News item | 10-10-2025 | 13:30
The government is taking new measures to build more homes faster and cheaper. Noise standards are not becoming stricter along railways. The technical permit and notification obligation expires for homes with a recognized quality declaration. And objection and appeal procedures are handled more quickly. Minister Keijzer of Housing and Spatial Planning announced this in a letter to the House of Representatives in response to the STOER advisory report. The STOER (Deletion of Conflicting and Superfluous Requirements and Regulations) program was started last year to reduce the regulatory burden so that housing construction becomes faster, cheaper and more predictable.
Minister Keijzer: ‘We have a major housing shortage in the Netherlands, making it increasingly difficult for starters, families and vulnerable groups to find an affordable and suitable home. Housing construction has become too complex due to the many rules, long procedures and rising costs. That is why I have asked an external advisory group to come up with concrete proposals that will reduce the regulatory burden. We are adopting the majority of this advice and are taking an important step towards building at least 100,000 new homes per year.’
Realizing more homes
The government wants to build more homes. To encourage this, the government proposes the following measures based on STOER:
• Easier and cheaper construction by not raising noise standards along the track
• Clear national agreements on water and soil
• Timely availability of utilities
• Simpler flora and fauna procedures
• Tackling bottlenecks at spraying zones and nature regulations
Railway zones are interesting construction locations because of their good accessibility, but increasingly strict noise standards are hindering housing construction. The decision-making process regarding stricter noise standards along tracks will not take place, meaning that expensive adjustments to facades are no longer necessary. In addition, work is being done on a new, simpler method to assess the sum of noise in aircraft noise. When building homes, we also take water and soil into account. To make construction in areas vulnerable to flooding more predictable, a uniform standard will be introduced. Energy and drinking water are needed to make homes habitable. That is why the government is working to guarantee the availability of drinking water and tackle grid congestion.
The flora and fauna also deserve protection, but complicated procedures mean that it takes a long time to obtain permits for housing construction and renovation. The government is investigating whether this process can be accelerated through a national network of Species Management Plans (SMPs). The government will also provide practical tools to clarify rules for building near agricultural land. In addition, the government in Brussels is committed to relaxing nature compensation procedures.
Cheaper housing construction
STOER also encourages cheaper housing construction with the following measures:
• Relaxation of construction requirements
• Free access to building standards (Bbl)
• More space for factory building
• Digitalization and standardization
The relaxation of the Building Environment Decree (Bbl) will be submitted to Parliament in the spring of 2026. This will introduce more flexible rules for stairs, ceiling height and noise between rooms. We are also reversing the daylight standard and limiting the checklist requirement for safe building maintenance. This leads to lower construction costs without losing sight of safety and health. From the middle of next month, the NEN standards, which are designated in the building regulations (Bbl), can be viewed online for free. This way we reduce the costs for design and implementation. In addition, the permit and reporting obligation for technical construction activity no longer applies to homes that have a recognized quality declaration for construction and assembly on the construction site. This makes it possible to build series more quickly and cheaply. The government will also standardize data exchange in construction. This way we prevent duplicate research and reduce costs and lead times.
Build faster
To contribute to faster construction, the government, on the advice of STOER, proposes the following measures:
• Faster handling of objection and appeal procedures
• Priority for appeals
• More implementation power among municipalities and provinces
• Faster and smarter investigations
• More pragmatic environmental impact assessments (EIA) and archaeological research
Legal proceedings lead to major delays in housing construction. To limit this delay, objection and appeal procedures are handled more quickly and procedures in housing construction are given priority by the Council of State. The government wants to accelerate decision-making by local authorities and is committed to increasing the implementation power of municipalities and provinces.