EWhy is the American company in Copenhagen so interested in renting housing, and why is Danish housing legislation promoting them?
Blackstone is an American equity fund with an asset of about $3,600 billion, which is among the largest in the world. property qatar
Peter G. Peterson and Stephen A. Schwarzman founded the company in 1985.
Schwarzman is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Blackstone. He has more than $90 billion in fortune and is listed on Forbes among the 100 richest people in the world. Bloomberg's financial media voted the billionaire several times as one of the 50 most influential people in the world.
Blackstone has offices across the globe, including in London, Paris, Dublin, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Beijing, and is headquartered in New York City.
The company has also invested heavily in companies, including Hilton Worldwide, Merlin Entertainments Group, Performance Food Group and EQ Office, in addition to real estate investments.
Section 5, part 2 (Blackstone Paragraph) of the Denmarks Housing Regulations Act, has now become the focus of criticism of all landowners – not just big corporations like Blackstone – who make money by restoring older properties and increasing their rents.
The clause allows landlords to increase rents significantly if they spend about 250,000 crown renovation homes following a previous tenant's retirement.
As a result, the landlord can effectively remove its rental property from restrictive housing regulations to be covered by freer rules. This means that the house can then be rented on the basis of the value of the property, which is in many cases substantially higher than the previous rent.
But for apartments with six or fewer homes this option does not exist as it is subject to a different section of the Housing Regulations Act.
On Tuesday, Kereby announced that it would limit the cost for living homes renovated according to section 5.2.
Usually, the limit is 1,650 kroner square meters per month, which will cost around 12,375 kroner a month to accommodate a 90 square metre.
Some cheaper apartments only cost 750 crowns per square metre. This applies mainly to apartments renovated or located in less popular locations a long time ago.
Although the company has now promised to lower rent in some homes, DR has notified Kereby, Blackstone's Danish arm, of several rental disputes being dealt with by the Huslejenævnet Rent Appeals Board in Copenhagen.
Disputes between tenants and landlords are resolved by the boards and the broadcaster has previously reported that many of the cases referred to the appeals board are lost.
LLO Regional Director Claus Højte told Politiken he saw Blackstone's surprising move as "a beautiful first impression to others in the industry and an example."
He stressed, however, that tenants who received cheaper rent offers should be cautious.
"Right now we're having 51 cases with the Rent Appeals Board [Huslejenævnet, ed.] against Kereby/Blackstone, and they wanted lower rents in several of them, but they're still too offering," Højte said.
"When you, as a tenant, say yes to the rent now offered by Kereby/Blackstone, you might be denied an even lower rent," he explained.
In addition to changes to rental prices, Kereby also said that it would make other changes, including training and staff development, to ensure that tenants receive good customer service.