Notice from the municipality
What is a notice from the municipality?
The municipality ensures that everyone complies with the rules. Just like the police.
If you violate legal regulations, the municipality will send you a letter requesting that you rectify the violation. This is called a formal notice.
The municipality monitors the following violations:
- building without an environmental permit
- use of land and buildings in violation of the rules of the environmental plan
- illegal keeping of animals
- disposing of household waste incorrectly
How does it work?
If you do nothing, the municipality will take care of it for you. You will then be responsible for the costs. This is called administrative coercion. The municipality may also impose a penalty payment on you. This means that you will have to pay if you do not remedy the violation in time.
What should I do?
If you violate a legal regulation, you will receive a letter from the municipality. In this letter, they will ask you to rectify the violation (a preliminary notice). If you disagree with this, you must explain why you disagree. This is called a statement of opinion. You must send this statement of opinion to the municipality.
You will then receive a final decision from the municipality. In this decision, the municipality will again ask you to rectify the violation. This is called a final enforcement decision. If you disagree with this decision, you can lodge an objection with the municipality within six weeks. You must, however, rectify the violation first.
Avoiding administrative coercion or penalty payments
- You can ask the court for a preliminary ruling. You can only do this if you have lodged an objection.
- You can request a postponement. The municipality will then only take action after it has decided on your objection.
Violation by someone else
If you want the municipality to take action against a violation committed by someone else, you must report this to the municipality (this is called a request for enforcement). You can ask the municipality to send this person a warning letter immediately.