Rear retrieval or front retrieval: the difference and what to choose

Rear retrieval means the delivery driver posts on the street side and you take out the post and parcels at the back, usually through an opening in a facade, garden wall, gate or fence. Front retrieval means posting and retrieving happen on the same side, and that is the version you choose if you do not want to make an opening.

Below you will find exactly what rear retrieval and front retrieval are, which other words the market uses for them, what the Postregeling 2009 literally says about it and what it does not, which recess dimensions and installation depths manufacturers publish, what rear retrieval costs extra, what an opening does to your insulation and condensation, and when to choose which version. We make parcel letterboxes ourselves in our own factory, so we know the dimensions, the sheet metal limits and the installation practice from the inside. A webshop that only resells copies the supplier's text. We set the sources side by side, with article number and date, and note where they contradict each other.

• 265 x 32 mmLegal minimum for the clear drop opening, article 6 paragraph 3 Postregeling 2009
• 0Legal articles that require anything about the side where you take out your post
• + 20 mmRecess margin on the front width and front height according to the Renz catalogue
• + €42.00What rear retrieval costs extra on the Frabox NAMUR: same model, different retrieval side

What is rear retrieval and what is front retrieval?

The two terms are about exactly one thing: on which side of the box you take out your post and parcels. They say nothing about the shape, nothing about the size and nothing about the placement. With front retrieval, the drop flap and the retrieval door are on the same side. The delivery driver stands by the street, and later you stand in the same spot and turn your key there. With rear retrieval, the drop flap is on the street side and the door with the lock is on the other side, in your garden, your driveway, your gateway or your hallway.

Logixbox, a Dutch manufacturer, uses the two terms more consistently than any other party we looked at. The model names are literally Frontbox-Achteruitname, Frontbox-Inbouw-Achteruitname and Trendybox Vooruitname, with the Frontbox-DeLuxe as the front retrieval version. Logixbox describes the action like this: you "open the door at the back with your key and safely take out your parcel", and the advantage as "easy and secure access from your garden or driveway", where "the front remains completely closed". That is the core of the argument for rear retrieval: on the side facing the public road there is no lock anyone can try to force, only a flap through which post goes in.

Brievenbusdirect does not put it in the product title but in the description, and it is the clearest wording we came across: "In this version the drop flap is at the front and the little door for taking out the post is at the back." Read that sentence once and you understand the difference for good.

It is not a two-way split but a three-way split

In the eSafe range on brievenbusdirect.nl, the features are listed literally as "Postuitname voorzijde" (front retrieval), "Postuitname achterzijde" (rear retrieval) and "Postuitname bovenzijde" (top retrieval), alongside the features "Inbouw" (built-in) and "Vrijstaand" (freestanding). So there is a third version that is often skipped in the discussion about rear and front retrieval: retrieval from the top. For a low, wide parcel cabinet in a garden wall, that can be the most convenient, because you look into the compartment from above instead of fumbling bent over in a deep sleeve.

Rear retrieval and built-in are two separate choices

This is the mistake made most often, by sellers too. Rear retrieval does not automatically require a built-in installation, and built-in does not automatically mean rear retrieval. Logixbox sells the Frontbox XXL with rear retrieval as a freestanding model, with external dimensions of 415 x 430 x 960 mm and a parcel compartment of 350 x 400 x 325 mm, so without touching a single brick. Conversely, the German manufacturer Frabox sells the flush-mounted (Unterputz) letterbox OLEVA, a built-in model with an installation depth of 100 mm, with retrieval at the front. Unterputz is not the same as rear retrieval: the first term is about how it is mounted in the wall, the second about the side where you stand. Mix them up and you buy a box that does not fit the wall you have.

There is also a third situation, and it makes the whole purchasing decision smaller than it seems. With a two-part through-wall unit, the retrieval direction can be set during installation. Doika writes about the STOER! through-wall unit Berlijn: the "two-part design makes it easy to adjust both the opening direction and the depth" and there is a "flexible depth setting: adjustable from 35 to 50 cm, ideal for various wall thicknesses". With models like this, rear retrieval is not a purchasing decision but an installation decision, and you can reverse it during a renovation. With a one-piece cabinet, the direction is fixed the moment you check out.

If you first want to know which box suits your ordering habits in terms of size, which size parcel letterbox you need is the logical first step. You decide the retrieval side after that, because it changes nothing about what fits inside.

What other terms does the market use for the same thing, and which ones do not exist?

