Security for your home or premises in the Netherlands
Dutch insurers work with a risk class from 1 to 4, set by a national system called the VRKI. It is not law, but your policy can hang on it.
Do I need a security class for a property in the Netherlands?
If you own or rent property in the Netherlands, your insurer may require a specific security class before they cover burglary. That class is set by the VRKI, a national risk classification. We survey your property, tell you which class applies and install what is required, and we explain it in English.
Your Dutch insurer works with a risk class
Most people discover this only after a claim. Dutch insurers do not simply ask whether you have an alarm. They refer to a risk class, running from 1 to 4, set by a national system called the VRKI.
That class depends on two things: what you keep on the premises, and how attractive it is to a thief. Once the class is established, a combination of measures is expected: physical locks, electronic detection, how the alarm is transmitted, and, the part most often overlooked, who actually responds when it goes off.
The system is not law and it is not a certification scheme. But if your policy names a class and you do not meet it, your insurer can limit cover. That makes it worth getting right the first time. The full Dutch explanation, with a calculator that works out your class, is on onze VRKI-pagina.
| Value of attractive contents | Class |
|---|---|
| up to € 75,000 | 1 |
| € 75,001 to € 125,000 | 2 |
| € 125,001 to € 175,000 | 3 |
| above € 175,000 | 4 |
“Attractive contents” means audiovisual and computer equipment, jewellery, cash and securities, and special possessions such as antiques, art, musical instruments and collections. The test is always the same: valuable, portable, and easy to sell on. For a business the calculation is different, because a second axis is added: how desirable the goods are to a thief.
Class 4 is not a normal outcome. It requires bespoke agreement with your insurer, and the intake document must always be signed off by them.
Dutch rules, checked against the source
These come up in almost every conversation we have with international clients. Each one is checked against the Dutch statute book or the published standard, not against another website.
| What you will be told | What is actually the case |
|---|---|
| “Alarm equipment must meet legal requirements.” | There are none. The article that set requirements for alarm equipment lapsed on 24 December 2004. Every requirement you will meet (grades, VRKI classes, BORG) is contractual or normative, not statutory. |
| “Annual maintenance is compulsory by law.” | Not in the Netherlands. That rule comes from Belgian law and does not apply here. It can still bind you through your certificate, which lapses without annual maintenance, or through your policy. |
| “CCTV footage may be kept for four weeks.” | No such term exists for you. On its pages about camera surveillance by organisations the Dutch data protection authority names no period at all: the rule is no longer than necessary, and where an incident is recorded, until that incident is dealt with. The four weeks you read everywhere apply to the police, under article 151c of the Municipalities Act. |
| “Use a CCV-certified control room.” | That scheme was withdrawn on 1 July 2026. Certification now runs through the European standard EN 50518, with five additional Dutch requirements on top. |
| “Any electrician can install an alarm.” | Technically yes, but two diplomas are recognised in Dutch law for this trade (with a recognised EU qualification counting as equivalent), and a monitoring centre may only serve customers who use installers holding them. Without monitoring, that chain does not apply. |
None of this means the rules are loose. It means the binding requirement usually sits in your insurance policy rather than in legislation, and that is where you should look first.
A survey first, equipment second
Intruder alarm
Wireless or wired, indoors and on the grounds. A complete system for a home or small business is typically €1,000 to €2,000 excl. VAT, one-off and installed. No monthly fee unless you choose monitoring.
CCTV
Cameras that recognise a person rather than every moving branch. Recorded locally, viewable on your phone, and set up to comply with Dutch privacy rules including the notice obligation.
Access control
Replace keys with rights. Useful if staff change often, or if you rent out part of the building. Note that access logs are personal data, and if your organisation has a works council it may have a say.
Perimeter detection
Detection at the gate, along the drive and among the trees, so you know someone is on the property before they reach the door. This is where you buy time, and time is the only thing that matters at night.
Monitoring and response
A control room takes the alarm and calls your keyholders; at least three must be registered. If you want someone to physically attend, that is a separate contract with a licensed security company. The working assumption is attendance within fifteen minutes.
The documentation
You receive an intake document, a schedule of requirements (programma van eisen) and a handover file (opleverdossier). This is what your insurer will ask for, and what an inspection is checked against.
We would rather you owned it
Many providers in the Netherlands sell security on a monthly subscription. That can make sense for a temporary site. For a home or a permanent building it usually does not: you pay every month, and at the end you own nothing.
We prefer to sell you a system outright. You pay once, it belongs to you, and it keeps working. Monitoring, where a control room calls out, is a separate monthly choice, and only worth it if someone will genuinely respond.
An alarm system lasts around eight years. At €65 a month, renting costs roughly €6,240 over that period, against €1,200 to €1,800 to buy the same thing. If you rent, ask three questions before signing: the notice period, what happens to the hardware when you stop, and whether the monthly amount is index-linked.
And one piece of advice we give everyone: do not buy in the days right after an incident. That is when people spend most and get it least right.
- English throughout. The survey, the plan, the quotation and the handover file. Your contact is Sander Poiesz.
- We work across the Netherlands and are used to clients who are not here permanently. If you are abroad during the works, we can arrange access and report by phone.
- We do not publish client names. Part of our work is for people at elevated risk, and we can attend without marked vehicles.
- We do not supply bodyguards or manned guarding. That is a different licence and a different trade. If your situation calls for it, we will say so.
What a first conversation looks like
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Call, or ask us to call you
Tell us what the property is, whether anything has happened, and whether your insurer has named a class. That already determines who visits and what we look at.
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The survey, about an hour
We walk around the outside and through the inside. We ask who holds keys, when the building is empty, and what you would genuinely not want to lose. There is nothing to prepare.
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A written plan with a price
Including what you do not need. If you decide against it, the plan is still yours to keep. The survey is free and commits you to nothing.
Or leave your number on the contact page and we will call you back, usually the same working day.
We are a VEB-recognised security company (erkend beveiligingsbedrijf), which means our staff are screened and we may draw up a security plan your insurer will accept. We do not issue certificates ourselves; that is done by a certification body, never by the installer. The VRKI is published by the CCV on behalf of the Dutch Association of Insurers. The statutory points are checked against the Dutch regulation on private security organisations. This page is written in English; the rest of this site is in Dutch.
Last updated 31 August 2026. Written and checked by Sander Poiesz, adviser at VeiligheidZeker, a VEB-recognised security company. Sources are linked in the text. Call 036 52 90 007 if anything here is out of date.