Joost van der Steen, leader of the VVD in Sint-Michielsgestel, is being tackled again by the municipality of Den Bosch because of illegal room rental in one of his buildings. The house was even listed for vacation rental on Airbnb. Last year, the municipality also threatened with a penalty. “The situation would have ended, but that turned out not to be the case,” the municipality now says. Van der Steen contradicts this.
In addition to being party leader for the VVD, Joost van der Steen is also the owner of eleven buildings in Bergen op Zoom, Breda and Tilburg, among others. He also owns homes outside our province: in Schiedam, Tholen and Utrecht. He himself lives in Sint-Michielsgestel.
25.000 euro
One of his buildings is a house on the Orthenseweg in Den Bosch. In July 2022, the municipality threatened to impose a penalty of up to 25,000 euros on the politician for illegal room rental at this address, according to a letter in the hands of Omroep Brabant.
Single room rental at this address is not permitted, the house may only be rented to one tenant or, for example, a family. Van der Steen said at the time that he did not know that: “I was very shocked by that letter and immediately put it in order. The room rental has stopped. I am really disappointed,” he said.
Listed on Airbnb
The council thought that was the end of it. “We assumed that the situation had been resolved. There was previous contact with the offender and he indicated that he would end the illegal room rental,” a spokesperson told Omroep Brabant.
Nevertheless, they are now going to take action against Van der Steen again. He would again illegally rent out rooms, and have also offered the house for holiday rental. “The situation would have ended, but that turned out not to be the case. We will continue enforcement because the property was also offered on Airbnb.”
Police
Omroep Brabant spoke to several local residents who indicate that the police raided the building at the end of last month. Both the police and the municipality cannot confirm this.
The VVD member himself is short and concise in his response to the current situation. “Unfortunately, this is not correct. I will not comment further on this,” he said after questions from Omroep Brabant. He did not respond to follow-up questions about the possible police raid.
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2023-07-24 15:11:47
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