Courts regularly reverse Noord-Brabant mayors' home closures after drug busts

Courts regularly reverse Noord-Brabant mayors’ decisions to close a building after the discovery of drugs or cannabis farms. According to the courts, mayors don’t always consider the consequences of closure - for example, do children live in the closed home? - or explain well enough why the building had to close, Omroep Brabant reports.

The broadcaster examined court rulings on 67 home closures in the province after February 2022 - when the Council of State set stricter requirements for closing a building. The municipality lost 18 of those rulings, so about a quarter of the cases. Professor Michel Vols, who studies case law concerning public order, called that concerning. “You see that mayors do not fully understand the requirements they must meet to close drug premises. Families really suffer from this and end up on the street due to government mistakes,” he told Omroep Brabant.

Eight times, the courts ruled that the mayors did not take sufficient account of the personal circumstances of the people who lost their homes to closure. This included medical circumstances or the fact that children lived in the home. The rulings mention how challenging it is to find alternative housing. Evictees also raised concerns about being put on a blacklist, which would make it even more difficult for them to find a new home.

In another eight of the lost cases, the court ruled that the municipality did not sufficiently prove that closing the building was necessary to maintain public order. The mayor had not provided enough evidence of nuisance from the building or that residents were dealing drugs. Three times, the judge found that the city closed a premises for longer than necessary to restore public order.

“Sources from the investigative world” told Omorep Brabant that some mayors regularly close homes after drug busts even if they know that the closure will not hold up in court. The mayors want to show that they are taking tough action against drug crime and, therefore, pay less attention to the circumstances of those involved. The sources would not say which municipalities are involved.

Sebastiaan van ‘t Erve said on behalf of the national Association of Mayors that Omroep Brabant’s figures shocked him. “It is a far-reaching decision to close a home. Then, we affect people’s fundamental rights. If we do that, it must be done very thoroughly. These figures show that we need to do better.”