# Fence height rules in the Netherlands, and who sets them

> Fence height rules since the Omgevingswet: up to 1 metre is permit-free nationally, and your municipality sets the 2 metres behind your house. How to check.

Canonical: https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/fence-height-rules-netherlands
Last updated: 2026-09-24

![The side boundary of a back garden: a tall dark wooden fence with a climbing rose, a clipped hedge further along, and a brick path beside a border of purple flowers](https://tuinontwerp.app/images/blog/vergunningen-erfafscheiding-nl-2e2c77dc.webp)

Published: 2026-09-16

Fence height rules in the Netherlands come from two sources. A national decree
makes a fence up to 1 metre permit-free. The 2 metres behind the front of your
house is in your municipality's omgevingsplan, which the municipality may
change. So are the shed rules: above 3 metres, ridge height depends on the
distance to your boundary.

Since 1 January 2024, the Omgevingswet (Environment and Planning Act) has
brought the rules for the physical living environment together in one act. For
a garden that leaves two sources. One is the Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving
(Bbl), a national decree that is the same for everyone. The other is the
omgevingsplan, the environment plan each municipality keeps, which can differ
from place to place. Which source a figure comes from decides who may change
it.

## How high can a fence be without a permit?

A boundary fence up to 1 metre needs no permit anywhere, except at a monument.
Up to 2 metres is allowed as well, but only behind the line along the front of
your house. That second rule is not in the national decree. It sits in the
bruidsschat (literally "dowry"), the temporary part of the omgevingsplan.

| Situation | Permit needed? | Where the rule is |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Up to 1 metre high | No | Bbl, article 2.29(j) |
| Up to 2 metres, behind the line along the front of your house | No, as long as your municipality has not changed the bruidsschat | Omgevingsplan, article 22.27(f) |
| Between 1 and 2 metres, in front of that line | Not permit-free under the bruidsschat | Omgevingsplan |
| Higher than 2 metres | A building notification for the technical part, and the omgevingsplan decides the rest | Bbl, article 2.18 |
| At a monument or a provisionally protected monument | Not permit-free | Bbl, article 2.30, and bruidsschat, article 22.28 |

The 2-metre rule has three conditions. The fence is no higher than 2 metres. It
stands on a plot that already has a main building it belongs to. And it stands
behind the line along the front of that main building, a line that then runs
parallel to the publicly accessible land beside it.

On a mid-terrace house, the front facade is that line. A corner plot works
differently. A Vangnetregeling (a safety-net regulation) arrived in mid-2024.
Since then the line runs along the front facade and then round the corner along
the side wall. The side garden between that wall and the street therefore lies
in front of the line, so the 2 metres does not apply there.

Permit-free does not mean every fence is allowed. A fence must also meet your
municipality's building rules. A fence exactly on the property line belongs to
you and your neighbour together. Talk to your neighbour before you build.

## Do you need a permit for a garden shed?

Not if the shed stays within the standard rules, and height comes first. More
than 4 metres from the original house, a shed may always be 3 metres high.
Taller is possible up to 5 metres, but only with a sloping roof and a ridge
that keeps its distance from your plot boundary.

Within 4 metres of the house the limit is lower. The shed then goes no higher
than 5 metres, no higher than 0.3 metres above the floor of the second storey,
and no higher than the house itself. These height rules are in article 22.36
of the bruidsschat. Article 22.27 adds where the shed may stand.

Article 22.27 sets these conditions on where the shed stands. The shed stands
on the ground, in the rear yard area (achtererfgebied): the part of your plot from 1
metre behind the front of the house. From publicly accessible land it keeps more
than 1 metre, and its height is 5 metres at most. There is no living space on the
second storey, and no roof terrace or balcony.

Above 3 metres, three extra requirements apply. The roof has two or more
sloping planes with a pitch of 55 degrees at most. The eaves sit no higher than
3 metres. Finally, the ridge stays under this formula:

**maximum ridge height = (distance from the ridge to the plot boundary × 0.47) + 3 metres**

A worked example: a ridge 3 metres from the boundary may be 4.41 metres high.
Put the ridge 1 metre from the boundary, and the same formula gives 3.47
metres. The ceiling of 5 metres always applies.

