Enschede tax officials will stop asking home owners to send them photographs of the interior of their property so that they can make more accurate assessments of the value, RTV Oost said on Friday.

Dozens of people in Enschede had been asked to send in the photos as part of a trial to improve the property valuation process.

But both home owners and local politicians objected to the request, saying it was a breach of privacy. In addition, they said, it was unclear who would have access to the photos.

Officials said they wanted to improve property valuations to make sure the council did not get saddled with extra costs if home owners made a formal protest about the value assigned to their home.

The official WOZ value is used to determine how much home owners pay in both local council charges and asset tax.

Phones

Last April, the Dutch privacy watchdog fined Enschede council for tracking residents using their mobile phones to keep an eye on how busy parts of the city centre are.

In total, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens fined the council €600,000 for using wifi tracking which could be traced back to individuals. This, the watchdog said, put the council in serious violation of European privacy laws.