Property and Neighbour Disputes in the Netherlands

Living next to other people creates friction, and Dutch law has a settled set of rules for it. Neighbour and property disputes, from a noisy upstairs flat to an overgrown hedge or an argument over where the boundary runs, are governed by Dutch neighbour law (burenrecht) in Boek 5 of the civil code (Burgerlijk Wetboek, BW). This section brings the main topics together and sends you to the page that covers each one in full.

The rules are national, so they apply the same way across the country. What changes locally is the municipal layer, the Algemene Plaatselijke Verordening (APV), which a gemeente uses for noise and for some fence and hedge rules. The pages below keep the two levels apart.

Information last verified on 22 July 2026. This page provides general legal information about Netherlands law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.

Which body decides what

Different questions go to different places, and matching the problem to the right body saves the most time. The civil court, in practice the rechtbank, decides disputes about nuisance, boundaries, plantings and walls. The Kadaster holds the registered cadastral boundary and can send a surveyor to re-mark it on the ground. The gemeente sets and enforces the local layer through the APV, and the police handle an acute disturbance in the moment.

One point is worth carrying into every page below: most neighbour claims are of undetermined value, so they go to the rechtbank rather than the kantonrechter. Neighbour law does not have the regardless of amount rule that sends tenancy and employment cases to the kantonrechter, so the value of the claim, not its subject, decides the forum.

Noise nuisance

Noise is the most common neighbour complaint. The route runs from a conversation to the gemeente under the APV, to the police for an acute disturbance, and, for renters, to the landlord, before the civil test of unlawful nuisance in the courts.

Read the full guide: noise nuisance.

Neighbour law (burenrecht)

The neighbour-law page is the map of Dutch neighbour law in Boek 5. It names each rule, from nuisance and boundaries to plantings, walls and the outlook rule for windows near the boundary, and points to the page that owns each one.

Read the full guide: Dutch neighbour law.

Property boundaries

Where the line between two plots runs, how it is marked and what happens when it is uncertain are the boundary questions, with the Kadaster holding the registered cadastral boundary and the court available where the line is genuinely disputed.

Read the full guide: property boundaries.

Overhanging branches and roots

A neighbour's branches over your garden, and roots growing across into your land, have their own self-help rules: a written demand is needed before you cut overhanging branches, but roots you may cut without a warning.

Read the full guide: overhanging branches.

Fences and planting

Planting distances, the right to enclose your own plot and the shared dividing wall between neighbours all have rules, while the height and permit limits that actually apply depend on the local APV and an environmental-and-building permit (omgevingsvergunning).

Read the full guide: fences and planting.

Related pages

Where a dispute involves a camera pointed at your property, that is a privacy question rather than a nuisance one: see a neighbour's security cameras. For every other area of Dutch law, start at the Netherlands law hub.