If you have submitted an application or a notice of objection and the decision-making period has expired without you having received a decision, you are entitled to a penalty payment. This is a sum of money. Before you are entitled to a penalty payment, you must serve a notice of default on the local authority. You can do this using the online form or by post.
Online form
You can serve notice on the local authority via the button above, which takes you to the online form. In this form, we ask you to provide the following information:
- Date of application/objection
- Application/objection reference number
- Additional information, such as the department/team/official handling the case
- Your account number (optional)
- A copy of your application (not compulsory)
Post
You can also write to the local authority to request a penalty payment and serve a notice of default.
Municipality of Apeldoorn
Attn: Legal Affairs Department
PO Box 9033
7300 ES Apeldoorn
Your notice of default must include at least the following:
- your name, address and phone number;
- which application or appeal is concerned, including the case number;
- that the local authority is taking too long to reach a decision;
- that you are seeking a penalty payment.
Upon receipt
Once it has been received, the local authority has two weeks in which to make a decision.
If no decision has been taken within those two weeks, the law provides for two consequences:
The penalty payment begins to accrue automatically
- If you have served notice of default on the local authority and no decision has been taken within two weeks of that date, you are entitled to a penalty payment for each day that the local authority is late. For the first fourteen days, the penalty payment is €23 per day; for the following fourteen days, €35 per day; and for the final fourteen days, €45 per day. The penalty payment applies for a maximum of 42 days and amounts to a maximum of €1,442.
- You can lodge an appeal straight away. If you have served a notice of default on the authorities and no decision has been taken two weeks later, you can lodge an appeal with the court straight away. You do not, therefore, need to first lodge an objection to the lack of a decision. If the court rules that the appeal is well-founded, the government is obliged to make a decision within two weeks.
Once the process is complete, you will receive a decision regarding the notice of default.
If the local authority fails to reach a decision in good time, it exceeds the decision-making deadline. The decision-making deadline is usually specified in the law. If not, a ‘reasonable’ period applies. What constitutes a reasonable period depends on the decision in question. The basic principle is: no longer than is necessary to reach a sound decision. In general, a period of 8 weeks is considered reasonable.
Extension of the decision-making period
It is in everyone’s interest that the local authority makes a well-considered decision on your application or appeal. For this reason, the local authority may extend this decision-making period once. The new decision-making period will be stated immediately. In certain cases, the local authority may postpone the decision even further. For example, if the local authority has to wait for additional information from you or a foreign authority, if you agree in writing to an extension of the decision period, or if the delay is attributable to you. In these cases, the reasonable or statutory decision-making period will be extended for as long as necessary.
Please feel free to contact Please contact Apeldoorn Council if you have any further questions.
As an applicant, you want the local authority to reach a decision quickly on your grant application, planning permission or appeal. That is why the Act on Penalty Payments and Appeals in the Event of Delayed Decisions came into force on 1 October 2009. If the local authority fails to decide on your application in good time, this Act provides you with options to urge the local authority to make a decision on your application or objection after all.