There is no standardised term. That is not an opinion but a finding: in the sources we went through, suppliers use at least five pairs of words side by side for the same two things. As a result one person searches for "doorwerpbrievenbus" (through-wall letterbox) and another for "achteruitname" (rear retrieval), while they mean the same product. Below is what is literally used in the Dutch market, with the party that uses it.

The terms you do read but that come from nowhere

Two words that crop up in searches and on forums were not found as a product term at a single Dutch or Flemish supplier: "achterontname" and "doorname". If you search for those, you are searching for something no manufacturer calls it, and you mostly get pages that copied the word from another text. Use "achteruitname" or "doorwerpbrievenbus" and you will find the real products.

The same goes for the word "sparingmaat", which is the correct construction term for the hole you make (the recess size). Not a single supplier in our sources uses it. They write "inbouwmaat" (installation size), "inbouwdiepte" (installation depth), "wandopening" (wall opening), or in German "Mauerausschnitt" and "Einbaumaß". That makes comparing difficult, because the same column header can mean the hole in the wall at one brand and the external size of the cabinet at another.

And the counterpart of built-in? In the letterbox category the term "opbouwbrievenbus" (surface-mounted letterbox) exists, but in the parcel letterbox category it is in practice more often called "vrijstaand" (freestanding), as at Logixbox and eSafe, or in German "Aufputzmontage" and "zum Aufschrauben", as at Frabox. Siedle is also described in the Dutch trade as a "doorwerpbrievenbus", for the Classic series with type designation CL 411 BD2A 02 B.

The word achteruitname is also not tied to one brand. Pakketbrievenbus-online.nl uses it in product titles of another brand, for example the "Pakketbrievenbus Allux 800 zwart, achteruitname". Anyone who thinks it is a Logixbox word is searching too narrowly.

What does the law say about the side where you take out the post?

Nothing. That is the full answer, and it matters more than it seems, because dozens of pages claim that "requirements" apply to a through-wall letterbox. Those requirements do exist, but they cover the drop opening, the height, the storage space and accessibility. About the side where you take out the post, the Postregeling 2009 says not a single word.

First, a clean-up: the Besluit brievenbussen no longer exists

On wetten.overheid.nl, the Besluit brievenbussen (Letterbox Decree), identification BWBR0004448, literally says "Regeling vervallen per 01-04-2009" (regulation lapsed as of 1 April 2009) and "Deze regeling is ingetrokken. Dit is geen geldige regeling meer" (this regulation has been withdrawn and is no longer valid). The regulation applied from 1 January 1989 up to and including 31 March 2009. Yet webshops still quote it today, including the dimensions that come from it. A ruling by De Geschillencommissie (the Dutch Disputes Committee) in case POS05-0168 of 16 February 2006 is also based on "Article 1, fourth paragraph of the Besluit brievenbussen". That was correct at the time, but it is no longer applicable law. Anyone who confronts you today with a letterbox requirement referring to the Besluit brievenbussen is quoting a withdrawn regulation.

What does apply is the Postregeling 2009, identification BWBR0025578, published in Staatscourant 2009 no. 61 with an issue date of 22 March 2009, in force since 1 April 2009, together with the Postwet 2009 (the Dutch Postal Act). The full set of requirements for the box is in article 6, the requirements for placement and accessibility in article 5.

The detail that does matter with rear retrieval: where is the height measured?

Article 6 paragraph 2 and article 5 paragraph 7 measure the height "above the level at which the letterbox is operated". Operating means posting, so that level is the side where the delivery driver stands. With rear retrieval, your side is often at a different height: a garden half a metre higher than the pavement, a sloping driveway, a raised terrace. For the law that level difference is irrelevant for the retrieval side, but it does matter for the slot height on the street side. So measure from the pavement, not from your garden, and keep the slot between 0.6 and 1.8 metres with 1.1 metres as the guideline. PostNL's letterbox flyer, which itself refers to the Postregeling 2009, gives the same range as 110 cm from the ground, with openings lower than 60 cm or higher than 180 cm not permitted.

Two places where sources contradict each other

The first contradiction is in the axes. The Postregeling says "at least 265 mm in length and 32 mm in width". PostNL writes in the flyer "at least 26.5 cm wide" and "3.2 cm high". Those are the same figures with a different name for the direction, and that is exactly where the confusion in webshops comes from, where one quotes 265 mm width and another 265 mm length.

