Guido, a penniless student, could hardly believe his luck when offered lodging in the heart of Amsterdam at a fraction of the going rate as property owners desperately fend off squatters. He smiled upon arriving recently, key in hand, at his new, temporary address: a piece of prime property with vast, empty rooms soon to become a luxury hotel a stone's throw from the world-renowned Van Gogh museum.
"Until now, I've had to go home to my parents in The Hague (a 50-minute train ride) every day, or sleep on a friend's couch," the 20-year-old sport science student told AFP. But that changed with a call earlier from Anti-Kraak BV, a company that puts tenants in empty buildings at 24 hours notice.
In a country where squatting is allowed if a building has been empty for more than a year, it is one of about 30 firms offering anti-squatting services and doing brisk trade as slumping property sales leave many buildings at risk. Guido will pay 250 euros (350 dollars) a month, at least half the going rate, for a bedroom of some 40 square metres (430 square feet) and his own small living room in an apartment where he shares a kitchen and bathroom with two other students.
Their new home has majestic wooden staircases, decorative mouldings and marble walls. But the carpets in the bedrooms are torn, some windows cracked and the shower has no head. "I don't know how long I will be living here, so that's really nothing," said Guido. "It is just incredible that I can live in the city centre for 250 euros!"
The law that tolerates squatting is being revised at the insistence of three political parties, including the majority Christian Democrats of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende. In the meantime, companies like Anti-Kraak BV have identified a niche. "We offer owners numerous advantages: by putting in occupants we discourage squatting and vandalism," said Joost Koenders, director of Anti-Kraak, which manages nearly 400 addresses in Amsterdam.
Owners, who don't pay for the service, "can claim back their property at any time," said Koenders. Occupants are given two weeks to move out. Anti-Kraak, which employs about 20 people countrywide, earns money from the monthly payments of occupants - mainly students, but also artists looking for studios. No rental agreements are signed, but rather a "utilisation contract".
"Whatever the economic situation, there is always unoccupied real estate," said Koenders. "With the economic crisis, the quality of the buildings we have under management is a lot better." To date, Anti-Kraak has managed mainly empty offices, buildings threatened with demolition or industrial wasteland. "Now, many private home owners battling to sell their properties are also coming to us," said Koenders.
The Dutch statistics agency CBS reported last month that just over 10,000 homes had been sold in April 2009, nearly half the figure of a year earlier. Prices were 2.2 percent lower on average. Thus the owner of a four-room apartment, on the market for more than a year at 265,000 euros, called in the services of Anti-Kraak after other homes in the same street of a popular Amsterdam neighbourhood were invaded by squatters.
"I was desperate. I could find only small rooms at 500 euros a month, and then suddenly I found myself living in 80 square metres," enthused Marleen Tijs, a marketing student. The "for sale" sign stays up, and the owner can visit at any time. "I hope that he doesn't find a buyer immediately because then I will have to move everything," said Tijs.