Czech Republic: Poor are offered money to leave Mladá Boleslav

Some residents of the Czech town of Mladá Boleslav may soon have personal experience of how real estate values are raised. Entrepreneurs have been offering to pay off the back rent of tenants who agree to move out of properties. The offers are made to socially deprived tenants; once they move out, the apartments or homes are offered for lease or sale at high prices.

Such apartments, most of which are occupied by socially deprived Romani people, increase in value once the tenants move out. “I can confirm that if you move Romani tenants out of an apartment building, the apartment prices rise,” the head of a real estate agency in Kladno, who did not want to be named, told news server iDNES.cz.

Socially deprived tenants in Mladá Boleslav recently found themselves in the situation of being offered CZK 200 000 to move out of their flat. “Several tenants of municipal housing confirmed that someone was going around claiming the town wants to sell the apartments and move the tenants out,” town hall spokesperson Pavel Šubrt told news server iDNES.cz.

“We definitely do not intend to sell that rental property. We have assured all the tenants of that,” Deputy Mayor Jiří Bouška (Volba pro Mladou Boleslav – Vote for Mladá Boleslav) said.

Residents of one of the buildings confirmed they received offers to sell their leases. “An entrepreneur offered us money to move out,” a Romani man, who did not want to be named, told news server iDNES.cz.

“Socially deprived citizens are not aware of how the law works. If someone offers them cheap accommodation, they agree to it,” explains Vladislav Suchánek, a former employee of the Czech Labor and Social Affairs Ministry who has long followed Romani issues.

Socially deprived people usually move from larger cities to smaller towns. Recently towns in North Bohemia have been a frequent destination. “About 500 new people have moved into town during the past two years. We are gradually learning that we have a lot of work to do with this completely new community,” Gabriela Doušová, spokesperson for the town hall of Rumburk, told news server iDNES.cz.

“Crime has been gradually rising, so we have started taking an interest,” Doušová told the news server. Authorities have determined that the new tenants’ move into town is being financed by the owners of apartment houses in large cities, who lease or sell empty apartments and houses at high prices once the tenants have been removed.