"A studio in Minsk-World should cost $300 at the exchange rate, a two-room apartment - $500". Minsk resident on housing prices

Discussions about rent evoke a strong response from readers. Aliaksandr decided to share his story with Onliner.

— "I'm 22, a programmer with four years of experience, my salary is higher than the average in Minsk (in June, the average gross salary in Minsk was 4054.4 rubles, or 3486 rubles net - NN)," the young man explains. "For the third year, I've been renting a four-room apartment with friends for €440 at the exchange rate, but unfortunately, the landlady said she intends to sell it. She gave us six months to find housing and move out. The woman is very pleasant; it's very sad to part with such a landlord, but what can you do…"

When I started studying the real estate market a week ago, I was simply shocked.

If before, for the equivalent of $300, you could rent a good one-room apartment in a residential area, now for that sum, they offer bare walls in "Minsk-World" with a mattress and a toilet. Or an old Khrushchev-era apartment with a lot of bedbugs in the sofa. Something decent starts from $400, and a one-room apartment in "Minsk-World", which looks more like a booth, will cost $500 at the exchange rate. And that's a third of my salary! Not to mention the astronomical "utilities" that accrue because many landlords don't register anyone in the apartment.

But while it's still possible to find a more or less normal one-room apartment, adequate landlords are nowhere to be found. No one wants to see animals, children, and often even a partner, in their living space. So, not only am I paying a third of my salary for a not-so-comfortable apartment where there's simply no Wi-Fi, air conditioning, or a proper bed, but I also don't have the right to live with my girlfriend or keep a hamster. And for the slightest violation, they threaten to evict without returning the deposit!

The deposit is a separate absurdity altogether. Properly, it should be insurance for the owner against property damage, but in our reality, it's a separate form of greed and a desire to profit from the right to "live in an apartment."

It's far from a given that it will be returned to you. By the way, I witnessed a case where the landlord chose tenants who paid the largest deposit (practically two months' rent).

I don't know why the higher authorities are silent and not intervening in this problem, although it will soon be a disaster, not just a problem. And if my income still allows me to pay rent, what about a young specialist serving their mandatory work assignment, whose salary is at best 1500 rubles? Maybe it's time to think about the rental market and curb greedy landlords a bit? Let studios in "Minsk-World" be rented for $300, and two-room apartments with all amenities for $400-$500 at the exchange rate. And everyone would be happy…

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