Background story, 8 november 2008

Background story


The struggle around the Celebesstraat 33-36 represents many of the issues that the squatting movement is fighting against:


1) Long term emptiness and disuse of properties by speculating owners who do not intend to rent the properties in the context of tremendous housing shortage

2) The failure of the aanschrijving procedures of the Housing Inspection Authority

to force negligent owners to maintain buildings

3) Mafioso owners who send knokploegen to threaten and evict squatters

4) How the city’s splitsen policy encourages landlords to pressure renters

out of their homes in order to split and sell apartments

5) How the neighborhood council Zeeburg’s Werelds Wonen project takes advantage of working class immigrants who don’t speak Dutch or know their tenants’ rights to push them out of the neighborhood and replace them with yuppie homeowners

6) The abuse of authority of Stadsdeel Zeeburg civil servant, Stoelinga and how he pressured renters to leave their homes without informing them of their options and rights, in this case, informing the owner of the renters’ confidential concerns and violating their privacy

7) The exploitation of undocumented immigrants for their labor and as anti-squatters

8) The secretive and deceptive process for granting building permits without investigating the legitimacy of owners and their reliability in renovation and maintenance


Curious? Here is the story of the houses...




Celebesstraat 35-36: Neglect , Illegal Expoitation, and Threats


On April 10th, 2005, Tamacht’s buildings on the Celebesstraat 35 and 36 were squatted and the houses were in bad condition and filled with trash. The backyard was filled with garbage bags. Floors had partially rotted away. Leaking water pipes had filled the basement with half a meter of water. Tamacht has owned the building since 2001. Because of the terrible condition of the houses, the neighborhood council and the owners of the upper floors had pressured Tamacht to start renovating. Time after time, he blocked the renovation. Instead of renovating, he put illegal workers in the houses as anti-squatters. Some had criminal affilations as was later discovered in documents. There had been at least one police raid to arrest people. On the day the house was squatted, Tamacht threatened the squatters with murder after the police had already declared the space legally squatted. He sent a group of thugs shortly afterward (http://dvxs.nl/~skwot/2005/Apr/0055.html#start) .


The squatters and residents did renovation work on 35-36, and among many things, repaired the sewage,the floors, leakages, and pestilence, to make the houses livable. Furthermore, thanks to the cooperation of the squatters, the Housing Inspection Authority, could finally make a list of building violations of the ground floors. Tamacht had prevented such an inspection for years. Due to this inspection, the upper floor residents were able to carry out a renovation of the façade. Only after they had threatened to sue Tamacht did he agree to contribute his share to the renovation. The future of the ground floors is unclear at the moment but as long as they owned by Tamacht, the neighborhood is better off with squatters than with Tamacht’s shady business.



Celebesstraat 33-34: Squatted and Filled with Junk!

In February 2008, after existing for more than 4 years without being in use, the ground floors of Celebesstraat 33-34 were squatted. The two ground floors, which Tamacht had “renovated” after he bought the buildings for 200,000 euros in 1998, were in horrible condition. Junk filled the space: confirmed by the neighborhood police officer who inspected the property at the squatting action. This police officer knew that this property had existed in disuse for years, that Tamacht filled it with trash, and was also familiar with Tamacht’s horrible treatment of renters in his other properties in Zeeburg as well as his negligence of his other 35 buildings throughout Amsterdam.


The Aanschriving Procedure and Its Failure to Force Slumlords to Maintain Properties

Tamacht is notorious among the authorities in Zeeburg: he neglects his properties to a dangerous level of disrepair for the inhabitants and the authorities have unsuccessfully attempted to force him to maintain his properties. Tamacht manages to manipulate the city bureaucratic procedures to avoid fines and the extensive repairs. By inspecting properties, issuing requests to repair, issuing warning, and then eventually, fining the owner for failing to repair, the neighborhood council attempts to force owners to take responsibility for neglected properties. Tamacht symbolizes the fundamental flaws of this aanschrijvings procedure and how it fails to force slumlords to maintain their properties.


The stadsdeel has issued Tamacht countless warnings for years now, but between his bureaucratic manipulations and the stadsdeel Zeeburg’s incompetence to actually follow through on this case, they have yet to issue him a fine of 80.000, despite years of neglect and disuse of his properties in the Celebesstraat 33 and 34. He used the same method in Kanalstraat 25 and 27 in Oud West and Javastraat 5 and Celebesstraat 35, 36, both in Zeeburg.


