“Act normal!”: 112,000 euros in neglect tax for parental farm

According to the city, the man has done nothing to get the file in order for 7 years. It leaves the door open for a fair settlement.

“Act normal!”

Anthony Deketelaere from Ostend shows us the city tax bill that arrived in his mailbox last week. The culprit is the remains of the parental farm in his backyard. They have been on a list of neglected properties for seven years, and the city levies taxes on them.

“I can’t believe something like this is possible,” says Anthony. “Be normal. The basic amount is 4,500 euros and that is times a factor of 25, why not times a factor of 50 or 100. But they just say: Anthony, give the keys to the property.”

Amount keeps increasing

After three years of tolerance, Ostend has been levying taxes on the vacant farm for four years. Retrospective and the amounts are increasing.

Alderman for Housing in Ostend Kurt Claeys: “It is a large amount. But the objective is not to pay for the city, but to encourage people to fix the problem. Make sure that neglect and vacancy is gone. If you If you do nothing, you end up in a situation where it continues to rise. He then comes up with an action plan and solves it. He also applies for a permit because ultimately these are works that require an environmental permit.”

“Better to subsidize than to fine”

Anthony paid the city of Ostend a total of around 50,000 euros for what remains of the farm that his grandparents purchased in the 1930s.

Anthony: “For them it’s simple: either you fix it within three years or we throw it away or. My father was born there, my grandparents still lived there. My father was born there… for me that’s not a pile of bricks .

So many beautiful buildings are being demolished in Ostend. It’s funny, in fact they should give subsidies to keep something like that in honor instead of fining.”

Alderman Kurt Claeys: “I think if we receive a file with sufficient arguments and a plan of action that says what he is going to do, we should discuss it. Is that a guarantee that a solution will be found? No, I can do that. Do not say.”

Anthony is not the only one who received a sky-high tax bill. Ostend has sent out about twenty.