BASSETERRE St. Kitts – REAL ESTATE with regards to renting has always been, and continues to be a tough market especially with the downward spiral of the economy and with many persons striving to own their own home.
In this area, landlords gained a measure of relief when they got the opportunity to rent private homes and apartments to foreigners who have come to St. Kitts to study.
Recently the relief was taken away from some of the landlords as local hotels got involved and started offering those same foreign students accommodations as well.
Landlords are not only competing among themselves now; they are also competing with hotels. Although hotels are known to be ‘pricey’, they are the ones which seem to be winning the race in the real estate market.
SKNVibes spoke with a few sources, all of whom confirmed that some hotels are indeed offering accommodation to students from abroad studying in St. Kitts and explained why the students are taking the offers presented by some hotels.
One source explained that while their school provides accommodation, they are only offered to students during their first semester, after which, those students have to go out in search of their own accommodation.
Some students, the source said, have taken the offers made by some hotels because they were not successful in locating accommodation anywhere else.
Another source explained that their school too, offers accommodation to students willing to take them but as the school grows, fewer rooms are made available and that leaves students out hunting for their own accommodation.
Other students just prefer to find their own place.
The source claimed that their students ran to the hotels after receiving the offers because of controversy with some of their landlords.
“Some landlords do not like to do repairs; they just want to collect the money and go. Some of them do not have their homes and apartments in the best condition and want to charge high prices,” the source said.
The source said that some landlords charge as much as US $1 000 monthly rent for a two bedroom private home, after which the students still have to pay their own bills. Some of the homes, the person said, are in no condition for the landlord to charge so much money.
The person said that the prices increased with the implementation of VAT, which made it difficult for some of the students to meet their payments.
The individual claimed that attempts to negotiate with some of the landlords were to no avail as they refused to bargain and present a reasonable price for the students.
The source said that with the hotels’ offering, the students are being given internet access, cable, electricity, water, generator, and air conditioning all at a reasonable price.
“With this offer, the students who were renting from those landlords who were being ‘unfair’ could not refuse and so they moved to where they are getting a better deal,” the source explained.
Apart from the economic downturn, the source explained that a major reason for most of the students taking the hotels up on their offer is because of the crimes that are spiralling out of control.
“Some of the students no longer feel safe to be in an apartment or private home anymore. The crime is out of control. They fear they will be robbed or even have their lives taken. At the hotels, they feel safer and their minds are at ease because they know they are in a place where their chances of being robbed or of even losing their lives are extremely low,” the individual explained.
Speaking to a landlord, the person said that the issues the students had were with security and the increased price in electricity. The students complained that they could not budget for the increased price of electricity and that they feared for their safety with the rise in crime.
When asked about the issue of hotels renting to students, the individual said that one cannot blame the hotels for making the offers they did.
“One has to be realistic. Hotels are not doing as well as they used to. The tourism sector has declined and the number in stay-over tourists has decreased so the hotels had to find some way of keeping themselves alive. It is quite understandable that they did what they did,” the landlord explained.
The landlord said that it is a complex situation as it has created hardship on many landlords, especially those who have added apartments to their personal homes to help with the payment of their mortgage and other bills but the hotels have to continue their basic outlay, they have overheads and staff members to pay.
The individual ended by saying that tourism needs to get back to what it used to be.
Some of the schools that students from abroad come to St. Kitts to study at include Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Medicine and Health Sciences, International University of Nursing and Windsor University School of Medicine.
It is common knowledge that the Windsor University has recently bought the Frigate Bay Beach Hotel and Morgan Heights. With the economic downturn showing little to no signs of relief, one must wonder, “Will they be using these new spaces to house their students?”
