Municipal or provincial administrative charges

Do you need to purchase a service or product, such as a permit, from a municipal or a provincial authority in the Netherlands? Most often, you have to pay administrative charges (leges).

What do you pay administrative charges for?

You need to pay administrative charges if you apply for, for example:

• a permit, for example an environment and planning permit (building charges), a market permit, or a terrace permit
• an exemption or dispensation
• documents, such as passports and extracts 

You can check for which applications you have to pay these charges in the charges by-laws of your municipal or provincial authority (in Dutch). You can find these charges by-laws typing your postal code in the Location search box on Overheid.nl (in Dutch).

Why do you pay administrative charges?

The administrative charges cover the administrative costs your municipal of provincial authority makes to process your application.

Municipal and provincial authorities are required to publish a municipal or provincial administrative charges by-law (legesverordening) in which they explain:

• what applications are subject to administrative charges
• the rates the authority charges for these applications
• the principles upon which the authority bases their administrative charges

How much administrative charges do you have to pay?

The amount of the charges depends on the municipality or province. The amount may not be higher than the total costs incurred by the municipality or province.

You can check the local rates in the charges by-laws on the website of your municipal or provincial authority (in Dutch). You can find these charges by-laws typing your postal code in the Location search box on Overheid.nl (in Dutch).

Objection to administrative charges

If you disagree with the amount of the administrative charges, you can object. You must file an objection with your municipal or provincial authority.