Johan and Antoinette Helfensteijn of Landsmeer have been in a four-year dispute with their neighbours and the municipality over an extension built next to their home. They say the structure became higher and wider than the submitted plans and crossed the property boundary, leaving their house no longer freestanding. Emails from Cocensus reportedly put the home’s value €136,000 lower, citing fungal damage and the changed layout.

A court ruled two weeks before the report that the municipal executive had not properly investigated how the extension differed from the original plans and whether it complied with the rules. After a meeting with Mayor Léon de Lange on Wednesday, the couple said the municipality had promised to carry out the investigation quickly. They therefore decided to end their Friday demonstrations at a shopping centre in Landsmeer for the time being. The neighbours could not be reached for comment.