Subletting a growing
problem in Belvedere
~ Rent arrears situation worsens ~
BELVEDERE--As affordable housing becomes more and more difficult to find, some renters in Belvedere and the mobile home (formerly called emergency home) clusters are opting to hold on to their units by subletting, even when they no longer need them.
Subletting is difficult to detect and gathering the necessary evidence for a case against renters engaged in this illegal practice is a lengthy procedure, while the list of people in urgent need of an apartment or house gets longer.
Discussing this phenomenon, St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation Director Michael Fowler, who has raised this issue in the media before, told The Daily Herald it was estimated that about 20-30 units were being sublet.
The (sub)lessees occupy the units undetected, sometimes for months, paying the rent under the original renter’s name. This is not realised by the housing foundation staff until house visits are made or neighbours are approached, he explained.
Although rent is paid up to date, this practice deprives people who are in very urgent need of a home. Some 900 people, including 170 emergency cases, are registered on a waiting list for units.
Meanwhile, according to Fowler, other renters continue to fall in arrears with the foundation.
Fowler said that despite having acquired a positive equity position after being released from loans by the Netherlands Participation Company NPMNA, the foundation is still not able to do a lot on its own with the funds at its disposal. The available funds are being poured into general repairs in the various mobile home clusters and Belvedere. A facelift for the apartment buildings in Belvedere is also on the foundation’s agenda.
A total of NAf. 680,000 in back rent is owed to the foundation at present. The approximately 14 renters who are in severe debt and awaiting court rulings on their futures have racked up NAf. 271,000 in rent arrears. More evictions, a move the foundation does not like, will take place once they are ordered by the judge, Fowler said.