Floor area is the other limit, and it counts all outbuildings and extensions
together. The measure for it is the building area (bebouwingsgebied): the rear
yard area plus the ground under any extensions to the house.

| Building area | Maximum for outbuildings and extensions |
| --- | --- |
| Up to and including 100 m² | 50% of the building area |
| More than 100 m², up to and including 300 m² | 50 m² plus 20% of the part above 100 m² |
| More than 300 m² | 90 m² plus 10% of the part above 300 m², 150 m² at most in total |

An extension you already have comes off that maximum. With a building area of
80 m², the allowance is 40 m² in total.

The ridge formula needs one measurement your building drawing does not show:
the distance to your plot boundary. On a plan of your own plot in
tuinontwerp.app, that boundary is ready as soon as you enter your address, and
you place the shed on it to scale.

## Can your municipality set different fence rules?

It can, but the national floor stays in place. The structures in article 2.29
of the Bbl remain permit-free, and that includes a boundary fence up to 1
metre. What a municipality can change are the bruidsschat rules in its
omgevingsplan, and with them the 2 metres for fences and the rules for sheds.

No national table shows what your municipality has changed. The only place to
read it is the omgevingsplan for your location. A table on another website
that says 2 metres tells you nothing about your street.

Old zoning plans (bestemmingsplannen) still count too. They have legally become
part of the temporary section of the omgevingsplan. Municipalities have until 1
January 2032 to work them into it. Until then, a rule for your street can sit
in an old zoning plan rather than in a new document.

To look it up in the Omgevingsloket, the national online portal for these
rules:

1. Open Regels op de kaart ("rules on the map") and pick the spot of your
   garden on the map.
2. Open your municipality's omgevingsplan and search for "erfafscheiding"
   (boundary fence) and "bijbehorend bouwwerk" (outbuilding).
3. Also check the zoning plans that still apply at that spot.
4. Then check in the Omgevingsloket whether your own plan needs a permit or a
   notification.

If the omgevingsplan contains nothing that differs, the standard rules of the
bruidsschat apply. If a corner plot or a monument leaves you unsure, ask your
municipality before you order anything.

## Where is the plot boundary those rules measure from?

On the cadastral map, with a margin. The Kadaster, the Dutch land registry,
states for each boundary how accurate the drawn line is. How that works, and
how to fetch your own plot, is explained in
[finding your plot on the Dutch cadastral map](https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/dutch-cadastral-map).
For the rules above, the map boundary is good enough to lay out your garden,
but not to set a fence exactly on the boundary.

The margin matters most for the ridge formula. In that formula, every 10
centimetres less distance costs almost 5 centimetres of ridge height. At a
boundary with label D, with a margin of 40 centimetres, that comes to almost 19
centimetres. So plan your ridge with room to spare. With a shed of 3 metres or
lower, the distance to the boundary plays no part in the formula.

Neighbour law applies alongside the building rules, and it also measures from
the boundary. Article 5:42 of the Dutch Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek) puts a
tree at least two metres from the boundary, measured from the middle of the
trunk. For shrubs and hedges the distance is half a metre. A local by-law or
local custom can allow a smaller distance, and with your neighbour's
permission a planting may come closer too.

Under the same article, your neighbour cannot have a hedge removed that grows
no higher than the dividing wall between the two properties. For a green
boundary right up to the line, put your agreements with your neighbour on
paper.

## Drawing your fence and shed on your own plot

Tuinontwerp.app lays out your plot to scale, with the boundary as the Kadaster
supplies it through PDOK, the Dutch government's platform for open geodata.
Around it go the buildings from the BAG, the national register of addresses and
buildings, with their heights from 3DBAG, the open dataset of measured building
heights for the Netherlands. On that plan you draw your fence along the line,
place the shed where you want it and fill in the rest with a terrace, borders
and plants. A drawn fence counts as 1.8 metres high by default, and a structure
such as a shed as 2.5 metres. The plot boundary itself always counts in the app
as a wall of 1.8 metres.

Those heights are values for calculating shade. The app does not check permit
rules and does not read your omgevingsplan.
[North-facing garden plants, matched to their sun hours](https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/north-facing-garden-plants)
shows how much sun a fence takes from a narrow garden. For laying out the rest
of the garden, see
[the garden design section of the blog](https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/category/tuinontwerp).

Loading your plot and drawing your fence on it costs nothing. Start at the
address field at the bottom of this page. Take the measurements for your fence
and shed from Regels op de kaart, then draw them on your own plot.

