Permit-free work on monuments

Some activities on a national or municipal monument do not require a permit. These are activities in which no monumental values are affected. 

Heritage Advisor

Contact a heritage advisor from the municipality as early as the planning stage. The heritage advisors can provide expert advice and clarify in advance whether or not a permit is required in your case. The heritage advisors can be reached by email at erfgoed@wassenaar.nl.

Permit-free maintenance work

Ordinary maintenance work on monuments is permit-free. This maintenance means work designed to preserve what is there, without altering material type, shape, detailing, profiling and color. Some examples of permit-free activities are:

  • Repainting woodwork in the same color (without stripping the wood bare)
  • Repair local masonry and/or grouting with the same grout and composition of grout mortar
  • Local plaster repair
  • Replacing some bad roof or slate tiles
  • Window frames, windows and/or doors repair or welding locally
  • Repair faulty gutters or rainwater drains
  • Install thin insulated glass in the existing rods and profile, replacing non-historic glass

Indoor unlicensed work

If you are going to change something indoors, it is important to know whether monumental values will be affected. If after contacting the heritage advisor it is determined that the work does not involve monumental parts and no constructive interventions in the shell are required, you do not need a permit. A few examples are:

  • Replacing a non-monumental kitchen, plumbing or central heating system
  • Removing recently installed partition walls or suspended ceilings
  • Remodeling the interior of a recent addition (post-1965)

Permit-free in protected faces

If you have a property in a protected city or village view that is not a protected monument, some minor activities are also permit-free for you. More information on these activities can be found in Appendix II, Article 2 of the Building Works Decree for the Living Environment.
Some examples:

  • Just maintenance and
  • Interior items that do not involve the shell or structure.

In addition, some construction activities on the rear façade or in the area perpendicular behind the rear façade:

  • Changing window or door frame in rear facade
  • Installation of solar collector on rear roof deck 
  • Installation of a dormer on the rear roof deck.

Learn more

View more information on whether or not you need an environmental permit on the National Cultural Heritage Agency website . You can also read more information about permit-free on the website of the National Agency for Cultural Heritage.