Tamacht is a renowned slumlord and thug

The renters’s support agencies know Tamacht well: his renters often turn to them because he overcharges them, neglects their requests for repairs, and sometimes even threatens them. From all sides, from renters, advocates, the neighborhood council officials, and from the point of view of squatters due to Tamacht’s Mafioso behavior by sending thugs to recently squatted properties (most recently, shortly after the squatting of the Veemarkt http://dvxs.nl/~skwot/2008/Jul/0076.html#start and  http://indymedia.nl/nl/2008/07/53584.shtml in summer, 2008 but also after the squatting of Celebesstraat 35/36 in 2005), Tamacht’s behavior as a slumlord and thug is renowned.


Extensive repairs by squatters

Shortly after squatting it, the squatters extensively repaired 33-34 ground floors. They put in new beams and floors and repaired a leaking main water pipe that had caused rotten floor beams and drainage problems in the block as well as a health hazard with the resulting fungus, mold, and mosquito plagues.. They succeeded in making the space safe and habitable, a state that the neighborhood council of Zeeburg failed to enforce.


Abzik! From Grow Shop Owner to Hotel Manager to Real Estate Speculant

In June, 2008, the squatters learned that Faycal Abzik bought 33-34 for 1, 050,000 euros in which Tamacht profited over 800,000 from the sale acting as a slumlord for 10 years. The following facts are known: that Abzik is 27 years old, owns two properties, one in IJsselstein that he claims to reside in and the other in Amsterdam, Centuurbaan 438. He also leases a hotel on the Prinsengracht, called the Town House Hotel. In 2007, he started a real estate company named Fatma Vastgoed, on the same day he received a second mortgage on his property at the Ceintuurbaan from the FGH bank, his current employer. A nice start for his speculation career. By now, he has extended his movement possibilities by involving his wife Fatma Aajoud in his dealings, who since purchasing the Celebesstraat 33/34 on September 29, 2008, also has a real estate company named Falisa Vastgoed. But with such a small portfolio of property and being so young, how has Abzik acquired the funds to buy more property?


Some facts that may answer these questions: Abzik owned and ran a grow shop in Utrecht in the past. Did his connections to the grey world of drugs suddenly infuse him with cash? Often, real estate speculation white washes profits earned through the underworld of the narcotics industry. Abzik also works for FGH bank, well-known as a provider of financial services to speculators with a criminal background, like Eric van Toorenburg ( http://speculanten.nl/node/92), Joe McCarthy ( http://speculanten.nl/origs/mccarthy/Waarrookis.html) and the assassinated Bertus Luske ( http://squat.net/nl/news/bertus170803.html). Is money laundering a possibility?



Solidarity and Cooperation with Tenants of 33-34

With the prospect of such a questionable new owner, Kraakgroep Celebesstraat started working with the renters of Celebesstraat 33-34. Each renter had a different position. In 33, the renters, have lived in the building for years. During this time, these renters, despite the harassment and mistreatment by Tamacht, have fought and won their tenants’ rights. They successfully lowered their rents to the legal standard through the Rental Commission procedure. Unfortunately, one of them could not put up any longer with the pressure of Tamacht and the bad state of her apartment. She recently arranged new housing for herself and her small daughter.


Harrassing Renter through Court Procedure

Tamacht had given an illegal temporary contract to one of the other renters. Despite the absurd clauses in the contract and the clear illegality of it, Tamacht has been harassing her with a court case to push her to leave, claiming that she was illegally subletting. He is currently suing her to evict her although his contract was completely illegal and sleazy and he has no prospect of winning his case to evict her.


Building Renovation without Permit

Tamacht had been illegally renovating Celebesstraat 34-3, without a building permit, and was forced to stop his renovation by the Housing Inspection in 2007. Until the sale, it seems that Tamacht rented this apartment to out of town guests as an illegal hotel room.


Bulgarian Renters and Workers: exploited for their labor and as tenants

Bulgarian workers employed by Tamacht lived in Celebesstraat 34-1 and 34-2. In 34-1, two Bulgarian families resided in a space of 55 square meters. Tamacht overcharged them on rent and may have forced them to pay the utilities for the entire building. When the two families moved into the apartment, it was in a horrendous state. At his own cost, the father had to renovate the apartment and install the bathroom and the kitchen. Because of the difficult political situation of Bulgarians in Holland and because the Bulgarian tenants of 34-1 were uninformed of their rights, Tamacht easily exploited them by not giving them a rental contract and underpaying them for their labor. The tenants had to pay their rent in cash and endure the harassment of Tamacht, which together amounted to a situation of modern-day slavery.