## Frequently asked questions

### How high can a fence be without a permit in the Netherlands?

Up to 1 metre, nationally. That is in article 2.29 of the Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving, the national decree on buildings. The standard rules of the omgevingsplan, the plan with your municipality's local rules, allow up to 2 metres if the fence stands behind the line along the front of your house. Your municipality can change that second rule. So check Regels op de kaart, the map of rules per location in the national Omgevingsloket portal, for your own address.

### Do I need a permit for a garden shed in the Netherlands?

Not if it stays within the standard rules. A shed in the rear yard area, the part of your plot from 1 metre behind the front of your house, may always be 3 metres high if it stands more than 4 metres from the original house. Taller is allowed with a sloping roof, up to 5 metres at most and limited by the distance from the ridge to the plot boundary. Your municipality can change these rules in its omgevingsplan.

### Where do I find the plot boundary the rules measure from?

On the Dutch cadastral map. Tuinontwerp.app puts that line on a plan of your own plot once you enter your address, and loading your plot costs nothing. The app fetches the boundary from the Kadaster, the Dutch land registry, through PDOK, the government's geodata platform. It does so without the quality label that says how accurate the line is, so look that label up at the Kadaster yourself. For a fence exactly on the boundary, have the boundary marked out on the ground first. Then draw your layout in the app, on your own plot.

### Can I plant a hedge right on the property line?

Usually not. Article 5:42 of the Dutch Civil Code puts a hedge at least half a metre from the boundary and a tree at least two metres, unless a local by-law or local custom allows less. If the hedge stays lower than the dividing wall between the two properties, your neighbour cannot object to it.

## Sources

- [Informatiepunt Leefomgeving — Vergunningvrije erf- en perceelafscheidingen](https://iplo.nl/thema/bouw/bouwen-vergunning-melding/erfafscheiding/)
- [Informatiepunt Leefomgeving — Vergunningvrije bijbehorende bouwwerken](https://iplo.nl/thema/bouw/bouwen-vergunning-melding/bijbehorende-bouwwerken/)
- [Informatiepunt Leefomgeving — Stappenplan vergunningvrij bouwen bijbehorende bouwwerken](https://iplo.nl/thema/bouw/bouwen-vergunning-melding/bijbehorende-bouwwerken/stappenplan-bepaling-vergunningvrij-bouwen/)
- [Informatiepunt Leefomgeving — Vergunningvrij bouwen: van Wabo naar Omgevingswet](https://iplo.nl/thema/ruimtelijke-ontwikkelingen/ruimtelijk-bouwen/vergunningvrij-bouwen/)
- [Informatiepunt Leefomgeving — Regels op de kaart in het Omgevingsloket](https://iplo.nl/digitaal-stelsel/omgevingsloket/regels-kaart/)
- [Rijksoverheid — Omgevingswet](https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/omgevingswet)
- [Omgevingsloket — Regels op de kaart](https://omgevingswet.overheid.nl/regels-op-de-kaart/)
- [BG.legal — Erfafscheidingen onder de Omgevingswet: de bruidsschat en de vangnetregeling](https://bg.legal/erfafscheidingen-onder-de-omgevingswet-de-bruidsschat-en-de-vangnetregeling/)
- [Kadaster — Kadastrale kaart en kwaliteitslabels](https://www.kadaster.nl/zakelijk/producten/eigendom/kadastrale-kaart)
- [Burgerlijk Wetboek Boek 5, artikel 42](https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0005288/2024-01-01#Boek5_Titeldeel4_Artikel42)

## Read next

- [Dutch cadastral map: find your plot via PDOK, step by step](https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/dutch-cadastral-map) - Get your plot from the Dutch cadastral map via PDOK, with the actual responses for one address. Depending on its label, the boundary can be 10 to 80 cm off. (2026-09-16)
- [Garden designer cost in the Netherlands, or DIY?](https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/garden-designer-cost-netherlands) - What does a garden designer cost in the Netherlands? About 60 to 90 euros an hour. Compare cost, lead time and the finished document, and see what you can do on your own plot. (2026-09-09)
- [How to make a planting plan from sun hours and soil](https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/make-planting-plan) - Make a planting plan per section: sun hours first, then the soil map for your region and a roll test for your border, then the plants. Example: six plants. (2026-09-15)
- [More about garden design](https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/category/tuinontwerp)