The council plenary session in Palma on Thursday heard from people affected by the city's housing problems.
One of these people was Laura. She is a single mother with a 13-year-old daughter. On the face of it, Laura is not in a vulnerable situation. She earns 2,000 euros a month. From this she has to pay the rent, pay for a car and meet certain financial obligations.
Things are manageable. The rent for her apartment in Palma's La Vileta is 800 euros a month. But her situation is about to change. From January she will have to pay 1,500 euros a month. The owners have suddenly increased the rent by 87%. "I'm tearing my hair out. I have tried to negotiate with them, to offer to pay up to 1,000 euros, 50 per cent of my income. But they say that it's not worth it for them."
The owners are both teachers at a well-known private school. They own a family house and rent out two other flats. They apparently haven't said that they have a need for the sudden increase in rent.
The Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH), which also offers support to people affected by rents, had arranged for Laura and others to explain their situations. Hers isn't an isolated case.
"This isn't only happening to me. There are separated couples who have to continue living together or who move in with their parents." Laura hasn't yet found alternative accommodation, having lived in the apartment for five years. She is looking at moving away from Palma, perhaps to Inca. But when the agencies see that she is a single mother with a daughter, they don't want to know.
Among others who spoke at the council meeting were working people who have to live in motorhomes. They now face being fined because of new town hall ordinance.
Angela Pons, spokesperson for PAH, said situations such as Laura's are being repeated because the possibility of declaring Palma (and elsewhere in Mallorca) a stressed area has been rejected. This can be done under Spanish law and is designed to cap rents. It is up to regional governments to approve this or not, and the Balearic Government has opted not to.
The argument is made that caps don't work because all they do is remove rented accommodation from the market. But without controls is there just simply greed? Laura didn't fit the profile of a vulnerable person. At 1,500 euros a month she does.
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Bryan AdamsApparently, "commies" are responsible for everything anybody doesn't like, regardless of what or who is responsible for it, and especially if it's only imaginary. But this one example seems pretty OTT. On the surface, It looks like simple greed, but it's what's NOT said here that begs further explanation. Perhaps the tenant has enjoyed a decade or two at that 800€/mo rent price. Things have changed a lot in that time, and that same property might now easily rent for 2000€ per month. It depends on the class of property. And there may be other factors at play that aren't mentioned here. Maintenance costs going sky high? Falling out with the tenant? Look at it this way: If you invested say, 1000€ in a stock in 2006, and it consistently underperformed the market, wouldn't be you now be considering investing in a better performing stock? Or would you stay in just to avoid causing the firm any more pain? It's always good to help people out, and the owner should appreciate this tenant's history (if it's good) over grabbing more money. The next tenant could be a nightmare, even at the higher rent. In this case, it does appear like it's over the top profiteering. But we don't really have the whole picture.
KarlCommunist? Educate yourself son
Its a free market. This woman can move to another city. rents are high in all desirable places and putting communist ideas into practise will help no one. The market is the market, hail be it.
It doesn't tell the nationality of the owners but owning several flats, maybe it's correct to assume they are Spanish. If so, there is obviously not any solidarity to their own citizens.
There is no justification for a rent rise of this degree. Greed is an ugly thing to see