In 34-2, two more Bulgarian families lived in a space of 55 square meters, in which the women worked as cleaners for Tamacht. Tamacht used them as anti-squatters, moving these two families from property to property as he sees fit. They also felt indebted to Tamacht for housing and jobs. Tamacht intentionally continued this dependency by refusing to allow them to register at the Celebesstraat to prevent them from claiming their tenants rights. Not being able to register has caused them problems: they have children who attend school in Amsterdam but can’t get books. They have limited access to healthcare. Although as Bulgarians, they have some EU rights, their inability to register places them in the shadowland of illegality in Amsterdam, namely because Tamacht won’t let them to register. In all official papers and communications to others Tamacht claims Celebesstraat 34 had been empty for years, denying the existence of these people.


Supporting and Strengthening Tenants Rights

Given the different situations and the new owner, Abzik, who clearly told the squatters that he intended to empty the building of all its inhabitants, renters and squatters, Kraakgroep Celebesstraat decided to inform all the tenants of their rights and support them in the defense of those rights.


The father of the family in 34-1 had already registered in the apartment. When Tamacht informed him that he had to move out within two weeks, the Squatters brought Ivan in contact with the Huurdersvereniging Oost, who then advocated on their behalf with both Tamacht and Abzik. The tenants of 34-1 fighting for their tenants’ rights jeopardized Tamacht’s deal with Abzik since Tamacht was supposed to sell 34 empty of residents. To save the deal, Tamacht offered the family an apartment. Consequently, they moved out of Celebesstraat 34; a short-sighted solution because if they had continued working with the Huurdersvereniging and the , they most likely would have been able to obtain a permanent contract for his apartment and achieve freedom from Tamacht’s tyranny. The families of 34-2 left their houses for unknown destinations.


Werelds Wonen: an initiative to push out all the immigrants out of the neighborhood and replace them with the rich and the white

In August, 2008, John Stoelinga, a civil servant of Stadsdeel Zeeburg with the Werelds Wonen project, visited the tenants of 33. Mr. Stoelinga extolled Mr. Abzik as the new owner. He stated that Stadsdeel Zeeburg sought to 'diversify the population' by ridding the neighborhood of poor renters to replace them with wealthier house owners. Thus, the Stadsdeel actively supports house owners who want to split buildings and sell off the apartments with huge profits at the expense of social housing and their less wealthy inhabitants. Zeeburg is full of working class immigrants who speak little Dutch and barely know their tenants’ rights. The visit of a civil servant informing them that they have to leave their apartments will usually succeed in pushing the residents out without resistence.


Stoelinga stated to the renters of 33 that in exchange for agreeing to leave, the Stadsdeel would propose the tenants to the priority housing list list so they could look for social housing. He then gave them two weeks to decide, implying that if they didn’t respond, they would lose their tenants rights for compensation and replacement housing. Stoelinga's biased way of presenting the situation gave the renters the impression they had no option but to move out and make room for the new owner's renovation plans. When the tenants asked questions about Abzik and whether he really was the new owner, Stoelinga replied that he had the contract on his desk. When the tenants requested a copy of the contract to confirm that Abzik was in fact the new owner, Stoelinga obfuscated, replying that he was unsure if he could provide this information.


Zeeburg Civil Servant: Promoting the interest of an owner from Ijselstein?

A few hours after the visit from Stoelinga, the tenants received phone calls from Abzik. Abzik stated that he had received their telephone numbers from Stoelinga and proceeded to question the tenants about the content of their conversations with Stoelinga. In this respect, Stoelinga violated his role as a civil servant by advocating on behalf of Abzik, not even a resident of Zeeburg, to pressure the renters out. He violated the confidentiality of the conversations with the renters and also their privacy by giving their telephone numbers to Abzik without their permission. Given his outrageous behavior, does Stoelinga work for the residents of the Celebesstraat and the people of the neighborhood or does he work for sleazy owners with dubious connections?


Stoelinga’s visit offended the tenants. Working with Kraakgroep Oost and the Huurdersvereniging Groot Oost, the renters wrote complaint letters about Stoelinga’s abuse of authority. In response, the stadsdeel dismissed their complaints by defending Stoelinga, only apologizing that Stoelinga had given their telephone numbers to Abzik without their permission. Meanwhile, to take distance from Abzik and his pressuring telephone calls, emails, visits, and smses, the renters asked the Huurdersvereniging Oost to act as their spokesperson with Abzik.


