/ 2 February 2007

Platinum-plated Parreira

Okay. You are one of the country’s top earners, raking in a touch under R2-million a month. You are only here until 2010 and so may want to rent rather than buy a joint to call home.

New Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira is reportedly looking to rent a house for R60 000 a month. Parreira is currently holed up in a five- star hotel in Sandton but has said he wants to find a house within the week.

The Mail & Guardian, a little surprised that Jo’burg rentals could be so high, decided to inquire just how much top-end rental properties can command.

Pam Golding’s Gauteng rentals agent, Sarah West, says the top rental property on its books is valued at R65 000.

West said the agency had a three-bedroom, fully furnished unit in Sandton’s Michelangelo Towers and a luxurious five-bedroom Hyde Park house available for R65 000. The latter is still available, a potential renter having decided that it was “too expensive”.

The Michelangelo unit is fully serviced and the resident has access to three swimming pools, a gym, sauna and beauty salon.

West says the most expensive suburbs in Johannesburg tended to be Hyde Park, Sandton and Westcliff.

But if R65 000 a month is a little low for your budget, Aida’s Mark Lewis says you can do better than this, with a number of three-acre mansions available in Bryanston for between R75 000 and R100 000 a month.

Lewis says these fully furnished mansions have luxuries like tennis courts, outbuildings, staff quarters and entertainment areas.

He says Aida also has a number of fully furnished four- and five-bedroom houses with swimming pools available in Bryan­ston and Sandton that are around the R50 000-a-month mark.

You can spend more. Just say your idea of the good life is living in a hotel penthouse with a plethora of services no further than the service bell away.

The top price at the Michelangelo, which has two presidential suites, is R10 145 a night. Any food and liquids consumed are extra. The suites offer a private dining area, with a lounge and a 24-hour butler service.

An impressive offering, but a little shabby, price-wise, compared to boutique hotel The Saxon, once insurance supremo Douw Steyn’s private home. The Saxon has two top-of-the-range suites available, the Mandela and Mbeki platinum suites, which can be booked for a whopping R18 700 a night. Breakfast is thrown in.

The Saxon’s website says it won the award for the world’s best boutique hotel in 2003. The platinum suites are described as “500 square metres of unadulterated luxury”, including two bedrooms, en-suite bathrooms, a bar, private elevator, butler’s kitchen and lounge and dining areas.