Anti-Squat Living With A Short-Stay Contract

Index

Moved To Arnhem

In september 2016 I moved to Arnhem due to lack of housing and rented an anti-squat short stay at Camelot in a former UWV building. This building had been renovated and the studios were new and furnished (they were very luxurious). I could rent for a maximum of 6 months and after that I had to move. Within the complex I could immediately move to another studio or to another antikraakcomplex only if I paid a deposit again. The old deposit I would get back months later after the rent period was finished. This would have meant that I would have 2 deposits with them, a lot of money! And it would have made communication with Camelot even worse, because there were two deposits with them. Normally the deposit is paid back within 6 weeks of finishing the lease.

Shortstay De Nieuwe Antikraak

At the beginning of 2017, my contract expired and I didn't get my deposit back immediately because I had kept complaining about other people smoking and the noise in the complex (it was a smoke-free complex). Normally, I would get my deposit back within six weeks. Unfortunately, this took months, so I had to use the Runaway House. Later, I signed for a house in Eindhoven, but due to a lack of funds, I had to use the Food Bank through WijEindhoven. This lack of funds was due to the fact that I didn't get my deposit back and I spent a lot of time proving my entitlement to a refund. In the fall, I got all my money back, but they had to pay even more because they had hired a debt collection agency, even though they were wrong and I had all the emails to prove it. They had to pay me back, plus the debt collection agency they hired, and the agency's interest. The interest rate debt collection agencies charge is higher than when you have an overdraft with a bank.

View From My Shortstay Studio

The pictures give an impression of the anti-squat short stay on the outside and the view from the building. A shortstay contract is a contract that is less than a year. It is mostly for foreigners working in The Netherlands for a short period. As it is for foreigners the studios are good looking and are furnished. I was the first one living in my studio and had a contract for 6 months.

I lived in Arnhem from 2016 till 2017 for 6 months. I rented from Camelot and got the studio through waiting on the waiting list for transformed anti-kraak buildings. It was a studio of circa 50 m2. I was the first inhabitant of the furnished studio. It was short lease that is why I only rented for 6 months. Before living in Arnhem I lived at Cremerplein, Utrecht and after Arnhem I lived in Strijp-S, Eindhoven. In all my houses I lived alone! 

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