Recreational home occupancy

When someone lives in a recreational park, it may be a temporary situation, such as after a divorce or as a bridge between two houses. Long-term occupancy also occurs. If you live in a vacation home and use it as your "primary residence," we call it permanent occupancy even if it is only temporary. This means that you live your life from the vacation home for a shorter or longer period of time. 

May I live permanently in a vacation property, such as a mobile home chalet or recreational home?

No, that is not allowed. In the Netherlands, you can only live in a place with a 'residential zoning'. This means that the place is meant to be lived in. However, a vacation park has a 'recreational zoning' which means that it is intended for recreation and not for permanent residence. In other words, you celebrate vacations or spend your leisure time there.

Based on current zoning laws, you are not allowed to live permanently in homes at vacation parks or in recreational homes. Texts and advertisements that advertise permanent living in recreational homes are therefore in violation of those zoning plans. You can register at the address of a recreational home, but the municipality can take enforcement action against this. Keep this in mind!

How can the municipality still register people at the address of a vacation home?

According to Dutch law, the municipality is obliged to include everyone who wants to register at an address in the Basisregistratie PersonenBRP), even if that address is a vacation home. However, this does not mean that you may live in a vacation home, as it has a recreational use.

Because the zoning plan for a vacation home or recreational home allows only recreational use, registration in the BRP is often blocked by managers, business owners, owners and sometimes even by municipal enforcement. Legally this is correct, but it violates the Basic Registration of Persons Act and therefore does not constitute a legitimate reason not to register residents.

I am registered in the BRP at another address. Can I still live in the vacation home?

No, you may not use the vacation home as your primary residence and therefore may not live there. By law, you must live at the address where you are registered, and that address must be residential. Merely registering at another address is not sufficient.

When a government agency finds such a situation, they are required to report it back to the municipality, after which an address investigation is initiated. This may ultimately lead to an ex officio registration at the correct residential address or, in the nastiest case, an ex officio deregistration as "left for unknown.