Bouwvergunning: shady building plans that the owners will never implement


Tamacht applied to split and renovate Celebesstraat 33-34 in March 2008. The plan is to renovate and then split the buildings into condominiums and earn enormous profits. To prevent the fine of 80.000 resulting from the aanschrijvingenprocedure Tamacht even brought a respected contractor to a meeting with the stadsdeel stating that this man would execute the renovation. The stadsdeel had enough experience with Tamacht's shabby renovation practices to reject Tamacht’s plan. In the meantime he was already working out a deal with Abzik since January.


The squatters of the Celebesstraat and the tenants of 33 have enough experience with Tamacht and his vague promises to repair and renovate to know that he will never do so. The squatters kept tabs on the status of the building permit by periodically checking with the stadsdeel since the application in March. The stadsdeel stated that they would make a decision on the application by July 17. The squatters called again in the middle of September and the stadsdeel stated that the building file was closed due to missing information in the application. The next day, September 18, the building permit was granted. Since then, the tenants of 33 and The squatters of the Celebesstraat have filed a complaint against the building permit and have requested a procedure to freeze the permit while the complaints are under review. The permitted building plan contains major inaccuracies and grave mistakes have been made in the approval process. On these grounds the permit should be withdrawn.


The whole process around the building permit is an example of a secretive and undemocratic process. Through years of experience with Tamacht, the neighborhood council has learned that he is untrustworthy, greedy, and unreliable. Without any proof, the neighborhood council immediately promotes Abzik as a trustworthy alternative. They tell the residents that the building permit dossier is closed while actually working with Abzik to approve his undisclosed building plans—a process that is supposed to be open to the public and available for public perusal but in this case it is secretive and deceptive.


Abzik: Another version of Tamacht?

Since October 1, Abzik, of rather his wife’s company, Falisa Vastgoed, is the new owner of Celebesstraat 33/34. There are some facts that indicate that Abzik is just as sleazy and dubious as Tamacht. As asked earlier, where do his funds originate? More importantly, just like Tamacht, Abzik has disregarded procedures for safety and maintenance of buildings. He owns Centuurbaan 438, a property where he has fused two apartments together and renovated without a permit for either, offering it for rent for 1750, - a month. For Celebesstraat 33/34 Abzik stated he plans to empty the building of inhabitants, renovate, split and sell, speculating on a profit of about 1 million euros. A clone for Tamacht?


Abzik: A Front for Tamacht?

It also seems that Tamacht’s deal with Abzik is merely a façade to solve a number of Tamacht’s problems in Celebesstraat 33-34.


Through Abzik, Tamacht can solve the following problems:




Lastly, to support the argument that Abzik is a front for Tamacht, Tamacht is no longer the owner of 33-34, yet he has two court cases against the residents—squatters and renters. Tamacht’s behavior as an owner has only one logic: Greed. He actively pursues sources of income and avoids expenses by neglecting his properties. Yet, he still continues with the case against the renter despite the overwhelming probability that he will lose and be held responsible for all costs. But why? Such an action only makes sense if this deal with Abzik is intended to kick out the residents and avoid the fine.


In the court case of the squatters, Tamacht states that if he fails in evicting the squatters before December 1st, he has to pay a fine of 50,000 euros to Abzik. Again, since October 1 Tamacht is no longer the owner yet, he is the party for the court case. Clearly, Tamacht and Abzik have made this deal in order to create a ground for kicking out the residents. The aim is to split the apartments and sell them for high profits. With a crappy building plan doesn’t take you so far. Who takes the risk to invest money into renovation when there is a credit crisis and one does not know if it’s possible to sell for a profit? Stripping has begun in 34 to prevent them from being squatted. Does stripping guarantee that a renovation will occur? Even if the buildings are renovated, then Amsterdam will once again, lose social housing.


The squatters of the Celebesstraat demands the following:


  1. The building permits are withdrawn for Celebesstraat 33-34

  2. The complaints against Stoelinga by the tenants of Celebesstraat 33-34 are reviewed by an objective and impartial authority and that Stoelinga is disciplined for his abuse of authority

  3. Tamacht is investigated by the authorities for abusing Bulgarian workers and exploiting immigrants as kraakwachten

  4. The Stadsdeel issues the dwangsom to Tamacht and Abzik

  5. Stadsdeel Zeeburg radically reviews the goals and tactics of the Werelds Wonen program that pushes renters out of the neighborhood in favor of yuppie homeowners, and that takes advantage of immigrants and their vulnerabilities

  6. Instead of evicting the squatted apartments to be speculated, social housing is guaranteed in those spaces.