What is a penalty payment if the government doesn't decide on time?

The short answer

When a government agency is late in making a decision on your application, you can send a notice of default. The government then has another 2 weeks to make a decision. If that doesn't work, the government has to pay a penalty payment of €23 per day. This penalty payment continues to run until a decision is made, with a maximum of €1,442 per application. The money is automatically paid out to you.

What does the law say?

The regulation for penalty payments is laid down in the General Administrative Law Act (Awb). This law obliges government agencies to decide on citizens' applications within certain deadlines. If they exceed these deadlines and you send a notice of default, the right to a penalty payment arises automatically. The amount and maximum of the penalty payment are legally established to prevent arbitrariness.

What should you pay attention to?

You must first send a written notice of default before you have the right to a penalty payment. In this letter, you indicate that the decision-making deadline has been exceeded and you give the government another 2 weeks to decide. Be sure to check which deadlines apply to your type of application, as these can vary per procedure.

Example from practice

Suppose you apply for a building permit with the municipality, which must decide within 8 weeks. After 10 weeks there is still no decision, so you send a notice of default. The municipality gets another 2 weeks, but only decides after 16 weeks in total. You then have the right to a penalty payment for 4 weeks (16 minus 8 minus 2 respite minus 2 notice of default), that is 28 days × €23 = €644 that the municipality must pay you.

What can you do?

Start by checking whether the statutory decision-making deadline has actually been exceeded. Then send a formal notice of default to the relevant government agency. If there is still no decision after the additional 2 weeks, you can claim the penalty payment.