AMERSFOORT, 27/04/07 - Building projects underway may be halted due to a planned legislative change. Home-owners association Eigen Huis (VEH) has warned of the risk in a letter to parliament.

Under the amended legislation proposal, the housing ministry can blow the whistle on building projects if municipal civil servants are found to have made mistakes in the assessment. "The new law can cause great problems for home-buyers and renovators, and also for contractors," VEH lawyer Steven Wayenberg said yesterday in newspaper De Telegraaf.

Currently, there is no way back for the municipality after all terms for lodging objections have ended and the building licence has been awarded. Under the legislative amendment, to be debated in parliament shortly, "you yourself, if you are already building or renovating, will have to immediately halt the work if civil servants discover a mistake afterwards, after the approval of a building application," according to Wayenberg.