84% of Dutch municipalities not stimulating creation of apartments by splitting homes

Despite the Netherlands’ massive housing shortage, 84 percent of Dutch municipalities don’t encourage the division of homes to create more living space, Radar reports after surveying the Dutch municipalities. Only 16 percent are actively encouraging this type of densification. Radar questioned all 342 Dutch municipalities. Over 200 responded.

Almost half of munifciplities do allow splitting one home into two or more. But 52 percent don’t currently have a policy in place for doing so. The other 48 percent do have a policy, but it varies greatly per municipality. Most require one or more permits. That could be an issue given that permits are one of the big limiting factors in housing construction at the moment due to staff shortages at municipalities. Many also have requirements on the surface area of a home or how many homes per street can be divided.

Ninety percent of Dutch municipalities have adjusted their stance on house division in the past five years. Of them, 66 percent have relaxed the rules, and 34 percent made it more difficult to divide a home. Almost a third (29 percent) have banned splitting homes in certain areas. These bans often have to do with the quality of life in the affected area due to population density, available parking, and noise.

Until 2030, home division could create between 80,000 and 160,000 thousand additional homes in the Netherlands, according to the program. In 2022, house splitting created only about 2,000 homes.