Penalty payments for failure to make timely decisions

What is it?

A penalty for failure to decide on time is a fine that the municipality may have to pay you. The municipality may be required to pay this fine if it fails to decide on your application or appeal on time.

What to do?

If the municipality does not make a decision on your application or objection by the deadline, you must notify the municipality yourself that the statutory decision period has expired. You can do this by filling out the “Penalty Payment: Notice of Default” form at .

You are not entitled to a penalty payment if:

• You send the notice of default before the decision period has expired.
• You do not notify the municipality that the decision period has expired.
• You are not directly involved in the application on which the municipality is making a decision.
• Your application is incomplete.

How long does it take?

After receiving your notice of default, the municipality has another 2 weeks to make a decision.

If the municipality does not make a decision within these two weeks, it must pay you a penalty. The amount of the penalty depends on the length of the delay.

Additional information

You can also compel the municipality to make a decision. To do so, you can file an appeal at if the municipality has not yet made a decision two weeks after you submitted the notice of default.