Garage and basement apartment ‘boom’ turns into luxury chalets for private university students

Furthermore, the presence of campuses in surrounding cities such as Villanueva de la Cañada (Alfonso) is a quiet reconversion that has already begun to be noticed on major offer portals. Students consulted confirmed a different reality. In other words, small investors buy large chalets and rent them out room by room. In this case, the owners do not live there, but buy a house and rent it out with offers of up to 12 rooms, often dividing it up after renovation.

Similarly, student residences are increasingly being housed in single-family buildings, and special permits have been granted for these facilities. These are combined with newly constructed dormitories and similar schools in urban spaces, and are usually the most expensive option for parents from outside the province who have their children trained in these centers outside Madrid, especially in private centers, although services are included. Stroll through El Bosque and you’ll leave behind this ever-growing niche market.

At noon, Calle Almonte, Calle Siguera, Calle Vidasoa… At this time of day, the streets are very quiet with little traffic, but the faculties of physical education, medicine, etc. and the main building of this private educational complex are just a stone’s throw away. Las Encinas is known to young viewers as the school that was the setting for the Netflix series Elite. As lunchtime approaches, children begin to come and go. City buses surround urbanization and transport to residential areas.

But behind the fences of some of the semi-detached houses on Tela Street there are some details that change the apparent similarity between the houses. In one of them, where the garage door should be, you can see a window with transparent curtains that let light into the space that is not prepared for habitation. This is one of the chalets, and the owner earns around 800 euros in extra income by renting it out as a small apartment.

Some of these studies are promoted on the Idealista.com portal. In an interview with this newspaper, company officials explained that all of this reflects “the need for housing in Madrid and across Spain.” «Currently, we have 43 apartments for rent in Villaviciosa de Odón. The situation is very tense as prices are very high and there is a lot of competition from families who want to buy a house, making it difficult for children coming to a new area. On the other hand, if you rent your apartment to a student, they may be suspected of hosting a party, for example. “However, because the students’ parents supported the agreement, the owners were less worried that the people living there would remain as squatters,” the expert explained. Fear of some kind of illegal occupation is another factor, in addition to the lack of supply itself, that is responsible for the unattainable prices in the real estate market as a whole.

All sources agree that there is “very little rental space in these areas with so many students.” “Even if finding an apartment is difficult ‘in itself’, especially if you are a student, the market is in a state of emergency, both in Villaviciosa and elsewhere.”

less natural light

We went to the exact address where the next apartment was advertised, on a street in the urbanized area of ​​El Monte. It is one street from one of the main entrances of the European University, “studio on the ground floor of a chalet, with separate entrance, fully equipped kitchen and bathroom”. The owner was at the front door and when asked by the ABC if he was renting a garage, he flatly denied it, saying, “No, the garage is there,” and pointing to the green gate through which the car was brought in, from which a woman was watching. It is a large property, with a garden area to the right of the door, and is quite run down, with the main house slightly above ground level and a small cellar window visible below. In fact, what is realized as an apartment there is not a separate parking lot, but an underground space with very little natural light.

The advertising photo leaves no doubt. A small kitchen with cement and brick counters. A typical small bar in the basement of this type of house. A few shelves hold a coffee maker, a microwave, some cups, and a small ceramic stove with an extractor fan that reaches up to the double plasterboard ceiling. In addition to a small bathroom, the estimated 45 square meters of space includes something like an open-plan living room and sleeping area separated by a bookshelf. The cost is 800 euros per month. And it’s not the most expensive. Most of these “housing solutions” don’t cost less than 1,200, to use the typical euphemism.

Nearby, three students wait for the autumn downpour to subside, which cools down by noon. “I know people who live in places like this, and it’s not just something that happens in Villaviciosa,” explains Fernando, 26, who is participating in the European Championships in Madrid. – I have a colleague who is from La Cañada and rents that type of garage. I went in there to meet him and it was like a dungeon. It was a small, dark room. He was from Villafranca del Castillo. But I lived there because I was looking for something cheap, and I wasn’t even a student. I know these are usually for college students, but if you look at the ads on the internet, you can tell right away that it’s a basement or something like that. This is because the spaces are very small, the windows are in garages, and some even have shared bathrooms.The young man believes that this is because his municipality has another private center, the Alfonso El Sabio University.

Miguel, 24, explains what is happening in his municipality of residence, where he travels back and forth to Villaviciosa every day to study, as does Beatriz, the third of the group from Umes. “The same thing is starting to happen to us in Tres Cantos. They have just opened a higher center for audiovisual research next to the Netflix headquarters, so they are renting out apartments to students for 1,500 euros. “It’s a shame what’s happening.”

I have doubts about livability.

Consultants on the Pisos.com portal complain that these types of accommodation “do not always meet the residency requirements.” “What we notice is that if there is a university nearby, for example in the south of Madrid, the rental market becomes even more tense. Prices go up. There are all sorts of things, but each scheme has its advantages and disadvantages. And he outlines an example from daily working life: “Families value their homes more, they have more continuity of contract. If you rent to students, you do more.” It’s more profitable (by charging per room), but it means more sales and more home maintenance. These differences are also noticeable between tourist rentals and short-term rentals.

Further afield, El Bosque has larger estates, including luxury villas, where this type of accommodation may also be advertised. Here, rooms often resemble townhouses, and people also live independently, but often with the owners’ families. The main difference is that tenants also have access to shared services such as gardens and swimming pools.

Everything reeks of instability (in real estate, they say, “there’s always a family with a big property who might be in an economic downturn, and there’s help out there”), but there are also ads touting what they have to offer. Some directly reveal some flaws. “There are no windows,” some homeowners reveal on Idealista.com. The advantage for them compared to those who buy plots and convert them into housing is that here the chalet has a certificate of occupancy for the entire area, without the need for special permits that require specific characteristics.