Law on Penalty Payments and Appeals in the Event of a Delayed Decision
The Act on Penalty Payments and Appeals for Delayed Decisions applies to all applications and appeals filed with the municipality. When you file an appeal with the municipality or submit an application for, for example, a permit or a subsidy, the municipality must make a decision within the statutory decision-making period.
If the municipality is unable to make a decision on your application or appeal within the statutory decision period, you can compel the municipality to make a decision by sending it a letter (a notice of default).
If the municipality does not make a decision on your application or appeal within two weeks of receiving the notice of default, you will receive a daily payment. This is called a penalty payment. In addition, you can file an appeal with the court against the municipality’s failure to decide on your application or appeal in a timely manner.
Even if the municipality is late in deciding on your request under the Open Government Act (Woo), you may sometimes be awarded a penalty payment. In that case, you must first issue a notice of default to the municipality. If the municipality still fails to decide on your Woo request within 2 weeks, you can file a lawsuit with the court for failure to decide in a timely manner. The judge will then determine whether the municipality must pay you a penalty payment.
More information
The Penalty Payment Act applies to all applications and objections, except in the case of a complaint procedure and when the municipality is acting under private law, such as in the purchase and sale of land. If you are unsure whether your application falls under the Penalty Payment Act, you can always contact the Legal Affairs Unit.
There is usually an eight-week decision period for an application. Sometimes this may vary. If the municipality did not specify in the acknowledgment of receipt how many weeks it will take to receive a decision, you can contact the department listed in the acknowledgment of receipt.
We may extend the decision period for your application or appeal once. If we extend the period, we will immediately specify the new decision period.
In some situations, we can postpone (suspend) the decision even further. The decision-making process may take longer:
- if we still need more information from you;
- if we still need information from others outside the municipality;
- if you agree to the deferral;
- in the event of force majeure.
The deadline will not resume until the force majeure situation has been resolved, or until we have received your information or the information from others. We will notify you of this, and we will specify when the decision period expires.
If the statutory decision deadline is not met, you can send us a letter stating that you are giving the municipality notice of default (notice of default form). Once we have received this letter, we have an additional two weeks to make a decision. After that, we will owe you a penalty for each day we are late, up to a maximum of €1,442.
Once the application process is complete, we will determine the amount we owe you, possibly after offsetting any applicable administrative fees. You will receive a decision regarding this.
The penalty payment is a means of ensuring that the municipality makes a decision on time. This is most effective if you raise the issue in a timely manner. You can request the penalty payment up to six weeks after the decision deadline has passed.
You can also file an appeal directly with the Breda District Court if the municipality takes too long to decide on your application or objection. You will, however, be required to pay court fees.
In the case of a direct appeal, the procedure is as follows:
- You sent the municipality a so-called notice of default. The municipality acknowledged receipt and was given another 14 days to make a decision;
- Once this 14-day period has expired, you may file an appeal with the court. This proceeding can be pursued at the same time as the proceeding you are pursuing with the municipality.
The judge will determine whether you were justified in filing an appeal and, in most cases, will resolve the matter without requiring you to present your case orally. The judge’s ruling includes an order requiring the municipality to make a decision within a specified time frame. The court attaches to its ruling a further penalty for each day that the municipality fails to comply with the ruling.
If you have any questions about the “penalty for failure to decide in a timely manner,” please contact the Legal Affairs cluster through our Contact page.