door of their own. If the home is positioned so that you look into her living room from your kitchen all day, then the closeness is there but the independence is not.
Three gardens we often come across
The size of the garden says less than its shape. These three situations are the most common, each with a different outcome.
The long, narrow town garden. Deep enough, but six or seven metres wide. A compact model works best here, with the home at the back and the terrace to the side. The bottleneck is almost never the floor area but access: if there is no rear access path (achterom), the crane has to work over or alongside the house, and that determines the cost of installation day.
The wide garden of a semi-detached house. Plenty of space, but the home ends up close to the boundary and therefore close to the neighbours. Here the conversation is about where the windows go and where the terrace is, not about whether it fits.
The large plot outside the built-up area. There is room, but the municipality (gemeente) more often focuses here on fitting into the landscape and on the requirement that the home stays close to the existing buildings. Standing on its own in the field is usually not an option, however large the plot.
What is under the ground
There is more under your garden than you think. Before digging, a notification should be made to find out which cables and pipes are there; anyone who digs professionally does this. Ask your contractor whether that has been arranged before the spade goes into the ground.
Two other things determine the foundation. The subsoil, because sandy soil calls for something different from peat, and the roots of existing trees. A foundation right next to a mature tree is rarely a good plan, not for the tree and not for the foundation either.
The neighbours
Alongside the environmental plan (omgevingsplan), Dutch neighbour law (burenrecht) simply applies too, and it governs two things that come into play straight away with a garden home. Windows and balconies with a view of the neighbours' property are not automatically allowed within two metres of the boundary, unless the neighbours agree. And trees and shrubs have their own required distances from the boundary.
In practice the advice is simpler than the law. Pop round before you start. A neighbour who hears about it from the crane is a neighbour who calls the municipality. A neighbour who heard about it beforehand will usually hold the door open for the delivery driver.
The path between the two front doors
This is the part that gets the least attention and is used every day. Plan for a paved path that is wide enough for a rollator with a companion alongside, on a base that does not subside and that does not turn as slippery as glass in frost.
Add lighting that switches on by itself. The route from one door to the other is walked in the dark, by someone who does not see as well and is less steady on their feet. A light with a motion sensor costs little and prevents exactly the kind of fall the whole plan was meant to avoid.
What happens to the rainwater
A home of fifty square metres is fifty square metres of roof. That water has to go somewhere, and a number of municipalities set requirements for collecting it on your own land. Think in advance about where the drainage ends up, especially if the garden is low-lying or if you add a lot of paving for the path and the terrace.
What happens in the garden before installation
The work on your plot comes before delivery. The foundation is laid, the trench for water, electricity and sewerage is dug and the route for the crane is cleared. This happens while the home is being built indoors at our facility, so the two run in parallel.
The installation itself takes one day. The lorry arrives in the morning, the home swings over the hedge, is on the foundation before the coffee break and is connected and finished in the afternoon. The lights are on that same evening. So you do not have a building site in your garden for months, just a few weeks of groundwork.
If the garden turns out to be too small
That happens, and it is better that you know now. There are then three routes. A more compact model, because a home of 36 m² leaves considerably more room than one of 51 m². A different layout, where the L-shape uses the depth instead of the width. Or a solution other than a separate home, for example an extension to the existing house.
The order that works
First do the permit check for your address, because it tells you what may be placed on your plot. Then measure what is actually free and draw it in, including the path and terrace. Only then look at the models, and take the floor plan out into the garden. Other municipal rules that come into play are covered in the main municipal rules.
Sources
- [Decree] Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving (Bbl, Buildings Decree) — permit-free ancillary buildings in the back garden area — accessed 2026-08-20
- [Act] Burgerlijk Wetboek Boek 5 (Dutch Civil Code, Book 5) — art. 5:42 and 5:50 — distances for planting and windows near the boundary — accessed 2026-08-20
- [Act] Omgevingswet (Environment and Planning Act) — art. 5.1 — permit requirement for building and use — accessed 2026-08-20
- [Guidance] Kadaster (Land Registry) — notification of cables and pipes before digging — 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.
