In the front yard of a house in the Tiendeschuurveld in Sint-Stevens-Woluwe there has been an improbably large dump for months. The owner disappeared quickly and a contractor who was not paid retaliated by systematically throwing all his construction waste there.
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Dimitri Berlanger
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Anyone passing through Sint-Stevens-Woluwe, a sub-municipality of Zaventem, should rub their eyes: in one of the front gardens an unbelievably large pile of rubbish has been thrown together. This mainly concerns all kinds of construction waste, but also, for example, seats and other junk.
The neighbor tries to keep calm. “Those people bought the house, they started working and then left it like this,” he responds. “It has been here since July last year and nothing has moved since. The mayor has come to see. I wait to see what they will do. There will be legal proceedings with the insurers in any case, but I have no further news yet.”
Mayor Ingrid Holemans (Open Vld) is indeed aware. “I happen to walk by there sometimes,” she responds. “That neighbor approached me and told the story. Apparently the owner of that property has moved to Africa. So there’s not much we can do about that. But we still found addresses in Brussels of what may be co-owners. I have ordered that they be contacted because they will then be responsible.”
Complicated Case
Where exactly the landfill in the front yard comes from is remarkable to say the least. “The owner had work carried out by a contractor and did not pay the invoice. The contractor then sought revenge. Since he was not paid, he decided to save money in another way,” explains Holemans.
The municipality is going to clean up the landfill, but wants to recover the costs from someone. — © DBG
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“His construction waste from other sites, which he normally disposes of somewhere for a fee, has therefore been systematically dumped in that garden. As a result, that hope has grown into what it is today. So it is a very complicated matter. Both the contractor and the owner of the property are involved. One is not allowed to deposit there and earns a fine, and the owner is responsible for maintaining his property, but it is gone.”
in court
That also explains why things have been dragging on since July. “In the beginning you can say that it will be cleaned up. But that just kept growing. It is indeed disgusting how it is. It is true that we can remove that, but we prefer to find someone who pays for it. So we will eventually clean that up, but we will first try to find the people involved. We do have some data, but it won’t be obvious. Ultimately, this may be confiscated in court.”
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