Guido, a penniless student, could hardly believe his luck when was offered accommodation in the heart of Amsterdam at a fraction of the going rate. He has the credit crunch to thank as property owners desperately look for short-term tenants to fend off squatters.

by AFP/ Alix Rijckaert/ Expatica

He was smiling from ear to ear upon arriving recently, key in hand, at his new temporary address: a piece of prime property with vast, empty rooms soon to become a luxury hotel a stone's throw from the renowned Van Gogh museum.

"Until now, I've had to go home to my parents in The Hague (a 50-minute train ride) every day, or sleep on a friend's couch," the 20-year-old sport science student told AFP, after receiving a call earlier in the day from Anti-Kraak BV, a company that specialises in putting tenants in empty buildings at 24 hours notice.

In a country where squatting is permitted once a building has been empty for more than a year, it is one of about 30 firms offering anti-squatting services and doing a brisk trade as slumping property sales leave many more buildings at risk.

Guido will pay 250 euro a month (350 US dollars), half the going rate, for a bedroom of some 40 square metres (430 square feet) and his own small living room in an apartment where he shares a kitchen and bathroom with two other students. Their new home has majestic wooden staircases, decorative mouldings and marble walls ... but the carpets in the bedrooms are torn, some of the windows are cracked and the showerhead is missing.

"I don't know how long I will be living here, so that's really nothing," said Guido. "It is just incredible that I can live in the city centre for 250 euro!"

The law which makes squatting relatively easy is currently being revised at the insistence of three political parties, including the senior coalition partner - Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s Christian Democrats. In the meantime, companies like Anti-Kraak BV have identified a niche.

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"We offer owners numerous advantages: by putting in occupants we discourage squatting and vandalism," explains Joost Koenders, director of Anti-Kraak BV, which manages nearly 400 addresses in Amsterdam

Last month Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported that just over 10,000 homes had been sold in April 2009, less than half the figure of a year earlier. House prices were 2.2 percent lower on average.

The owner of a four-room apartment, on the market for more than a year at 265,000 euro, called in the services of Anti-Kraak BV after other homes in the same street were invaded by squatters.

"I was desperate. I could only find small rooms at 500 euro a month, and then suddenly I found myself living in 80 square metres," enthuses Marleen Tijs, a final year marketing student who is also reaping the benefit of the owner's dilemma.

The "For Sale" sign stays up, and the owner can visit at any time.

"I hope that he doesn't find a buyer immediately, because then I will have to move everything," confides Marleen.