AT Europe: Amsterdam - Flora's Anti-Squat Warehouse Flat

While we're having technical difficulty with Kristin's latest post, we thought we'd take a gem out of her vault. Enjoy!

Flora is a lucky girl. The 23-year-old graduate student lives in a palatial two-bedroom converted warehouse loft in the center of Amsterdam, thanks to anti-squat laws that are a loophole for renters in search of cheap, temporary accomodations.

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To prevent squatters from moving into unoccupied buildings that are scheduled to be torn down or renovated, the Dutch have invented an anti-squat law that allows landlords to rent apartments for a flat fee of �150 a month, all charges included, regardless of size or location...

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The renters basically act as guardians of the property and know that they could be booted out with two weeks� notice at any time. In Flora�s case, this means she has the keys to a roomy flat in a former 17th-century warehouse (albeit slightly marred by a 1980s conversion) with a lovely canal view.

Flora expects to spend a couple of years here in total. But because she knows her days are limited and she is on a student budget, she has furnished the place entirely with flea market purchases, hand-me-downs and street finds. �In Amsterdam we�re not allowed to have yard sales,� Flora says. �So people just leave all kinds of things on the street.�

Flora has met this challenge with style -- found hanging light fixtures are hung low, vintage orange tableware and a bar cart perk up the 80s kitchen, flea market art adorns the vast brick wall running the length of the flat. Everything is temporary, but the place has a very personal and lived-in feel. And she can take it all with her when it's time to go.

- If you have an idea for a European house tour, please email Kristin at kristinh @ apartmenttherapy . com

(RePublished from 2007-09-24 - MGR)

Comments (30)

I'm so jealous. I would kill to live in Amsterdam

what an amazing space! and so nicely done... even on a student budget, it's really put together!

it looks like this place has been recently renovated, not scheduled to be. fantastic!

What a bargain!

Amazing! Full of imagination.

is this available to just anyone? i ask because i'm moving over there next year and wonder how i might go about finding such an amazing, inexpensive living situation...

Thanks for sharing, Flora (and AT). Looks great!

i hate you, flora.

let me know if you want to swap. :)

Flora looking out of the window, a modern Vermeer.

goodnightdean,

There are agencies that deal just with anti-squat properties (called "anti-kraak" in Dutch). I don't know if they are open to foreigners. Here is one agency website you can contact for more information: http://www.anti-kraak.nl/

i know where this is!! i stayed in a hotel which had exactly the same view... love amsterdam so much.

The Dutch are always ten steps ahead of the us.

However, I have a question. Why aren't these apartments (which look very nice and livable to me) just rented out at market rates by these landlords? I don't understand why these are "kraak"? Is there just not enough interest in the rental market?

They are properties about to be renovated or demolished=no market rate can possibly entice anyone to move there only to be evicted soon after.

For AT: "Everything is temporary, but the place has a very personal and lived-in feel. And she can take it all with her when it's time to go." Surely all furniture is temporary - doesn't everyone take all their furnishings with them when they move - I don't see anything in this apartment that makes it any more temporary than a regular space

For Flora: Gorgeous, gorgeous place - you lucky, lucky girl!

so beautiful! and in the most beautiful city in the world. i'm 100% jealous.

Violetsrose,

What I meant was that she hasn't made any permanent or built-in changes to the apartment, but has worked with its strengths and weaknesses (like the bland 80s kitchen/bathroom) but still managed to make the space feel lived-in and personal with a great eye for proportion, color and detail and style.

Sigh... Flora, you are a lucky woman.

Wow, I love this....especially the 'temporary' storage for the books and music.

I just quit my job.

sigh. drooling.

I'll just sit here in my split level and cry. To be 23 and cool...and in Amsterdam...sweet. Enjoy life, Flora.

One of the great things about getting older and more mature and all that is how you learn to process your envy and come out the other side calm, collected, and appreciate.

Oh, who am I kidding.

Lovely space Flora; and *sigh* Amsterdam.

^^^

appreciative, that is.

Last year I was in Amsterdam. It was such a wonderful place to visit...

Wonderful place. Really love it. And I'll bet the building has those super steep Dutch stairs too.

Small quibble: Religious iconography as "kitsch." Sometimes the presentation is indeed kitschy, but the objects represent something sacred to others.

amsterdam's so overrated. best thing coming from amsterdam is the train to rotterdam.

I wonder if the Dutch have a nicer-sounding word than "squat?"

oooh! Those are the hanging lamps I've been looking for! Anyone have an idea where I can get something similar, on the affordable side? Other than ikea?

wow 17th century like 1600's!? thats amazing i'd love to just be near that sort of history

I really enjoy AT Europe posts. Apart from seeing great spaces and decor, I can learn really interesting details about different cultures (squatters laws and no yard-sales in Amsterdam).

This apt is wonderful. It doesn't seem temporary at all, but homey and comfortable. And the 80s kitchen and bathroom acutally seem okay from the pics (from the description I was expecting worse).

wowowow