The second contradiction concerns the storage space. Article 6 paragraph 5 requires at least 150 mm, 270 mm and 380 mm. The PostNL flyer only mentions "at least 15 cm deep" with a recommendation of "at least 25 cm" and leaves out the 270 and 380 mm. Manufacturer Logixbox, on the other hand, gives the full set in its own knowledge base: "The space behind the drop opening must be at least 15 cm deep, 27 cm wide and 38 cm high." The legal text is the overriding source here, and it requires all three dimensions. With a through-wall installation that means something concrete: a sleeve that is too short does not reach the 380 mm, even if the flap at the front fits perfectly. You can read more about those dimensions in our article on letterbox requirements in the Netherlands.

In the same flyer PostNL gives a few more practical rules that mainly go wrong with a through-wall installation: the walking distance from the public road may be no more than ten metres, there must be no steps up or down higher than 2.5 metres, your house number must be clearly visible on or near your letterbox, and you must avoid "flaps with springs, rubber strips or stiff draught brushes that make posting difficult". That last one is a real point of attention with a through-wall installation, because that is exactly where brushes and strips are added to stop draughts.

Why a 32 mm slot does not solve the problem

A legal slot is 32 mm high. PostNL accepts a letterbox parcel (brievenbuspakje) of at most 38 x 26.5 x 3.2 cm, weighing up to 2 kg, at a rate from €4.55 within the Netherlands. Anything thicker than 3.2 cm by definition does not fit through a slot that meets the legal minimum. That is why the whole category of parcel letterboxes exists: not to improve on the law, but to make room for the parcel that does not fit through. Exactly which shipments those are is set out in our overview.

And the standard NEN-EN 13724?

It exists, and manufacturers use it as a selling point. NEN-EN 13724:2013 en, the English-language edition, has the title "Postal services, Apertures of private letter boxes and letter plates, Requirements and test methods", publication date 1 April 2013, status final, 33 pages in English, and costs €92.65 at NEN (the Dutch standards institute), €85.00 with discount. The scope covers criteria for letterbox openings with regard to safety, protection against intrusion, performance for the recipient and ergonomics and efficiency for delivery staff. There is also a predecessor from 2002.

Two things about that. In the Netherlands the standard is not legally mandatory and the Postregeling 2009 does not refer to it. And the standard is about the opening, not the retrieval side. Whether the text of the standard itself says anything about retrieval at the back, we cannot say: the standard is not freely available online and is only available as a paid publication, so we rely here on the title, the date and NEN's description of the scope. Manufacturers who put "complies with EN 13724" on a parcel cabinet, as Frabox does with the OLEVA, are making a statement about the letterbox opening and not about the through-wall sleeve. Briefkasten-Manufaktur adds its own disclaimer to the water protection according to DIN EN 13724 on the GOETHE MDW model: "Wassereintritt ist kein Reklamationsgrund" (water ingress is not grounds for a complaint) if post has not been fully inserted.

For Belgian (Flemish) readers: bpost sets different dimensions, and also says nothing about the retrieval side

The bpost property guide "Een correcte brievenbus voor ieder bouwproject" (a correct letterbox for every building project) gives different figures than in the Netherlands: slot width at least 324 mm, slot height at least 24 mm, depth at least 229 mm, total height of the box at least 23 cm, and a mounting height between 70 cm and 170 cm. The box belongs at the boundary of the public road, with exceptions for placement in the entrance door or on the ground floor at a well-lit spot for people with disabilities, and for house numbers with at least four letterboxes. The legal basis is the Belgian Royal Decree of 24 April 2014, article 34. bpost also says nothing about retrieval at the back or pass-through retrieval.

Here is contradiction number three. Logixbox writes about Belgium that the box must have "an opening (slot) at least 23 cm wide and 3 cm high", and that the opening is "at least 70 cm and at most 170 cm from the ground". The height matches bpost, but the slot size of 23 cm by 3 cm differs from the 324 mm by 24 mm that bpost itself publishes. The bpost guide is the stronger source here. And there are Flemish pages circulating with complete lists of dimensions without any source, mixing up Dutch and Belgian rules. Always compare with the carrier's own guide.

How big should the recess be and how deep should the wall be?

This is the question on which a through-wall project succeeds or fails. You need two dimensions: the hole in the front, and the depth of the sleeve. The hole is always slightly larger than the front of the cabinet, because you need to slide it in and then finish it off. The depth must match the thickness of your finished wall, and that is not the thickness of your brickwork but the dimension from external render to internal finish.

The clearest rule comes from the Renz catalogue: the front recess is the front width plus 20 mm and the front height plus 20 mm. Renz also advises an overlap of 30 mm per side, up to a maximum of 100 mm. That overlap is the part of the front that covers the brickwork and hides the joint. Briefkasten-Manufaktur works with about 10 mm installation clearance per side on the GOETHE model and says explicitly that you must measure the "finished wall or pillar thickness", not the shell construction dimension.

