2023-07-14 00:08:26
Brenda is 34 years old and, like a large part of Argentines, she is going through the challenge of finding a place to live. In June, the owner of the apartment that she currently rents in the city of Buenos Aires told her that he was going to renew her contract that expired in August, but a week later she regretted it, called her and told her that she was going to have to leave. because I wanted to put it up for sale. “I offered to pay her more, at least until a buyer appears, but she told me that she already got it and that I can’t stay,” she recounts in dialogue with THE NATION.
Since his family is from Caseros, Buenos Aires Province, he decided to look for an option close to his family. “Today a real estate agency gave me this amount (almost half a million pesos) to enter a two-room piggy in homemade”, he published in an Instagram story, and finished off with irony: “Everything is very accessible, luckily”.
The rental conditions requested by the real estate agency for the house amounted to total $461,950, almost half a million pesos:
“For me, paying a base of almost $500,000 is impossible, I would have to make a giant effort or borrow from my family. Even if the monthly rental price is affordable, The idea is that I can solve myself and not pay for things that do not correspond to me”, he points out. In addition to the entry price, he says that the real estate agency did not show him photos of the apartment because he was still occupied and “they wanted him to decide based on a plan, it seems absurd to me.”
He was looking for an apartment to rent and they asked him for almost half a million pesos to enter a unit in Caseros
A problematic factor in the Buenos Aires province is that “they ask the tenant to pay the entire real estate commission and since there is so much demand and so little supply, they play with the despair of the people and they have no choice but to pay”, he maintains. In this jurisdiction, current law No. 14085 allows the payment of the commission to be divided between the owner and the tenant, but it also allows one of the parties to assume the entire cost. “Each party can assume between 1% and 2% of the total value of the contract but in practice the entire cost of the commission is charged to the tenant”, says Gervasio Muñoz, president of the National Federation of Tenants.
However, a new bill that already authorized to be dealt with in the Provincial Legislature seeks to give economic relief to those who rent a home. Presented by Francisco “Paco” Durañona -the provincial senator elected by the Frente de Todos and former Mayor of San Antonio de Areco-, the project in defense of tenants seeks to “that the commission costs the tenants stop paying them and remain in the hands of the property owners”, as he published on his own social networks.
Those who want to rent a home today find themselves in a distorted market. Brenda says that she was surprised with such a limited offer “that it left the real estate agency grabbing the upper hand and asking left and right for what they want.” And she adds: “I found only 30 apartments published in real estate, of which I qualified for 10 because I have a cat and they don’t accept it”, he says.
The rental supply in the country tends to zero and illegal contracts growVictoria Gesualdi
To this consumption is added the increase in rental prices, since the owners want to shelter their investments from strong inflation and ask for very high or even dollarized entry prices. When she started looking for properties in Caseros, Brenda thought that “perhaps there would be cheaper options there than in the Capital, due to the difference between proximity, transportation and because there are more old apartments; but Since prices have skyrocketed, there is almost no difference in money between a two-room apartment in the city and one in Caseros“, says. In May, the average rental price for a one-bedroom unit was $99,350 in the Province and in the city it averaged $142,425 a month, according to Zonaprop.
“To all this is added that the expenses do not drop below $30,000 and there is not even a doorman, it is only to cover the elevator and the salary of the manager. So if you rent something for $160,000, like the two-room apartment that I’m going to see this weekend, when you add the expenses, it’s a minimum of $190,000 for a two-room apartment or even a studio apartment that in a new building asks for around $150,000 in rent. ″, adds Brenda.
In the city of Buenos Aires, the collection of the real estate commission from tenants is prohibited by law since 2017 (5859/17). “Unlike the province of Buenos Aires, in the City the payment of commissions is the responsibility of the owner and the certificates are not mandatory. In the event that they require the latter, they can be done for free through the City Housing Institute” remarked Christian Werle, president of the IVC.
However, the survey of the entity he leads highlights that nearly three in 10 tenants in the city had to pay the commission. “For cases of non-compliance with local laws, we also have a channel for complaints and legal advice for owners and tenants,” added the official.
In her search, Brenda also came across this requirement in Buenos Aires. “In Capital I discovered that to charge you the commission, real estate agents make a commercial contract and not a housing one, because the law that prevents the tenant from paying the rental commission is the locative rental law. So, in the buildings that are suitable for professionals, they make you a commercial contract so that you pay the real estate commission and if you don’t do it, they won’t let you rent ”, he says. Housing contracts disguised as commercial also allow rent to be collected in dollars and that the term is for two years and for three, as the residential rental law.
Despite being illegal, almost three out of 10 tenants in the city had to pay the real estate commission. Patricio Pidal/AFV
Buenos Aires tenants also face a long list of requirements to enter an apartment, which every day further distances them from the possibility of living independently. The owner “asked me for a advance of six months to enter and I had to borrow money from relatives”, says a 31-year-old tenant from Balvanera.
According to an IVC survey, city tenants state that to start a rental in the city they were asked to pay stubs, one month deposit and one month or more in advance. The report indicates that in some cases additional expenses such as the investigation of guarantees, which are in themselves another barrier to entry. Frequently the owners “usually request a direct family real estate property located in CABA that guarantees that the person is reliable and will cover the cost of rent in case of debt,” according to the survey. “This implies a barrier for those who do not have sociability networks in the city because they moved from another place outside the city and for those who do not have family members with property,” they add.
Requirements to sign the rental contract in the city of Buenos Aires, according to a survey by the City Housing InstituteCity Housing Institute
Real estate requirements sometimes encourage tenants to want to close contracts with the owner directly. “When I inquired with real estate They even asked me for two guarantees and salary receipts with minimum amount. Obviously, everything has to be blank and for me it was almost impossible because they asked me a lot. The direct owner was a great goal because I avoided paying a lot of money”, explains a 49-year-old tenant from Palermo.
To combat the costs that hinder access to rent, the IVC created the program Rent + Easy, that provides tenant financing. The Institute grants a credit of up to three months the monthly rental price to finance the initial expenses that requires renting a home, such as deposit, guarantee, initial month and moving.
A key fact is that the maximum amount of the credit may exceed 1962 UVAs (about $551,479). The loan can be repaid in 12, 24 or 36 months and is updated according to the evolution of the Reference Stabilization Coefficient, but they can never have an accumulated increase greater than the average salary, measured by the salary variation coefficient (CVS). This tool received 814 registrations in less than two months and is the second most demanded of the measures launched by the entity this year.
Conocé The Trust Project
#wanted #rent #tworoom #apartment #Caseros #asked #enter