Ownership as compromise: why Linda bought a leasehold property

Half past three in the morning in the capital. Linda (name changed by the editors) stands in the dark outside the building of the national public housing developer SNHBM. The queue behind her will grow over the next four hours. Many more people than there are flats available.

Photos of people in deckchairs, wrapped up in blankets and thick jackets, are all over the media at the time. All for something that should be taken for granted: decent housing.

After university, Linda was like many other graduates: she first moved back in with her parents. But that was only a temporary solution. She had already heard about the SNHBM's offer from acquaintances. "I started working and had already done some research because I wanted to move out but hadn't saved up enough to find a place on the private housing market, " she tells the Journal, but wishes to remain anonymous.

Linda is lucky. She gets the flat. She has lived in the centre of the country for around eight years. She bought the flat with a leasehold contract. The "bail emphytéotique" is intended to make housing more affordable. Buyers acquire the building, but not the land beneath it. For many, it is the only option left to acquire property in Luxembourg – not outright ownership, however, but regulated access to housing – and this gives rise to criticism.