The building permit fee system is no longer sustainable. That’s the view of Wico Ankersmit, director of the Dutch Association for Building and Housing Inspection (Vereniging BWT), and Jaco van Giezen, a researcher at Senze. They examined the permit fees charged by several municipalities and discovered significant differences. “It’s one big lottery.”
The pair shares their story in the latest episode of Bureau Stoer, recorded during the annual conference of the BWT Association.
“For the same home, you’ll get different bills in different municipalities,” says Van Giezen. “Sometimes the bill is 1,000 euros, sometimes 13,000. That’s a huge difference.” “The differences have grown,” adds Ankersmit. He speaks of “disproportionate ratios.”
Creative Math
Sometimes there are also significant differences for the same type of structure within a single municipality. For example, the building permit fees for a dormer window in the municipality of Lopik (500 euros) are relatively high, while the fees for larger construction projects there are relatively lower. “Municipalities sometimes get creative with how they bill for hours,” notes Ankersmit. “People no longer know what they’re paying for,” says Van Giezen. He advocates for more permit-free construction.
How so? What needs to be done? According to the two of them, this system is no longer sustainable. Curious about the whole story? Then listen to Bureau Stoer.
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