The court is not pleased with a WOZ objection agency that helped a resident of Diemen. “A different course of action may and must be expected from a professional legal assistance agency.”
The municipality of Diemen determined the WOZ value of the resident’s home at 311,000 euros. The resident thought that amount (and the tax she had to pay as a result) was too high and therefore called in the relevant WOZ objection office. That agency would then receive the costs of the proceedings.
Bad state
According to the court, five previous cases show that the agency always works in the same way. The agency informs municipalities on behalf of the clients that the homes are (partly) in poor condition. If the municipality asks during the objection phase to substantiate this with photos, there is no response, which means that an appeal phase follows. In that phase, the agency still shows photos and the WOZ value is usually adjusted.
That happened in this case too. The WOZ value went to 297,000 euros. In the verdict the court writes that there is unnecessary litigation, ‘apparently for the benefit of the agency, with a view to obtaining legal costs on appeal’. “The present case – in which photos were still submitted during the appeal phase and in which the parties quickly agreed on the WOZ value on the basis of this – testifies to this procedure and has therefore unnecessarily provoked an appeal phase.”
No money
The court charges the behavior of the office to the resident. This is because it concerns ‘unreasonable use of procedural law’. Still, it doesn’t cost her any money. The municipality of Diemen indicated that it had paid 837 euros in legal costs, but according to the court, the substantiation of that amount does not meet the conditions.
This is because it may only concern ‘own costs’, such as travel costs or engaging an external legal assistance provider. That would not be the case here. The municipality of Diemen has to pay 720 euros in legal costs to the resident for the objection phase, the phase that came before the appeal phase.
Call
Earlier this year, municipalities called on residents not to use commercial payment agencies to hire more. This costs municipalities hundreds to thousands of euros. If residents object without engaging the external agencies, the municipality does not have to pay any legal costs. In March, the message that the government is working also arrived measures against these offices.
2023-07-30 20:42:45
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