Closing the building should be easier: mayors get more powers | Politics

If this is adopted, mayors can take action if, for example, hand grenades are hung on a doorknob or if liquidations are imminent. This is an amendment to the Municipal Act.

Mayors can now only close houses if public order is disturbed or if there is serious housing nuisance. These powers are now often insufficient. As an example, the ministry mentions the incident in Nieuwstadt, in which explosives were thrown at a home of a motorcycle gang member. The house could not be closed because that is only possible if it concerns various types of nuisance, which occur often and for a long time in a house.

Also in Eindhoven, the mayor was called back by the court, when the mayor had acted after shots were fired in broad daylight in the yard of a house between members of a motorcycle gang and local residents. Although the court spoke of an outright wild west scene, the mayor should not have closed the house under the Municipalities Act, according to the explanatory notes to the bill.

In cases like this, mayors can now only resort to an emergency order, but they – and Yeşilgöz – want to get rid of that. “To increase the safety of local residents, it is crucial that mayors have the right tools to take action. At the moment, that is not always possible,” says the minister.

Once the law comes into effect, mayors will also be allowed to close homes if public order around the home has been disrupted by serious violence or threats thereof, and even if it is feared. In addition, homes may be closed if a weapon is found and the public order around the home threatens to be disrupted as a result. The extended closing rules will also apply to buildings and the associated yards that are not accessible to the public.

The bill also applies to the Lieutenant Governors of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba. Both Houses have yet to consider the bill.