Some municipalities in the Netherlands have a zero-tolerance policy, meaning no licenses for brothels will be granted or renewed. If a town council were to grant (or renew) a license to a brothel in a residential area, they would have to publish this plan in the local newspaper. Non-licensed brothels in residential apartments can operate under the radar for many years, and some even do so without getting noticed by their neighbours, but as soon as a license application procedure for a brothel becomes public, the town council will start to receive waves of complaints, threats from voters, or even financial claims from people (or their lawyers) who fear that the value of their house will go down, because of a brothel next door. Under this same pressure many companies in the Netherlands are afraid to be associated with prostitution, so sex workers often are refused for bank accounts and insurance.