Vauban&Fort is the precursor of co-living in Luxembourg, with a long experience in shared rentals. They are a rare sight in the media, but Vauban&Fort is the precursor of coliving in Luxembourg, with a long experience in shared rentals. Its watchword is to create a community of trust between roommates, whether they have already lived in one of the apartments, are still living there, or are about to move in. In conversation with the team of Vauban&Fort, let’s get to know more about them.

Tell us about Vauban&Fort.

Vauban&Fort is one of the pioneers of coliving in Luxembourg, since 2015. We have focused on creating real communities, with tenants that you can easily connect and become friends with.

At the heart of it, our business is a rent-optimization tool for owners who can take advantage of the traditional benefits of a reliable long-term tenant, but additionally get a number of services that we provide, free of charge. These include services like, professional cleaning and maintenance, for example. Owners also gain flexibility, as well as a higher rental yield.

How did you come up with the idea?

One of our partners has been living in London and New York for close to 13 years now. In many ways these bigger cities are a couple of years ahead in urban living trends. Much of what we are doing right now evolved out of the experiences gained abroad, combined with the in-depth knowledge of the Luxembourg market, its customs, and traditions.

Coliving, by design, is the solution to the challenges faced in urban centres. It represents a more efficient use of living space, which means a higher number of living units in less space and a higher yield on real estate income. This is particularly useful for a place like Luxembourg, which experienced a similar growth rate to Manhattan in the 1920s, but which struggles with urban living spaces. Given that, this trend represents a tremendous opportunity for all parties involved.

“As our strong growth over the last five years suggests, our expertise lies specifically in knowing how to make sure that our rooms are both, desirable and affordable.”

What products/services do you offer?

We provide a quality-focused product by carefully matching people to individual properties and we focus on creating real homes. Our tenants stay, on average, about 18 months or more at a property, and for them their home is much more than just a place to sleep. Their home is the most important place to them outside of work, and a major factor that affects overall happiness. So when you relocate to Luxembourg, you want to get this right from the get-go. And our business is here for exactly that, we ensure that living with great people is not occurring by accident, but by design.

Who are your clients?

Our clients are international professionals – usually between the ages of 22 and 42 – with a university degree, who come from all over the world to live and work in Luxembourg. Our portfolio of property owners is predominantly Luxembourgian, but we also have international property owners, which speaks to the cultural diversity we have in Luxembourg City.

What is your business model?

We guarantee owners their next rent. In turn, we manage situations where we might not always be fully rented out (e.g. if we cannot find the appropriate candidate to join an existing flatshare, the room stays vacant until we do).

However, as our strong growth over the last five years suggests, our expertise lies specifically in knowing how to make sure that our rooms are both, desirable and affordable. In this way, we can continuously attract the right clientele and guarantee high-quality services.

What’s next for you?

We are looking for bigger real estate projects in Luxembourg City and we would also like to expand into either Brussels, London, or possibly Copenhagen, by the end of Q4 in 2021.