Buy, renovate, then move in: planning it in practice

Before you buy: know what you are buying

A building survey (bouwkundige keuring) tells you the condition of the house: roof, foundations, window frames, damp and installations. It is useful when negotiating, and it is also the starting point for your renovation plan. If you have big plans, such as an extension, a new bathroom or an open-plan kitchen, ask a builder to look as well. A builder sees it differently: not just what is wrong, but what is possible.

Watch for a few things that cost time later. If the house was built before 1994, allow for asbestos. If it is a listed building or lies in a protected historic area, extra rules apply. You can look up listed status in the national Monuments Register or ask the gemeente (municipality). See renovating a listed building for more.

• Year of construction and any listed status.
• Condition of the foundations, roof and window frames.
• Age of the boiler and the fuse box.
• For a flat: the deed of division, the association rules and the VvE's papers.
• Room for your plans, such as an extension or an extra bathroom.

Between signing and handover: plan and order

In the Netherlands you sign a purchase agreement first, and the transfer of ownership and the keys follow later at the notary (notaris). The gap is often several weeks to a few months. That is the best time to finish the plan. Book a survey with a builder, get a quote and choose the kitchen, sanitaryware, tiles and floor. Order anything with a long delivery time now, so it is there when work starts.

If you need a permit, for an extension or a load-bearing wall for instance, start on that now too. We do not give permit advice, but the permit check on the Omgevingsloket, the national permit portal, shows whether one is needed. In a flat, this is also when you ask the owners' association (VvE) for approval. Many associations only meet a few times a year.

What to do before you move in

Not everything has to be finished before moving day. But some work is far easier in an empty house. Anything dusty, anything wet and anything that opens up floors or walls is best done before anyone lives there. A coat of paint or a new light fitting can wait.

A good rule of thumb: do everything that sits inside the walls, floors and ceilings before you move. That means pipes, wiring, insulation, plastering and flooring. Finishing you can easily do later, such as painting a bedroom, can wait.

A realistic schedule

How long the renovation takes depends on its size. Plastering a few rooms and laying a new floor is much quicker than a full renovation with a new bathroom and kitchen. Allow for drying times too: plaster and screed have to dry before painting or flooring can follow. After the survey we give you a schedule per step.

Leave room for setbacks. A strip-out often reveals things nobody saw, such as a rotten joist or old pipes. If you can, avoid having your lease or the sale of your old home end on the very day the work is due to finish. Our guide to a full renovation, step by step shows how the phases fit together.

Financing and VAT

Many buyers include the renovation in their mortgage. The money is then often held in a construction deposit (bouwdepot) and paid out against invoices. Ask your mortgage adviser how your bank handles this, and ask your builder for a quote that fits. Agree when each invoice will come.

Some work on a home that is more than 2 years old, such as painting, plastering and insulating, is charged at the reduced VAT rate of 9%, according to the Dutch Tax Administration (Belastingdienst). Other work is charged at 21%. The quote lists those parts separately.

For internationals: what is different here

If you are new to the Netherlands, a few things will be unfamiliar. A flat is almost always part of a VvE, the owners' association. It manages the facade, roof, foundations and shared pipes. For work on those parts, or for a hard floor that carries sound to the neighbours below, you often need approval. The rules are in the association's regulations (splitsingsreglement).

Permits are a matter for the gemeente, through the Omgevingsloket. A building survey is not compulsory but it is common. Many Dutch builders work with a quote at a fixed price for a described scope, plus agreements on extra work (meerwerk). Always ask how extra work is reported and agreed. The international centres, such as IN Amsterdam, have general information on buying a home.

How Parus helps

Parus Construction does plastering, bathrooms, floors, insulation, tiling, electrics and plumbing in-house. You have one builder for the whole renovation, with Stas, the owner, as your single point of contact from survey to handover. We work from Amsterdam and Haarlem to Leiden, The Hague and Utrecht.

Read more on our full renovation and bathroom renovation pages. Get in touch as soon as you have a house in mind. We are happy to come and look, and we reply within 24 hours.

Frequently asked questions