Construction company HoutenHûs from Kollum has been declared bankrupt. The company is involved in the construction of almost twenty houses and four starter homes on the Lievingerveld near Beilen. It is still unclear what the bankruptcy means for existing customers.
HoutenHûs has been in conflict for several months with the municipality of Midden-Drenthe, the land owner of the plots on which the four starter homes are to be placed. Due to the financial problems of the construction company, the municipality wanted a guarantee to protect the buyers. HoutenHûs could not provide that.
In a lawsuit filed in November, the municipality of Midden-Drenthe was proven right, but also reprimanded. For example, the municipality did not keep agreements made and was aware of the problems at HoutenHûs from the start.
Because the Frisian construction company had not sufficiently demonstrated why it could not comply with the municipality’s demands, the judge ruled against HoutenHûs.
Some residents of the Lievingerveld came up with a plan with HoutenHûs to realize four starter homes. The contractor still had four shell houses at his company in Kollum. These were left over from an earlier project that did not go ahead. By selling those homes to interested parties, HoutenHûs once again had money to make investments.
The initiators contacted the landowner, the municipality. He was enthusiastic and cooperated. The municipality would sell the land to the starters and the contractor concluded the purchase agreements for the houses. The municipality did not decide to sell the land because it received signals that the houses could not be completed due to a lack of money from the contractor.
Han Schotanus from HoutenHûs responds that he himself filed for bankruptcy at the beginning of the month to prevent greater damage. “I no longer see any point in taking on new projects and I don’t want to burden my staff with any further problems,” he says. The company employed nine people who were laid off.
According to the contractor, approximately four households on the Lievingerveld may have financial consequences. His curators need to map this out further.
The contractor does indicate that it will continue with substantive proceedings against the municipality of Midden-Drenthe due to ‘unlawful actions by the municipality’. According to Schotanus, this can be done through his insurance.