"You shouldn't reward illegal landlords"

An interview with municipal councillor Ahmet Kargin

Leiden and students often go hand in hand, but not when it comes to student housing and squatting. The Leiden city council will discuss the so-called 'Package of Housing Market Regulation Measures' in December. Part of this is the college's decision to start closing illegally boarded-up student houses. This refers to houses that have been converted from family homes to student houses. The college wants to do this in three neighbourhoods where they believe liveability is at risk. In total, about 50 houses would be involved.

Ahmet Kargin has served on the Leiden City Council on behalf of GroenLinks since 2022. He is the spokesperson for Urban Development, Education and Housing and will lead the debate on this topic on behalf of GroenLinks. We asked him a few questions.

What do you think of the college's decision to start closing about 50 student houses due to 'liveability'?

This is going to be a very long answer, but I think it is really necessary here too, and I think it is important to provide some more context in doing so before I answer the question itself.

First, we do not know exactly how many properties are involved; probably between 40 and 50 properties, but it could be less. Secondly, we also do not know 100% for sure what kind of occupants are involved. They may indeed all be student houses/rooms with students, but they may just as well be migrant workers or expats. So the statement that 50 student houses would disappear is not at all so black and white and is a far-reaching statement. What we do know for sure is that between 40 and 50 buildings have been illegally boarded up and/or converted, knowingly and willingly, during a city-wide eviction ban. And if you ask me, this is not about a pathetic group of people, but rather about landlords taking advantage of the room shortage to put an already vulnerable group in an even more vulnerable situation.

Then coming to the question itself. To be clear; the municipality is not going to close any premises. It is taking enforcement action to correct the illegal situation. I think it's a good thing the municipality wants to do that; illegal landlords shouldn't be rewarded by continuing to cash in on condominiums, but should be punished severely. A landlord can correct such a situation by either reducing the number of rooms to a maximum of two, or by arranging replacement accommodation for the tenants and/or compensating them financially. However, in practice, the consequence of enforcement on illegal room rentals is often that a landlord will try to terminate the contract unilaterally. However, a landlord is not allowed to do so; neither for a permanent rental contract nor for a temporary rental contract. So as long as the contract is valid, nothing will change for the lodgers in a practical sense.

What does raise a concern, which is shared by both us and the rest of the council, is the potential pressure that the landlord of an illegally squatted property can put on his tenants. This is because landlords are given a year to arrange replacement accommodation, and if they fail to do so they will be fined (repeatedly) by the council until the situation is rectified. This means that tenants need to be well aware of their rights and what to do in such a situation. The municipality will therefore take the most active role possible in this respect with the help of the rent team. The rental team will temporarily receive extra money and manpower for this purpose, and will act as a mediator, as it were, between tenant and landlord, working with them to demand replacement accommodation, compensation, and reimbursement of moving expenses.

Of course, there is always a chance that not every student and/or tenant will be able to find a replacement room. That is why the council has also promised to continue talks with DUWO, at least for the students, so that if there are students for whom no replacement accommodation is arranged, they will still be able to find a room by means of urgency. We also promised to provide an update twice a year (once before the summer, and once before 1 January 2025) on the situation of these 40 to 50 buildings, so that we as the council can stay informed on how the process is progressing.

All in all, I think it is a good decision. The municipality is not going to close any properties, but illegal squatting will be enforced and landlords will not be rewarded. The landlords must arrange a replacement and compensate tenants, and as long as they don't do that, the group of tenants will not end up on the streets with support from the rental team. In practice, therefore, no students end up on the streets or anything like that, but a replacement is provided by the landlord, and for the number of cases where this fails, the municipality makes a case for replacement at DUWO.

Leiden has a severe shortage of student accommodation. As a result, it is often very difficult to find a room. How will it be ensured that no students end up on the streets because of the college's decision?

As mentioned earlier, this decision concerns 40 to 50 properties. On the other hand, it does allow 773 houses that are subject to the transitional regime to apply for a permit. These specific properties are occupied on average by 5.2 residents, which means that almost 4,200 rooms will eventually be granted a permit. In doing so, note that these are not properties that were illegally boarded up during the cessation of boarding up, but rather properties that were already boarded up before there was a permit requirement.

In addition, the municipality has added about 1,000 student houses in the past year, and about 450 student houses will be added next year. That means an addition of 1450 student houses in this race period alone. In contrast; the total need for student housing in our region until 2030 is around 2,700 units. So as a city, we already meet more than half of that need before 2025!

Finally, with this package, Leiden gets a relatively lenient eviction policy. Only three districts are subject to a stop, while for some parts of the inner city there is a quota of 100%, and the rest of the inner city of 25%. For the rest of the city, there is no quota and can be 'freely' boarded up, so to speak. Only the expectation is that this is not going to happen because there is already enough space in the city centre for further slumming. However, it is true that in case a lot of houses are suddenly boarded up in these other districts that a quota of 25% may apply there too.

Student housing and housing policy are issues that have been around in Leiden for some time and are often very sensitive. What are GroenLinks's longer-term ideas for solving the problems surrounding student housing?

For us, there are three guiding lines when it comes to boarding houses. On the one hand, it is important to us that it is clear that students are also part of this city. They are just as much Leiden residents as all the rest of Leiden residents, do their shopping here, celebrate their parties here, and take part in 3 October. And this is not a small group but 20,000 residents. On the other hand, we also think it is important to maintain the balance in our city. Just as we don't want a neighbourhood to be inhabited only by people with lower or higher socio-economic scores, we also want to find the right balance in (mainly) residential areas where students and other residents should also be able to live well together. And finally, the simple fact that, without rules, landlords have practically free rein, as we have seen throughout the country in recent years, resulting in poor fire safety, and sky-high room prices. This is why it is important for GroenLinks to have policies in place that recognise students as an essential part of our student city, strike the right balance in the neighbourhoods, and at the same time protect against landlords.

As a young councillor and former board member of DWARS, you also represent young people in the Leiden city council. How well do you feel their interests are currently being defended?

Not only young people in general, but also specifically from students; after all, I am still a student myself. I think our interests are very well represented in the city council. Both by us as the GroenLinks group, which (still) includes two students, and a broader council that is relatively young. I think our concerns and points are well taken seriously and also well voiced towards future generations, and you can see that reflected in various policy areas. We are greening hard, ensuring sustainable mobility, building a climate-resistant city, also building specifically for young people and starters, and also making a case for a culturally rich city. Above all, I would say that, especially in an increasingly right-wing country, we live in quite a unique, progressive, and beautiful city that we should be very proud of.

The issue will be debated in the municipal council on 21 December. What is your commitment to the debate?

For me, the biggest stakes are the three main lines I mentioned earlier. Policies that both strengthen rental rights and crack down on landlords. Which protects the city from speculators looking to hijack away affordable owner-occupied housing. And policies that recognise the student as an essential part of our student city, seek the right balance in the neighbourhoods, and at the same time, therefore, also protect against landlords.

Want to know more about Ahmet Kargin? Click here.