Dog tax, registration and the park rules in The Hague

The Hague does not charge dog tax.

It abolished hondenbelasting on 1 January 2024, and the list of municipal taxes on the city’s own site for 2026 runs through the waste levy, property tax, both halves of the sewerage charge, tourist tax, precario and the inner harbour tax without mentioning dogs at all.

Until 2023 this was the most expensive city in the country to own one.

The tax that is gone, and the one next door that is not

The abolition came out of the coalition agreement of D66, GroenLinks, the Partij voor de Dieren, PvdA, CDA and DENK.

Two arguments carried it: that the revenue was never ring-fenced for anything canine and simply went into general funds, and that around a tenth of it was eaten by the cost of collection, including officials calling at houses to check whether there was a dog in them.

Cross a municipal boundary and it comes back.

Wassenaar still levies it.

Its 2025 verordening set 99.72 euro for a first dog, 149.76 for a second, 197.64 for each dog beyond two and 210.36 per kennel, and BSGR, which collects it, says the 2026 rates are unchanged from 2025.

Rijswijk, Leidschendam-Voorburg, Delft and Zoetermeer do not appear among the 97 municipalities still charging it.

That is a real line in a household budget and it belongs next to the figures in the cost of living article, especially if you are weighing a move out to one of the surrounding towns.

The registration that is not optional

No dog tax does not mean no paperwork.

National law, not municipal law, requires every dog in the Netherlands to be chipped and registered at one of the government-designated portals.

It has applied to dogs arriving in the country since 1 April 2013, and a dog brought in from abroad must be registered within two weeks of arrival.

Foreign keepers staying less than three months are exempt.

If you imported the animal yourself you also need a UBN from RVO before a vet can do that registration, and the whole sequence is set out in bringing a pet into the Netherlands.

Cats are not covered by any of this.

Chipping a cat is recommended and not required, which is a gap most owners here fill voluntarily.

Cleaning up, everywhere, no exceptions

The rule the city states first and most plainly: “In heel Den Haag is het verplicht hondenpoep op te ruimen.” Everywhere in The Hague it is compulsory to clear up dog mess.

That includes the beach, it includes the off-lead areas, and it includes the dunes.

You must carry the means to do it.

A bag, a scoop, something.

Being caught without one is itself the offence, separately from whether your dog has actually fouled.

The waste goes in a dog bin, an ordinary litter bin or your underground household container.

There is one exemption and it is narrow: “Alleen gehandicapte mensen met een blindengeleide- of gehandicaptenhond hebben geen opruimplicht.” Guide dogs and assistance dogs for disabled owners, and nobody else.

The city’s page states the obligation without publishing a tariff for breaking it.

The duty sits in the APV, the local by-law, and is enforced by municipal handhavers; comparable APV fines elsewhere in the country run from roughly 90 to 160 euro.

Reports of nuisance or a dangerous animal go to the police on 0900 8844, or 112 if something is actually happening.

Leads, and the twenty-five places you can take it off

The default across nearly the whole city is that a dog is on a lead.

Dogs classed as dangerous must be kept on a short lead and muzzled.

Dogs are not allowed at all on children’s playgrounds or on the play and sunbathing lawns, which in a city with as little grass as this one rules out a lot of the obvious green.

Against that, the city runs a network of losloopgebieden where a dog may be off the lead, provided it does not obstruct traffic or other people and does not disturb wildlife.

There are 25 of them being upgraded across the city, with fencing, more bins and benches.

The best known are the Haagse Bos, the Zuiderpark and the Bosjes van Poot; the current programme also covers Meer en Bos, the Oranjeplein, Kamperfoeliestraat, Delftselaan and a new one at the Allard Piersonlaan, plus a new area near the Asmansweg.

Which one you get is a genuine factor in choosing a street.

Someone in the Statenkwartier has the Bosjes van Poot and the dunes within a few minutes; someone in Laak does not have anything comparable, and it is one of the quieter arguments in which district suits which life.

The beach, which has the most specific rules in the city

From 1 October to 15 May, dogs may run loose on the whole beach.

That is the six months that make living here worth it if you own a dog, and it is why the Hague seafront out of season is essentially a very long dog park.

From 15 May to 1 October the rules narrow to four windows, and they are worth learning properly rather than guessing:

• The whole Zuiderstrand, but only between 21.00 and 07.00.
• All day and night from strandopgang 2, at the end of the Machiel Vrijenhoeklaan car park, to the Westland municipal boundary.
• All day and night between strandopgang 9 at the Kwartellaan and strandopgang 10 at the Duivelandsestraat.
• All day and night from the beach entrance at the end of the Zwarte Pad car park to the Wassenaar boundary.

