Forget original features or catchment areas for schools, says Afghanistan’s first British estate agent, “what counts as a des res here is very different”.
Richard Scarth, a Royal Navy reservist, first went to Kabul three years ago when he was called up to be a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), then to work on the country’s ill-fated disarmament programme. He admits he did not persuade many warlords to hand in their guns but he did fall in love with the country.
As a trained chartered surveyor, he also saw a gap in the market. The fall of the Taliban in December 2001 had resulted in the influx of more than 1,000 western aid agencies, as well as contractors and security companies, not to mention the return of thousands of refugees. Soon the Afghan capital was in the middle of a property boom, with rents higher than in much of London and unscrupulous landlords creaming off enormous profits.
Scarth decided not to return to London but to set up the country’s first western-style “professional and ethical” estate agency.
“My plan is to become the Foxtons of Kabul,” he says of his company, Property Consulting Afghanistan. “This is a place of 4m people who need to move house and rent offices in a city designed for 600,000. Yet nobody else is doing property professionally.”
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Ethical is not a word usually associated with Afghan property dealers: not only do leases and land registry documents tend to have been destroyed in the years of war, but bribes, extortion and forgery are commonplace. So are Kalashnikov- toting warlords who take a fancy to a place and move in regardless of who might have leased it.
“Everyone is an opportunist here and they set the standards,” says Scarth. “Foreigners cannot buy property, just take on a 50-year lease, so they had to let and rentals were inflated by people not knowing what they were doing.
“Westerners are happier dealing with me because we speak the same language,” he adds. “If they want a three-bed house, I’ll show them one, not a 12-bed. Afghans all seem to think that westerners want kidney- shaped baths, over-the-top Arabic-style houses, and two bathrooms each.”
Instead, the main prerequisites are a generator, because the city power supply is so erratic, and some kind of sewage disposal unit as Kabul has no central system. Properties rented by western agencies have to comply with UN guidelines for minimum operating security standards. This means blast film on the windows, a certain height of wall and a secure room or bomb shelter. In many cases this also means surrounding exterior walls with concrete blocks or Hesco ballast bags.
Property in post-Taliban Kabul has been good business. Over the past year the city has seen the opening of its first five-star hotel and shopping mall. It has thriving restaurants and a pizza delivery service. Coca-Cola is building a factory, and the city’s first takeaway cappuccino bar, Kabul Cafe, recently opened.
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But with many Afghans still living in shelled-out buildings and their children going to school in tents, there has been anger among locals that much of the foreign aid to Afghanistan goes to pay exorbitant rents of NGOs. Two months ago, when a speeding US military convoy killed some pedestrians, resentment spilled over into a day of riots in which many aid agencies and embassies were attacked.
Rents became so unrealistic that the city’s first cocktail bar, the Elbow Room, was forced to close when its monthly payment was tripled. But prices are starting to come down. Kabul is experiencing something of a building boom, largely fuelled by drug money, which exceeds aid funding, and the worsening security situation means there are fewer foreigners.
Even so, the properties Scarth is marketing include a four-bed house for £2,600 a month and a monstrous place for £10,500 a month, with 36 rooms and 27 bathrooms.
Scarth did not find it easy to set up his agency — he had to have 15 documents signed by the authorities before he got his permit. Only Afghans can be registered as property dealers, which meant finding a local partner.
His company now deals in both residential and commercial property. “On sales there is a fixed commission of 1% by law, but I think they meant it to be 10%, while for rent the custom is one month’s rent over one year.”
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Because his clients are mostly foreign, he finds himself also providing advice on anything from legal issues through to security assistance and tips on learning Dari, the local language.
At the moment under Afghan law, property dealers are only allowed one shop. He is also yet to acquire a vehicle. “I would like to have one of those Foxtons-style Minis whizzing around with our name on the side, but at the moment it’s too dangerous.”
Another problem is that he can’t put up “For Sale” boards because “there is no code of conduct, so if you put up a board, the vendor will just sell without giving you your commission”.
Instead, Scarth relies on word of mouth and advertising in Afghan Scene, a glossy monthly magazine for expats. Unlike his Afghan competitors, he has a website (www.pc-af.com) and printed property details.
The most popular areas of Kabul are Wazir Akbar Khan, where Osama Bin Laden’s Arabs used to live, and Shar-i-Nau in the centre. Both are near the Isaf compound, handy if there is an evacuation of foreigners.
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Scarth identifies as his up-and-coming area Kart-e Sey near the new Parliament, though he admits this suffered a setback when rioters burnt down its new Pizza Express.
Recent riots in which many westerners’ homes were ransacked or burnt may have deterred some, but Scarth has the estate agent’s knack of seeing character where others might see dereliction. “It’s an opportunity,” he says. “A lot of people are relocating to better areas. People want to be hidden behind compounds, and basements are very popular.”