Michel Van den Brande, scaffolding builder, decided to leave the town of Blankenberge where he had invested in real estate and in the famous Pand18 café. The man says, in a long message published on Facebook, having bought a house to renovate it, but having to pay a tax on vacant housing: “I have to pay a bill of 17,500 euros! “.
Michel Van de Brande therefore decided to leave the town and sell all his possessions: a house, an apartment and his famous café. “Blankenberge stabbed me in the back,” he wrote. “Because the previous owners of the house failed to fulfill their obligations and left it to rot for years. I received two invoices, one for 10,000 euros, the other for 7,500”.
The business manager denounces “political games”: “The Open Vld is doing everything in Blankenberge to undo the decisions of the previous College”, he says. “It is therefore with great pain in my heart that I am selling my restaurant, the house and my loft by the sea”.