In practice that means the busy central stretch at Scheveningen is out all summer and the far ends are in, which is the opposite of what most newcomers assume.

Guide dogs and assistance dogs are permitted everywhere all year.

One more beach rule that is not about crowds.

If you come across a seal, put the dog on the lead and keep at least 30 metres away.

Seals haul out on this coast regularly, and the ones that look abandoned usually are not.

The coast article covers what the beach is like season by season.

The things nobody puts on a sign

Buy a bin bag dispenser that clips to the lead and refill it.

Running out is the single most common way people end up in an argument here, and Dutch neighbours will say something.

Household waste rules apply to the bags, so the point about which container takes what in the rubbish and recycling article is relevant more often than you would like.

Register with a practice before you need one.

Vets in The Hague fill up, and the out-of-hours arrangements described in the vets and emergency care article assume you already have one.

Grooming, food and kit come from pet shops and groomers rather than from the vet, and the prices are not comparable.

And if you are reading this because you are thinking of getting a dog rather than because you already have one, the route through a Hague shelter comes with the chip, the vaccinations and the registration already done.

Sources

• Gemeente Den Haag, belastingen overview page, 2026: the municipal taxes listed are aanslag gemeentelijke belastingen, afvalstoffenheffing, onroerendezaakbelasting, rioolheffing eigenarendeel, rioolheffing gebruikersdeel, toeristenbelasting, precariobelasting and binnenhavenbelasting. Hondenbelasting does not appear
• Reporting on the Den Haag coalition agreement of D66, GroenLinks, Partij voor de Dieren, PvdA, CDA and DENK: hondenbelasting abolished with effect from 1 January 2024; until 2023 Den Haag had the highest rate in the Netherlands; the revenue was not ring-fenced for dog provisions and around 10% went on collection costs including household checks
• Verordening op de heffing en de invordering van hondenbelasting Wassenaar 2025, article 5: “voor een eerste hond EUR 99,72”, “voor een tweede hond EUR 149,76”, “voor iedere hond boven het aantal van twee EUR 197,64”, “per kennel EUR 210,36”, levied from 1 January 2025; BSGR states the 2026 rates are unchanged from 2025
• Lokalelastenkaart, hondenbelasting per gemeente 2026: 97 municipalities still levy the tax; Rijswijk, Leidschendam-Voorburg, Delft, Zoetermeer and Den Haag are not among them, Wassenaar is
• Gemeente Den Haag, regels voor het uitlaten van honden en het opruimen van hondenpoep: “In heel Den Haag is het verplicht hondenpoep op te ruimen”; owners must always carry a bag, scoop or other means; “Alleen gehandicapte mensen met een blindengeleide- of gehandicaptenhond hebben geen opruimplicht voor hondenpoep”; a lead is required in nearly all public places; dangerous dogs must be kept “kort aangelijnd” and muzzled; dogs are banned from kinderspeelplaatsen and speel- en ligweiden; off-lead areas exist where the dog does not obstruct traffic, other visitors or wildlife; reports to the police on 0900 8844 or 112 in an emergency
• Gemeente Den Haag, news item on dog facilities: “Verspreid over de stad pakt de gemeente 25 losloopgebieden aan”, with work at Meer en Bos, the Oranjeplein, Kamperfoeliestraat, the Bosjes van Poot and the Delftselaan, a new area at the Allard Piersonlaan and a new area near the Asmansweg
• Gemeente Den Haag, honden, zeehonden en paarden op het strand: from 1 October to 15 May dogs may run loose on the entire beach; from 15 May to 1 October only between 21.00 and 07.00 on the whole Zuiderstrand, all day and night from strandopgang 2 at the end of the Machiel Vrijenhoeklaan car park to the Westland boundary, all day and night between strandopgang 9 at the Kwartellaan and strandopgang 10 at the Duivelandsestraat, and all day and night from the beach entrance at the end of the Zwarte Pad car park to the Wassenaar boundary; guide and assistance dogs permitted everywhere year round; dogs to be leashed and kept at least 30 metres from seals; the clearing-up duty applies on the beach too
• LICG, chipjedier.nl: the chip and registration duty for dogs in force since 1 April 2013, registration within two weeks of arrival in the Netherlands at a designated portal, with an exemption for foreign keepers staying less than three months; chipping and registration recommended but not compulsory for cats
• Reporting on APV enforcement, 2026: fines for failing to clear up dog mess are set municipally under the APV and commonly fall between about 90 and 160 euro depending on the municipality