The municipality of Baarle-Nassau will tackle illegal living in holiday homes. According to the municipality, about 120 holiday homes are permanently inhabited and that is not allowed. So Stephano van de Wiel, among others, has to leave his house and he thinks that’s nonsense: “It’s too crazy for words. People have lived here for forty years. So you can just live here.”
The municipality regularly carries out checks to assess whether people live permanently at a holiday park. Officials regularly drive across the park and also check how much gas, water and light is used, for example. Based on all the collected data, the municipality concludes whether someone lives there permanently and then a writ of execution follows.
One of those residents is Stephano. He now has a penalty of 20,000 euros on his pants and feels like a victim of the municipality. He is involved in a fierce legal battle. “Enforcement for the sake of maintaining”, he calls it. “There is no logic whatsoever.”
Stephano has been living at Parc de Kievit for sixteen years. “I had bought the house to live temporarily. But due to the housing shortage and my financial situation, I couldn’t find anything else.”
“I live here like God in France.”
He shows us around his grounds and walks into his garden: “I’m decorating my outside room.” He points to a canopy with luxurious garden chairs and a beautiful large lamp in the shape of deer antlers. “I think it’s formidable here, like God in France,” he laughs. But the action of the municipality spoils his fun.
In Baarle-Nassau there are two holiday parks where many people live permanently: Parc de Kievit and l’Air Pur. The municipality is taking action because they want to keep the holiday parks ‘vital’.
Owners Rob van der Vlist and Wim van Laarhoven of Parc de Kievit support the action of the municipality. What makes it complicated for them is that they own the park, but not the houses in question. They have no influence on how much time residents spend there. According to them, the municipality wants to prevent abuses such as at the former campsite Fort Oranje in Rijsbergen.
Stephano: “My heart and soul are in the holiday business. We do not want to become Fort Oranje. What do you get on your property if you fully allow permanent residence? The municipality has to arrange it. If people are not allowed to live in the houses permanently, they must ensure that this does not happen. I always say: ‘If I had wanted permanent residence, I would have become mayor of Baarle-Nassau’.”
“I will continue to fight against the injustice that is being done to me.”
But Stephano feels like a victim of arbitrariness. According to him, there are many more permanent residents than the 120 the municipality is talking about. He estimates that there are 2000: “Seventy to eighty percent of the people live here permanently.”
He says he has nowhere else to go: “Not even the homeless shelter. I have a roof over my head, they say. That is why I continue to fight against the injustice that is done to me.”