“Impractical, ridiculous and discouraging.”
This is how a property owner renting out student accommodation in Summerstrand has described the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality’s proposed student accommodation policy.
At least four other student accommodation providers have objected to the draft, which is yet to be adopted in council.
Should the new policy be adopted by the council, property owners offering accommodation to more than four students must either live on their properties or hire a full-time manager.
The student accommodation providers must also ensure that the property has six parking bays per 10 students living on the property.
Proposed regulations include:
● That establishments be accredited with NMU;
● The property owner or a manager must live on the property with an affidavit proving this attached to the site development plan;
● The accommodation must also be along the public transport route. The policy requirements also stipulate that townhouses may permit a maximum of two students per room.
In a written objection to the municipality’s human settlements department, landlord Herman Van Thiel Berghuijs said that the policy would exacerbate the housing crisis at NMU.
Chief among Van Thiel Berghuijs’s complaints was the introduction of six compulsory parking bays per 10 students.
“That’s absolutely ridiculous because students don’t have cars, especially not the NSFAS wave of students , who are underprivileged students who don’t even have money for food. That’s an absolutely ridiculous law,” Van Thiel Berghuijs said.
Van Thiel Berghuijs is the owner of the Student Accommodation Consultancy which manages a number of student accommodation facilities.
The company manages and places about 1,100 students in accommodation close to the university.
He said the proposed requirement of a full-time manager on the premises was simply impractical.
“We have got townhouses with six or seven students.
“Where will you put a manager? What should be his or her qualifications?
“Is this person going to be sharing the same bathroom lounge and kitchen with the students?
“How do you know that a male manager would not molest female students?” Van Thiel Berghuijs said.
He said these concerns had been queried with the municipality but to no avail.
He said he was also worried that student representatives were not consulted when the policy was drafted.
“Whoever dreamt up this policy lacks the practical experience required to formulate a policy that is practical.”
Van Thiel Berghuijs said the policy further did not accommodate providers of bigger student accommodation and that the policy ultimately affected the price of rentals.
Municipal spokesman Mthubanzi Mniki said that it had received 15 submissions in total.
“Some of it being comments, some of it being concerns, some of it objections. A quick scan through suggests that there may have been about four or five objections,” Mniki said.
“The objections mostly related to concerns around the “prescript” that student accommodation establishments should allow for an on-site manager or caretaker.
“The submissions have been taken into consideration and taken up in the final draft submitted for the council's consideration.
“Some of the concerns/inputs have been accepted and incorporated and some may not have, due to one or more practical and or technical reasons,” Mniki said.