The Council of State sees no urgent reasons to evict a mother and her three children from her home in Steenbergen within a year and to force her to get rid of three of her seven horses before August 2026.
It seems to the highest administrative judge in this country that a neighbor who initiated the case can still suffer so much from seven horses, according to an emergency ruling. The municipality of Noordenveld slapped the single mother with a penalty of up to 21,000 euros.
The municipality wanted to force the Steenberg woman to remove a horse fence before the end of the year, to get rid of three of her seven horses and to pack up and leave the house before the beginning of August next year.
The reason is that the municipality does not want the woman and her children to continue living in a company home, while she does not (yet) have a business there. And the three horses have to go because the municipality allows a maximum of four horses for the hobby.
The Council of State finds the municipality’s enforcement action a bit too strict. The neighbor sounded the alarm at the municipality because he was allegedly experiencing a lot of inconvenience from the horse company of the woman’s ex who has since left. That horse company is no longer there and the Council strongly believes that the neighbor could have so much trouble with seven horses.
Furthermore, the highest administrative court agrees with the mother that she needs more time to find a solution. At the beginning of this month during the trial, her lawyer made it clear that she would like to continue living there with her children and hobby horses. But first she has to figure out which company the municipality wants to allow there. A large horse boarding house, or breeding farm in any case. But what?
The municipal spokesperson did not want or could not say this during the previous lawsuit. In short, the single mother must be given time to find a solution. She should be able to live in her house with her children and seven horses for that long. The substantive case will follow later next year, when the Council of State will finally make a decision on the matter.