Below are the dimensions that manufacturers and dealers publish themselves, with the source. Watch the column headings: one brand calls it a wall opening, another an installation size, and that is not always the same thing. Where a source gives a dimension that does not add up in construction terms, we say so.

Where the dimensions are missing, and why you need to know

For four parties we could not find a recess dimension, and that is not carelessness on our part but a gap in the market. On Burg-Wächter's Dutch category page "doorwerp brievenbus" (through-wall letterbox), the models PORTA 796 W, Porta 791 NI SB, BLENDE 794 W and KASTEN 795 W are mentioned, but without dimensions, without a wall thickness range and without a price. For eSafe and ONZO, brievenbusdirect.nl gives prices without recess dimensions, and the manufacturer's site only returned meta information when queried. For Keilbach and Radius Design we found no product page with a rear retrieval or through-wall version with dimensions. The Renz catalogue gives cabinet depths but nowhere states a minimum or maximum wall thickness in mm. And for Allux there is no manufacturer catalogue with recess dimensions available, only dealer data.

That last point immediately creates a problem. Two dealers give a different maximum parcel size for the same Allux 800: brievenbusdirect.nl states 115 x 330 x 300 mm, hof-shop.be states 370 x 320 x 135 mm. Presumably those are the same dimensions in a different axis order, but 300 versus 370 mm cannot be explained away by swapping axes. So never start sawing on the basis of a dimension from a dealer page. Ask the manufacturer for the installation drawing, and only make the hole once you have it on paper. For the rest of the job, from core drill to finishing, we have a separate article: building a parcel letterbox into a wall, gate or fence.

What does an opening through the facade do to insulation, cold bridging and condensation?

Here comes the sharpest source on this whole subject, and it does not come from a blogger or an insurer but from a manufacturer of through-wall units. The Renz catalogue, 31st edition, chapter 7 on Mauerdurchwurf installation, as of 1 January 2015, literally says: "Mauerdurchwurfkästen sollten nicht in Wände eingebaut werden, die von innen beheizt werden. Es besteht die Gefahr von Schwitzwasser!" Freely translated: through-wall units should not be installed in walls that are heated on the inside, because there is a risk of condensation. A manufacturer advising against its own product in a heated external wall: that is a sentence worth keeping.

Renz goes further: in an energy-efficiency renovation, the manufacturer advises taking the cabinet out of use or switching to a surface-mounted version. And on moisture from the brickwork itself: "Natursteine und Beton speichern Wasser und Feuchtigkeit. Daher empfehlen wir, die Kästen vor dem Einmauern mit Folie zu schützen." Natural stone and concrete retain water, so protect the cabinet with film before you brick it in.

Briefkasten-Manufaktur says the same in Dutch, on its own page about a letterbox through the wall: "An opening can interrupt insulation and airtightness and thereby cause thermal bridges or condensation." And then, more strictly: "In a heated external wall, only an expressly suitable solution with a professionally planned connection to the building structure may therefore be used." On water, the same manufacturer says: "Complete watertightness must not be assumed." The installation advice is to place the box under a canopy.

In short: an opening through the wall is not just a hole, it interrupts three layers that hold your facade together. The insulation layer, the airtight layer and the water-resisting layer. Cut through one of those three without designing a detail for it, and you will hear about it on a cold morning, in the form of moisture on the inside of the sleeve. What happens to the contents of a box in winter is covered in our article on watertight and winterproof.

And fire safety?

An opening from outside to inside is an opening in the external separating construction of your fire compartment. For new builds, the Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving (the Dutch Building Decree) sets a basic requirement of 60 minutes' resistance to fire penetration and fire spread, article 4.53 paragraph 1. For a residential function, 30 minutes is permitted under conditions: the permanent fire load of the fire compartment may not exceed 500 MJ per m2 and no floor may be higher than 7 metres, article 4.53 paragraph 3 in conjunction with article 4.49 and table 4.49. At the plot boundary, the Bbl calculates with an imaginary identical building placed mirror-symmetrically at the same distance from the boundary, article 3.41 paragraph 2 and article 4.54 paragraph 3.

What we did not find is a source that actually tests a letterbox opening through the wall against that requirement. Not at the Informatiepunt Leefomgeving, not at a manufacturer, not in the literature we went through. We have left the requirements for existing buildings out of consideration here, because they are in a different chapter of the Bbl. The practical conclusion: if your opening leads into a garage, a storage room or a hall that opens onto the home, put it to whoever carries out your structural alteration. If the opening goes through a garden wall or a freestanding pillar, this does not apply.

