'Rabbit Hutch' Flats To Be Abolished?

Monday, 30 October 2023 at 12:00

A proposition has been lodged to review the minimum space allowance in apartments in Jersey.

Reform Jersey's Deputy Tom Coles wants the Environment Minister to look back on the minimum standard of residential spaces for the first time since 2009.

Jersey has seen an increase in one-bedroom, one-person occupancy flats built in recent years.

However, Deputy Coles says these flats are too small to raise a family in, and islanders will move on from them.

"The issue I have is that we have developments like Horizon, which was able to develop 119 flats that fitted a one-bedroom single occupancy category These apartments are just too small.

I mean if you look at the price at the ones on Horizon, at over £300,000, you know by the time you've taken to save up a 10% deposit, you've got to be earning more than £43,000 to be able to get a mortgage to pay for the rest.

With the interest rates the way that they are, more than a third of your income will be going to pay for the mortgage on that property."

He wants to see the minimum one-bedroom space allowance to be for two people, at least, and for two-bedroom apartments to be able to accommodate four people.

As family dynamics in the island change, the St Helier deputy says a two-bedroom apartment of this size will allow a single child to have enough room to live with their parents into adulthood, which is a common theme amongst households.

"You know children aren't leaving home as early as they used to."

The St Helier South deputy's proposal will be debated at a future States sitting.