Amsterdam - Guido, a penniless student, could hardly believe his luck when offered lodging in the heart of Amsterdam at a fraction of the going rate -- a boon thanks to the credit crunch as property owners desperately fend off squatters.

He smiled from ear to ear 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, after receiving a call earlier in the day from Anti-Kraak BV -- a company that puts tenants in empty buildings at 24-hour 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 a building at risk.

Guido will pay EUR 250 a month (USD 350), 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.

 A cabin on a cruiseship serves as temporary student housing in Amsterdam (06 September 2007)

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 EUR 250!"

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.
[!break!]
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," explained Joost Koenders, director of Anti-Kraak BV, which manages nearly 400 addresses in Amsterdam.

Owners, who don't pay anything for the service, "can claim back their property at any time," said Koenders. Occupants are given two weeks to move out.

Anti-Kraak BV, which employs about 20 people countrywide, makes its 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.

Photo credit: Karen Eliot