What is a public land use charge (precario)?
A public land use charge is the fee a local authority levies for occupying public land beyond ordinary passage — with a scaffold, a skip, a site hut, hoarding or an outdoor terrace. In the Netherlands and Belgium this charge is called precario (precariobelasting), from the Latin precarium: something granted as a favour, and therefore something that can be withdrawn again.
That is the essence of it: you are not renting land, you are being given temporary permission to take up public space. In the UK the equivalents are a highways licence or pavement licence with its associated fee; in other countries it is a street occupation permit.
What it is charged for
| Position | Examples |
|---|---|
| On the ground | Scaffold, skip, site hut, café terrace, goods display, advertising board |
| Above the ground | Bay window, canopy, balcony, hanging sign, awning over the pavement |
| In the ground | Vault under the pavement, cables and pipes |
During building work
This is where a homeowner normally meets it. Put a scaffold, a cherry picker or a skip on the street and you almost always need two things:
- A licence or permit to occupy the highway — often including traffic management, signing and lighting
- Payment of the charge, usually per square metre per day, week or month
Rules of thumb from practice:
- Apply at least two weeks in advance; some authorities require considerably longer
- For a normal facade scaffold over a few weeks, expect an amount in the order of tens to a few hundred euros or pounds — rates vary enormously between authorities, so always ask for the actual tariff
- Many authorities have an exemption for the first few days or for small areas
- Put in writing who applies and who pays; this is a classic source of extra charges at the end of a job
- An unlicensed scaffold or skip can be removed at your expense, and your insurance position after an accident becomes questionable
Utility networks in the Netherlands
Dutch councils levied precario for years on the cables and pipes of utility companies, which passed the cost on to households through network tariffs. The Act abolishing precariobelasting on utility networks ended this; under transitional rules, councils that already had a tariff in place on 10 February 2016 were allowed to keep levying until 1 January 2022. For utility networks the charge no longer exists. For scaffolds, skips, displays and terraces it very much does.
Related terms
- Site set-up
- Scaffolding
- Building permit
- Building costs
- Tendering
Want to learn more about construction terms? Visit our knowledge base at fredsdiyplans.com.