Mayors closing homes weekly over explosive attacks and shootings

Mayors in the Netherlands have been closing homes on a weekly basis since 2024, when they were granted more scope to temporarily block access to homes after explosive attacks, Trouw reports. Lawyers are critical of how quickly mayors lock residents out of their homes, sometimes without knowing all the facts.

Trouw collected figures from the Land Registry, where municipalities are obliged to register if they close down a home. In 2023, this happened 46 times. In 2024, there were 160 home closures, and 141 last year.

In half of the cases, the closure followed an explosion, mostly caused by dangerous fireworks. Other cases involved shootings, the discovery of a weapon, or illegal sex work.

Rotterdam had the most home closures since the amendment to the Municipalities Act in 2024, at 70. The city also faced the most explosive attacks. Amsterdam follows at a distance with 26 closures, then Almere and Amersfoort with 12, and Utrecht with nine.

Before the expansion of the Municipalities Act, mayors could only close access to homes and business premises if there were abuses inside the building. This was mainly aimed at drug labs, cannabis plantations, and illegal sex work. But shootings and explosions almost always occur outside. The expansion allowed mayors to also close buildings if there were abuses outside, but targeting the building.

But that also makes things more complicated. For instance, residents are by no means as responsible for an explosive someone else placed outside their home as they are for a cannabis plantation inside it. The explosive may have been placed due to a conflict in the drug world, but could just as easily have been placed by an angry neighbor or jilted ex.

According to Rotterdam lawyer Angelique Bhagwandin, who represents many residents in these types of closures, mayors often close down a home based on a police report alone. “And those are often completely inaccurate,” she told the newspaper. “At the moment of closing, the mayor often does not yet know what is going on.”

Michel Vols, a professor of public order law in Groningen, is also critical, partly because of the massive consequences such a closure could have. “You may be evicted from your home even though you have nothing to do with it,” Vols said. Landlords are allowed to terminate the lease if a property is temporarily closed, leaving residents on the streets.

A spokesperson for the Dutch Association of Mayors told Trouw that closing a home is always a well-considered measure. “A mayor doesn’t simply close down a property.” If there is an immediate danger, public order outweighs the resident’s itnerests, regardless of whether they played a role in the violence or not.

“Mayors have a duty of care, but are not necessarily required to offer alternative housing,” the spokesperson added. Municipalities sometimes refer residents of closed homes to homeless shelters.