Ruud and Tiny van Laarhoven are furious. They have asked 911 questions to the municipality of Baarle-Nassau, but have not received any answers despite a court ruling. The municipality believes that the couple is abusing the Open Government Act (Woo). But the couple only wants to show that the municipality uses arbitrariness when allowing permanent residence in a holiday park.
The municipality wants Ruud and Tiny to move to another address before June 2. “But we don’t intend to. We will continue to live here and we want to be treated the same as everyone else who just lives here.”
“Dozens of houses are permanently inhabited here.”
In 2006, the couple bought a house at Parc de Kievit in Baarle-Nassau. They then lived in Hulst in Zeeland and celebrated their holidays at the holiday park on the border with Belgium. But due to the corona crisis, Ruud suddenly had a lot less work as a legal adviser and therefore earned less.
The couple decided to sell their house in Hulst and move to Baarle-Nassau permanently. But then the problems started, says Tiny. “So we registered with the municipality, but four days later we received a letter that we have to leave here.” And that letter was completely wrong. “Dozens of houses are permanently inhabited here. We want to prove that and that is why we have asked the municipality for information.”
“The municipality says we are not getting any answers.”
When the municipality did not respond, Ruud started submitting so-called Woo requests. Woo stands for Open Government Act. Anyone can submit such a request for information to a government agency. The municipality is then obliged to respond within a certain period.
In the end, Ruud and Tiny ask 911 questions in three years. Questions about specific houses on the holiday park, such as agreements between owners and the municipality. Within four weeks, the municipality was supposed to answer it, but the answers did not come. Ruud went to court, who ruled that the questions were relevant and that the municipality simply had to answer.
200 answers per four weeks, was the court’s ruling. “But the municipality now says that we are abusing the scheme with our questions and that we are not getting any answers. Then back to court”, Ruud sighs. “And if the municipality thinks we’re a nuisance, they should treat us the same as everyone else who lives here. Then we withdraw all our requests.”
“The municipality should not think that they can get us out of here.”
Ruud and Tiny therefore want to demonstrate that there is arbitrariness in the policy of the municipality. According to them, hundreds of people live permanently at the De Kievit and L’air Pur holiday parks. The municipality denies this in court and says it always intervenes.
Nevertheless, Ruud and Tiny received a letter from the municipality this Wednesday. This shows that 151 homes in the two parks are permanently inhabited ‘with the approval of the municipality’ and that people are registered in 231 places.
“We don’t want to rip others off.”
“They allow permanent residence. We now have that in black and white,” says Ruud while showing the letter. It is a letter from the municipality, with the official’s signature. It states how many people are registered at the holiday parks and how often that situation is tolerated.
“We don’t want to cheat others,” says Tiny. “We want to prove that the municipality is not acting correctly. The council shouldn’t think they can get us out of here. Then we will rent a cheap apartment somewhere as a postal address. Then, in this tight housing market, we will take a home from someone else.”
On June 2, the couple should have a different home address, but an appeal is still pending at the Council of State. “We want to prove arbitrariness there, but that is not possible now because the municipality does not answer our questions.”
Omroep Brabant has asked the municipality of Baarle-Nassau for a response, but has not yet responded.