What does rear retrieval cost extra compared with front retrieval?

Surprisingly little, if you only compare the box. And surprisingly much, if you include the construction side. The cleanest comparison is the same model from the same seller, where only the retrieval side differs. That was possible for three brands.

The conclusion from those four rows is clear: the retrieval side itself adds between 3.9 and 7.7 percent to the price of the box. For the most expensive of the three, that is €42.00. That is not the amount your decision should hinge on. The amount that does count is in the last row: going from freestanding to built-in costs €140.00 more at the same brand, and that does not yet include the construction costs. The freestanding model does need a foundation or a plinth: Logixbox charges €89.00 for the plinth and includes the fixing materials free of charge.

With the house brand STOER! you see the same ratio at component level: a two-part through-wall unit Berlijn costs €399.00, while the separate 165 mm built-in block costs €219.00. So with a through-wall installation you mainly pay for the sleeve, the adjustment mechanism and the second front.

The cost of the job itself is not public

We searched for a rate for making a recess in a facade, and it does not exist as a public figure. Kostengids.nl (a Dutch cost guide) does publish a page on the cost of installing a letterbox, last updated on 29 March 2026 based on market research from 2025, with all prices including 21 percent VAT. It gives a range of €50 to €400 per unit with an average of €150, with built-in put at €50 to €150, freestanding at €100 to €250 and a design or parcel letterbox at €200 to €400. Regionally, the average in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht is €168, and in Eindhoven, Groningen, Tilburg and Breda €158.

Treat those figures with caution. There is no hourly rate and no item for making a recess in the facade, restoring the insulation or finishing the sleeve airtight. Amounts that come to €50 for built-in fit the installation of a standard letterbox, not breaking through a cavity wall and sealing three layers again. So ask a contractor for a price for the recess as a separate line, and not as part of an installation item.

For the price range in the market in general: in the eSafe range at brievenbusdirect.nl, prices run from €16.00 to €1,799.00, with for example the Pushbox at €299.00, the Topak at €794.00, the Dropbox Small at €895.00, the Bulkbox at €999.00, the Nexus at €1,099.00, the Dropbox Medium at €1,145.00, the Albo Fenix 536 freestanding at €1,399.00, the Fenix Top Medium at €1,499.00, the Fenix Front at €1,649.00 and the Fenix Top Large at €1,799.00. Separate accessories such as a house number cost €19.95 and a letterbox flap €142.50 to €149.00. If you want to understand the price structure of the whole category, read what a good parcel letterbox costs.

Do I need a permit for an opening in the facade or garden wall?

For the technical part of a renovation, the starting point is permit-free, as long as you do not touch three things. Article 2.27 of the Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving (the Dutch Building Decree) states that renovating is permit-free provided there is no change to the load-bearing structure, the layout of a fire compartment or sub-fire compartment, or the external facade insulation. For frames and facade panels this is worked out further: the frame, the frame infill, the fascia and the render fall under article 2.27 paragraph 2 under c, and a facade panel or retrofitted facade insulation under article 2.27 paragraph 2 under d. This does not apply to illegally built structures, article 2.22 Bbl.

Alongside that technical track runs a planning track. Nationally permit-free is placement in or on the rear facade, on a side facade not facing publicly accessible space, or on an ancillary structure in the back garden area, article 2.29 under e Bbl. For the front facade or a side facade that does face public space, the environmental plan (omgevingsplan) determines whether a permit is needed, with the transitional rules (bruidsschat) article 22.26 as the starting point. And for a listed building or in a protected townscape or village view, a permit is required under article 2.30 Bbl, unless "the colour and type of material of the frame, the frame infill, the facade panel, the insulation board, the fascia or the render do not change".

Article 2.29 Bbl also has a permit-free category for another structure in the garden area up to 1 metre high and 2 m2. For a garden or plot boundary, building a partition up to 1 metre is permit-free for the technical part, article 2.29 under j Bbl, and up to 2 metres under article 2.26 paragraph 2 under c Bbl, while above 2 metres a building notification is required. In planning terms, the bruidsschat states that the boundary partition is no higher than 2 metres, article 22.27 under f and article 22.36, provided it is on a plot with an existing main building, behind the front line of the main building and running parallel to adjacent public land. According to a report on Omgevingsweb, boundary partitions up to 2 metres have now also become permit-free in corner situations.

