What is a verblijfsobject (vbo)?
A verblijfsobject (vbo) is the Dutch registration term for the smallest unit of use within one or more buildings that is suitable for living, working or recreation and has its own lockable entrance from the street, a plot or a shared circulation area. It is defined in the Dutch Act on the Basic Registration of Addresses and Buildings (BAG). Each house, flat, shop or office suite is a separate verblijfsobject with its own address, roughly comparable to a ‘unit’ or ‘premises’ in English usage.
What the BAG records for a vbo
- Building (pand): a vbo always sits within a building. One block of flats holds many vbo’s; one vbo can also extend over several buildings.
- Use (gebruiksdoel): the permitted use, chosen from eleven use functions such as residential, office, retail and industrial. A unit can have more than one.
- Floor area (oppervlakte): the usable floor area to the Dutch standard NEN 2580, in whole square metres.
- Status: for example formed, in use or withdrawn.
Application
The BAG is published by the Dutch Land Registry (Kadaster), while each municipality is responsible for the data in its area. Public bodies use it for tasks such as the WOZ property valuation. If you are buying, converting or subdividing property in the Netherlands, check the unit in the public BAG Viewer.
Tips and points of attention
- Check the floor area: the BAG figure often comes from planning drawings and may differ from an estate agent’s measurement or a later alteration.
- Report errors: use the ‘terugmelden’ (report back) button in the BAG Viewer to notify the municipality, ideally with a floor plan as evidence.
- Do not compare blindly: NEN 2580 usable floor area follows its own measuring rules, so it is not the same as UK net internal area or other national measures.
- Houseboats: a houseboat is not a vbo; the BAG registers its mooring (ligplaats) instead.
Related terms
- Usable floor area
- Gross floor area
- Building function
- Land registry
- Building permit
Want to learn more about construction terms? Visit our knowledge base at fredsdiyplans.com.