December 19, 2001

Dear Sir,

I am writing in response to your letter to the Editor in today's Royal Gazette from S.Mallory from Southampton who should consider the landlord's perspective. Please print the following without my name.

"Yes, I agree the rents here are in some cases highly inflated but I think one should also consider that purchasing a home in Bermuda is equally as expensive. The reason some of the rents are so high is that in order to be able to afford a mortgage on the average house in Bermuda, one has to supplement with the creation of an apartment.

The income from rentals in many cases, is the only way that many Bermudians can own a piece of the rock. We would never have been able to buy our home without the support of a rental income. Granted some of the rents are extremely high and there are people making a lot of money through the renting of these supposed "mansions". Please realise too that there are many who need the income of these rentals to be able to afford the high prices of real estate here. It is hard to find a tiny single family dwelling for under $500.000 and it won't get you much. Many houses with apartments are more in the $700 - $800.000 range. This means a huge mortgage for those with minimal down payments.

So please, keep in mind, that some landlords are doing their best to make living as affordable as possible and not charge what they charge out of greed.

BERMUDIAN HOME OWNER

Flatts