What no source says

Now the part you will not read anywhere else. Not a single primary source and no municipality we looked at mentions a letterbox or a parcel letterbox by name in these rules. The Informatiepunt Leefomgeving (IPLO, the Dutch government's environmental information point) covers frames, facade panels, render, garden walls, fences and woven screens, but the word letterbox, or facade recess for a letterbox, appears nowhere. Whether a letterbox or parcel cabinet in a garden or plot boundary falls under the permit-free boundary rules is not stated either. We also found no municipal ruling and no statement from the Informatiepunt dealing specifically with a letterbox opening through the wall. Applying these articles to your hole in the facade is therefore a line of reasoning, not a quotation.

At the same time, almost every street in the Netherlands has a letterbox in a front garden, on the property boundary, where the delivery driver can reach it. That is the everyday practice nobody applies for a permit for. Our advice is therefore simple: if in doubt, call your local council. It takes five minutes and you get the answer from whoever has the final say. If you are renovating a listed building or in a protected townscape, always make that call.

One detail you do need to know for an existing facade: ordinary maintenance is not defined in the Bbl. According to the explanatory memorandum, it must be "aimed at preserving what is there", and according to case law "the detailing, profiling and design of the structure may not change". A new hole in an existing facade changes the design, so by definition it is not ordinary maintenance. So do not rely on the maintenance exemption when you saw out a recess.

And a freestanding model in the front garden?

For the drop opening, the same applies there as for every box: it must be within the 0.6 to 1.8 metre range above the operating level, with 1.1 metres as the guideline from article 6 paragraph 2 of the Postregeling 2009. BunnyBox's freestanding models put the slot and flap exactly in that range, so there is nothing to calculate or adjust. Logixbox also advises an ergonomic height of about 100 to 120 cm, which matches the same 1.1 metres from the regulation.

When do you choose rear retrieval and when front retrieval?

The choice does not depend on taste but on three facts about your property: is there a wall, gate or fence that can take an opening, is the back on your own land, and do you want to work on the structure itself. Below is when each version is the answer.

There is also an in-between option that is often forgotten: built-in without an opening through the wall. The Frabox OLEVA has an installation depth of 100 mm and front retrieval, and Briefkasten-Manufaktur sells a GOETHE UP with the same 100 mm. You then get the flat, built-in look in the facade or pillar, without breaking through the facade completely. That works for a letterbox, but obviously not for a parcel compartment almost half a metre deep, because 100 mm offers no parcel space.

What does this mean for a rented home, a new build, a fence, a gate or a listed building?

For most people the choice between rear and front retrieval is not made on the drawing board but in a concrete situation. Below are the eight situations we come across most often, with what is and is not settled in each.

Rented home: the term you need to know is ZAV

In the Dutch social housing sector, an alteration you make yourself is called a ZAV, a zelf aangebrachte voorziening (tenant-installed alteration). On Rijksoverheid.nl it says about changes to a rented home: "You do not have to undo changes to the home for which you had permission from the landlord. You only have to do so if a court has ruled that you must." That page cites no legal article and gives no rule for when permission is or is not required. That is exactly why you want that permission in writing before a core drill is pressed against your facade.

The legal basis for changes by the tenant is article 7:215 of the Burgerlijk Wetboek (the Dutch Civil Code). We deliberately do not quote that article here. We requested the literal text via wetten.overheid.nl and via two legislation collections, and those attempts ran aground on pagination and technical errors. We do not put an article we have not seen word for word on this page as a quotation. What you do find about it comes from law firms, tenants' organisations and housing associations, and they are not legislators. Ask your landlord about the ZAV policy, because that is the document your case will be assessed against. We also found no court ruling or ruling by the Huurcommissie (the Dutch Rent Tribunal) dealing specifically with a letterbox opening through the wall in a rented home.

New build: the only moment an opening through the wall is cheap

In a new build the opening is part of the design rather than the work of a demolition hammer. Manufacturer Bravios names the concepts of thermal break, airtight and windtight sealing and ETICS facade systems for this, in a blog about cold bridges at the letterbox in new builds. There are no figures in it, and that is the case for every source, so here you depend on your structural engineer or installer and not on a brochure. What is certain is that in a new build you are dealing with the fire resistance requirement (wbdbo) of article 4.53 Bbl, so you must include the opening in the fire safety design.

