Residents in Rotterdam’s Provinierswijk were in for a big disappointment when the renovations of the iconic Ungerpleinflat were complete.
Instead of 49 new affordable apartments, the building is now offering 6-month contracts to expats — and for a hefty price.
Finding loopholes
The Ungerpleinflat was renovated by the developer Leyten, who has transformed the once tallest residential building in the Netherlands into a sort of hotel.
The building is now complete with 49 fully furnished apartments meant for expats, costing anywhere between €1400 and €2800 per month. Utilities cost another €350 on top of that.
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But don’t worry, you don’t have to pay that kind of money for long — the apartments are available for a maximum stay of six months.
Sounds impossible, right? After all, the new housing law from 2024 states that all new housing contracts must be for an unlimited amount of time.
Well, yes, but there are loopholes.
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As Alderman Chantal Zeegers explains to OPEN Rotterdam, temporary contracts can be offered to ’emergency seekers’, meaning people who desperately need to find some sort of housing. The same goes for students.
‘Making money, making money, making money’
Considering the prices of the apartments and the fact that the rental company, Verra Makelaars, specialises in expat housing, it doesn’t appear like the new tenants are people in desperate situations.
A Provinierswijk resident, Marjan, says she understands that everyone needs to stay somewhere but that expats aren’t involved in the community, negatively impacting the neighbourhood’s social cohesion.
Another resident sees the motives of the developer clearly: ”Making money, making money, making money.”
The question of feasability
Leyten claims that making the Ungerpleinflat into expensive short-stay apartments is an attempt to make the expensive renovation of a building with monument status feasible.
Provinierswijk resident Arie understands that, but sees this as the perfect example of when the government should step in and regulate housing better.
“Not just anyone with a bit of money and some guts can go and start building,” thinks Arie — and his fellow residents agree.
What do you think about more buildings becoming luxury short-stays for expats? Share your thoughts in the comments.
