Housing labour migrants in Waalwijk: the local rules

01Which rules apply in Waalwijk to housing labour migrants?

In Waalwijk (including Sprang-Capelle and Waspik) you almost always need two permits to house labour migrants in a home:

1. An environmental permit to deviate from the environment plan. The municipality assesses it against the 2025 room rental policy rules (Beleidsregels kamerverhuur Waalwijk 2025), adopted by the executive on 18 February 2025 and in force since 27 February 2025.
2. A conversion permit (omzettingsvergunning) under the Waalwijk housing ordinance 2022 – 2025 (first amendment, in force since 1 November 2023). The owner applies for it.

The policy rules cover people who do not form a household, including international workers. In the rules an international worker is someone from another EU member state who works temporarily in the Netherlands and has no main residence here. Temporary housing means a stay of at most 1 year.

National rules, such as fire safety under the Bbl, the use notification and the Good Landlordship Act, also apply. They are covered in our article on renting group housing.

eyesonrooms does not let or broker housing. This article summarises public municipal documents (as of October 2026) and is not legal advice. Check the current rules with the municipality and consult a lawyer for your own situation.

02How many people may live in one home in Waalwijk?

The 2025 policy rules allow room rental to people who do not form a household for at most 5 people per location. This is possible in a quiet residential area, a mixed area, or in company homes on the business parks listed in the annexes. The municipality grants no permit for housing more than 5 people in a home.

Within those 5 people two bedroom rules apply:

• a bedroom may be shared by at most 2 people;
• at least half of the bedrooms are single rooms. With an odd number, round up.

An example: a home with three bedrooms then has at least two single rooms, so at most 4 residents. If you want to house 5, you need four bedrooms. Large locations are a separate category: existing housing with more than 250 but fewer than 400 places may grow to at most 400 places under conditions.

There are also some firm no's. Minors are not housed in these locations (with an exception for refugees with a residence permit). The municipality grants no permit in the rural area outside the built-up area, nor for caravans, chalets, tents or similar recreational accommodation.

03Which distances and which cap per neighbourhood apply?

Waalwijk wants to prevent housing from piling up in a few streets. The policy rules therefore contain three spreading rules:

• 50 metres from an existing room rental location of up to 5 people;
• 100 metres from existing housing for more than 5 people. The distance is measured along the shortest route over public land, from the nearest side boundaries of the building plots;
• in a building with a shared staircase or gallery, at most one unit per floor.

There is also a cap of 3% of the residents per CBS district or neighbourhood, based on the population on 1 January 2023. That gives a maximum number of people per neighbourhood. A few examples from the table:

If an application could exceed the neighbourhood maximum, it is refused. Ask the municipality in advance how much room is left in your neighbourhood: the figure changes with every new permit.

04What does Waalwijk require for management, house rules and registration?

The management requirements in Waalwijk are stricter than in many other municipalities. From the 2025 policy rules:

• SNF: the location is certified by the Stichting Normering Flexwonen, or demonstrably meets the latest SNF standards. Read more in the SNF standard explained.
• Manager: there is a manager who can be reached 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He or she inspects at least once a week, writes a signed inspection report and leaves it at the location. A change of manager must be reported to the executive in writing before it takes effect.
• House rules: on drugs, alcohol, parking, noise and litter, visible at the entrance, in Dutch and in the residents' language.
• Neighbours: all addresses within 30 metres of the plot boundaries are actively informed.
• Night register: required unless all residents are registered in the Waalwijk BRP, with personal and contact details and the start and end dates of the stay.
• BRP: residents who stay longer than 4 months register.
• Parking: enough parking space under the Waalwijk parking standards memorandum 2015.

In practice the weekly inspection with a signed report is the heaviest requirement. Schedule it on a fixed day, with photos of the kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms, so you can show what happened if the municipality checks.

05When do you need a conversion permit in Waalwijk?

In addition to the environmental permit, the housing ordinance requires a conversion permit when you convert a self-contained home into non-self-contained housing, such as rooms with a shared kitchen and bathroom. In the town of Waalwijk this applies to homes with a WOZ value up to €300,000, and in Sprang-Capelle and Waspik up to €355,000. The owner applies.

According to the municipal page (updated May 2026) the application includes, among other things: drawings and cross-sections, a description of maintenance, bicycle and waste storage, the intended use and the number of future residents. You also complete a Bibob questionnaire; an incomplete one can mean the application is not processed. The municipality decides within 8 weeks, with one extension of 6 weeks. The fees are set in the 2026 fee ordinance.

Converting without a permit is costly. The annex to the ordinance lists fines from €2,500 to €10,375 for a first to fourth offence, and for business-like offences €5,000 to €20,750, with a repeat period of two years.

The ordinance applies for four calendar years from entry into force. Check with the municipality whether a newer version exists.

06May you let a recently bought home in Waalwijk to staff?

Buy-to-let protection applies in nine CBS neighbourhoods. In Centrum, Besoyen, Antoniusparochie, Zanddonk, Meerdijk, Bloemenoord and Baardwijk it covers homes with a WOZ value up to €300,000, in Landgoed Driessen and Capelle / Nieuwe Vaart up to €355,000. If such a home was bought after the rule took effect, it may not be let without a permit in the first years, not even to an employer for staff housing.

The permit is personal and lapses when the home changes owner. In four neighbourhoods the rule applied to purchase agreements from 1 July 2022, in the other five from 1 November 2023.

What you can do: for every home you want to rent for staff, ask for the purchase date and the WOZ value. If the address is in one of the nine neighbourhoods and the home was bought recently, ask for the rental permit before you sign.

07How large is the demand in Waalwijk, and what does it mean for you?

The explanatory notes to the policy rules give a picture of the task. For 2025 the municipality estimated demand at about 3,100 places for international workers, within a range of 2,900 to 3,300. On 1 January 2025, 2,347 places had a permit. That left a need for 550 to 950 places.

Company homes on the business parks in annex 3 have their own rules: only staff of the company the home belongs to may live there, temporarily, with a permit that runs until 1 January 2040 at the latest. There too the living climate must be acceptable and neighbouring businesses must not be hindered.

For employers and staffing agencies this means: a small home with at most 5 people is possible, but only at an address that meets the distance rules and the neighbourhood cap, with SNF-level quality, weekly inspections and a manager who can always be reached. Larger numbers belong on large-scale locations in Waalwijk, not in residential streets.

08Frequently asked questions

09Sources

• Municipality of Waalwijk: Room rental policy rules 2025 (adopted 18 February 2025, in Dutch)
• Municipality of Waalwijk: Housing ordinance 2022 – 2025, first amendment (in force 1 November 2023, in Dutch)
• Municipality of Waalwijk: Room rental (updated May 2026, in Dutch)

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