Gate, garage and pillar

Logixbox names three selection factors for built-in installation: accessibility for delivery drivers, security against theft and aesthetic integration. On gate installation, the manufacturer writes that it is "directly accessible from the public road" with a "sleek and modern design", and on wall installation that it is "very secure (fixed in brickwork)" and "perfect to integrate into a facade or boundary partition". On freestanding, the same manufacturer writes that it is "flexible to place" without "drastic installation".

A brick gatepost or a freestanding pillar is the calmest case in building physics terms, because there is no heated interior behind it. Renz's condensation warning is about walls heated from the inside, and a pillar is not. If the opening leads into a garage or a storage room, look at the door between that space and your home: that door is then the partition you make burglar-resistant, not the box.

Listed building and protected townscape

Here the rule is strictest and clearest: for listed buildings and protected townscapes or village views, the activity requires a permit under article 2.30 Bbl, unless the colour and type of material of the frame, the frame infill, the facade panel, the insulation board, the fascia or the render do not change. A new recess in a listed facade changes the design and material, so expect to submit an application. A freestanding model in the front garden is the route with the least paperwork in this situation.

Moving house

This is a gap in the public information that we do not want to skirt around: we found not a single source describing what happens to a built-in parcel letterbox with rear retrieval when you move. Nothing on movable or immovable property, nothing on accession, nothing on a restoration obligation at the end of a tenancy, and nothing on whether you can take it with you. That does not mean there is no rule, it means nobody publishes it.

What we can say with a source: with a two-part through-wall unit, the opening direction and the depth can be set during installation, with an adjustment range of 35 to 50 cm on one version and 40 to 55 cm on the other. Reuse in your next home is therefore possible as long as the new wall thickness falls within that range. With a one-piece cabinet with a fixed depth, it is a gamble. If you want certainty about taking it with you, a separate model is by definition the answer, because you unscrew it and set it up in the new garden.

Is rear retrieval safer against letterbox fishing and burglary?

This is the question that attracts the most nonsense, so first what is actually established. According to the insurer Interpolis, in an article on burglary methods of 20 September 2021, letterbox fishing (hengelen) is "a method that makes use of a letterbox or cat flap in the door. Using a piece of wire, a magnet or a coat hanger, the door handle is pulled down through such an opening." Interpolis's prevention advice is to always lock the door, not to leave keys in the lock and to fit "a special letterbox guard over the inside of your letterbox". In the same article Interpolis states that 60 percent of homes have an unsafe door lock and that such a lock can be opened within 3 minutes. Those two figures are about locks in general and not about letterboxes or letterbox fishing, so do not use them as a letterbox figure.

The key condition in that definition matters: letterbox fishing works on an opening in a door with a handle behind it. An opening through a garden wall or a brick pillar has no handle behind it. An opening into a hall with a door a short distance from the box may well have. That is the real distinction, and it is not about front retrieval versus rear retrieval but about what is behind the opening. Exactly how such an attack works and what you can do about it is covered in our article on anti-fishing protection.

What the police do and do not say about it

We went through the burglary prevention tips page on politie.nl (the Dutch police). It has tips such as "Always call 112 in a suspicious situation", "Close windows and doors properly, even if you are only away briefly. Always lock the door too", "Lock the gate properly as well and provide lighting in the garden", "Make sure there are no ladders, bins or other aids near your home" and "Do not hide house keys under a doormat or in a flower pot". What is not there is just as interesting: that page contains not a single tip about the letterbox, and the word hengelen does not appear. So the police do not name the letterbox as a priority burglary risk.

There is a separate page about letterbox fishing on politie.nl, but on 26 August 2026 it returned an error message and so cannot be quoted. That means there is no quotable police position on letterbox fishing. Nor did we find a position from an insurer or from the Verbond van Verzekeraars (the Dutch Association of Insurers) on cover or premiums for a facade recess or through-wall letterbox, or any requirements from the Politiekeurmerk Veilig Wonen (the Dutch Police Secure Housing Label) for letterboxes or openings through the wall.

What manufacturers claim, and what remains unanswered

For the Frontbox, Logixbox mentions an anti-fishing system alongside a three-point lock and numbered keys, and according to the manufacturer the material is 1 mm thick galvanised steel with Qualicoat Class 2 powder coating. Renz uses the word Entnahmetür for the back, a retrieval door, so a lockable door and not an open passage. Allux supplies the 800 series in galvanised powder-coated steel with a 5-pin Ruko cylinder, weighing 14.8 kg, with a 2-year product warranty and a 12-year rust-through warranty according to the dealer. For the NAMUR, Frabox gives a galvanised powder-coated steel housing, a brushed stainless steel drop flap, a gas spring and a 20-year warranty against rust-through.

And then the point every other page skips: there is not a single source, not from the police, not from an insurer, not from a manufacturer, that weighs rear retrieval and front retrieval against each other on burglary risk. Not quantitatively and not even qualitatively. Anyone who claims rear retrieval is safer is making an argument: on the street side there is only a flap and therefore no lock that can be forced. Anyone who claims the opposite is also making an argument: an opening through the wall creates a physical opening between outside and inside, and that is exactly the configuration the definition of letterbox fishing points to. Both arguments are reasonable. A figure to weigh them does not exist.

For context on the risk as a whole: CBS (Statistics Netherlands) reported on 4 March 2025 that the police registered about 22,000 domestic burglaries in 2024, about 500 fewer than in 2023, a fall of around 2.2 percent. How parcel theft compares with that is covered in our article on parcel theft in the Netherlands. Which lock suits which situation is explained in combination lock, key lock or smart lock.

Which BunnyBox is the answer if you do not want to saw a recess?

With a freestanding or wall-hung model, the whole question disappears. There is no wall between you and the parcel compartment, so there is no retrieval side to choose: you position the box so the door faces your side, turn your key and take out the parcel. No recess, no sleeve, no interruption of the insulation, no airtight connection someone has to design, and no condensation risk in a heated external wall. We make these boxes ourselves in our own factory, so the dimensions below do not come from a supplier's data sheet but from our own drawings.

All series are made of 0.7 mm galvanised sheet steel with Qualicoat Class 2 powder coating with zinc phosphate pretreatment, and have a door with a key lock and two keys, plus a flap on top for the delivery driver. You choose from RAL 9005 black, RAL 9010 white, RAL 7036 platinum grey and RAL 7016 anthracite, and from combinations with dark teak or light oak.

The parcel compartment of a freestanding model is almost half a metre tall. A week of orders fits inside, and that is not a slogan but something you can count: the Home and the Style take 14 book packages, the Plus 18. Every freestanding model takes four shoeboxes. Phone boxes: 9 in the Compact, 40 in the Home and the Style, 42 in the Plus. Those figures were measured the way a delivery driver does it, so with tilting. That is the difference between a box that is full after two deliveries and a box you do not need to look at until Friday.

The range: from wall-mounted model to the largest post

If an opening through the wall does not work for you, choose in this order. If you have a facade or wall you only want to hang something on, the BunnyBox Compact is the starting point: a wall-mounted model of 365 x 250 x 450 mm that takes parcels up to 300 x 200 x 200 mm. The Compact is the only series supplied pre-assembled, so nothing needs to be put together before it can go on the wall. How to hang it without leaks or a cold bridge is covered in our article on hanging a wall-mounted model.

If you want to approach the look of a built-in box in the facade without opening up the facade, the BunnyBox Style is the most attractive route: a standing post of 380 x 365 x 1000 mm with a wood-effect front and a separate letter slot, so post and parcels each take their own way in. If you order more often and bigger, the Home goes a step further with parcels up to 370 x 320 x 210 mm, and if your box is constantly full of boxes, the BunnyBox Plus is the answer: parcels up to 450 x 320 x 210 mm, 18 book packages, and post and parcels in separate compartments. A size limit is always a reason to look at a model higher up the range. Undecided between two series? Which BunnyBox suits you walks through the comparison.

The drop opening of the freestanding models falls within the 0.6 to 1.8 metre range that article 6 paragraph 2 of the Postregeling 2009 prescribes, with 1.1 metres as the guideline. So you do not need to build up, saw off or raise anything to meet that requirement. You fix a freestanding model in a front garden on paving or in concrete, just like any other box on the property boundary; how to go about that is explained in anchoring a parcel letterbox. Always someone home with a BunnyBox, even when you are at work.

What your delivery driver thinks of it

A delivery driver has two seconds to decide whether to put your parcel in. A flap on top that opens without thinking, a house number that is legible and a box that can be reached from the road: that is the whole checklist. The Postregeling also requires that accessibility in article 5 paragraphs 1 and 4, and PostNL's flyer states a maximum walking distance of ten metres. With an opening through a garden wall you are usually well within that, and with a freestanding model on the property boundary without exception. What each carrier does, and why one delivers to a parcel letterbox and another does not, is covered in may PostNL put a parcel in your parcel letterbox and in our overview of what each carrier does. If you still go for a built-in solution, the full method is in building in a parcel letterbox. You will find the rest of our explanations in the Knowledge base.

View the models

Frequently asked questions about rear retrieval and front retrieval