kelle.de

I moved to Aachen.
This is a 4 word sentence. It sounds very simple, but in fact it was quite a hell of an effort.

First, I lived and worked in Vienna.
Then, I got an offer to work at OUNL, aka Open University of the Netherlands.
Then, I quit my job in Vienna so I could go and join OU as of 1.6.08.
At that point of time, I still had my flat in Vienna (actually it was a shared flat, but that doesnt make a difference).
So I took only part of what was there and brought it to my parent’s place near Freiburg, for storage.
Then, I went to the Netherlands to start my job. I didn’t have any accomodation so I stayed at a rather nice place in Heerlen, a boarding house in Villa style. It turned out after some weeks that things disappeared and that the staff was in fact quite rude/choleric, and most of the people (also the guests) consisted of elderly people. No, not elderly. Really thoroughly old. I felt like in an old people’s home. I had to get out of there.

Next, I looked for flats in NL but couldnt find anything proper. So I extended search radius onto Aachen, where I found a really cool flat. I made the deal and now I’m living in Aachen.

But this is only where the story starts.
One hitch of the deal was that the flat would first only be rented on intermediary terms, that is, a subcontract, I made with the prior tenant for the time while his contract with the house owner would be running out. The possibility for me to become the successor of the rental contract was (and is) there, so I was confident. After all, it would make sense to become the successor since I already would be living there.

So I seeked contact to the house owners. We had a nice chat in which they pointed out that they were not so happy with the prior tenants (an actor couple). They indicated that they didnt like their practice of sub-letting the flat (or parts of it) to 3rd parties. Which, btw included my deal with them. They said that they can make an exception in my case, so we parted in peace and all was fine. We also agreed to keep up the dialogue on negotiating a new contract for me to rent the flat directly in the future.

Then I went to Vienna. I contacted a slovak moving company that was recommended to me. I made a deal with them to bring all goods from Vienna to Aachen.

Then, while I was already sitting on packed  boxes, the phone rang. The house owners in Aachen had called to tell me that they object to letting any 3rd party use the flat. “This is nothing personal. You have to understand our point. Well, if you still want to move in, we won’t be seeing anything. But our official statement is that we don’t allow it.”

As you probably can imagine I was very alarmed and puzzled at how people can change their mind. I had the contract with the prior tenants. I called them and they advised me “Don’t listen to the house owner. They have no right to keep you from moving into the flat.”

The problem was that the prior tenant had stopped paying the rent because the house owner had indicated not to pay back any of the rent deposit. The months in question matched with the months that I would sub-rent the flat for.

After a day of fierce law study, I decided that the issue would have to be resolved in court. There were a couple of laws not abided by both the house owner and the prior tenant. My best tactic would be to insist on the subcontract I had bona fide entered into with the prior tenant, unbeknowest of the brawling conflict with the house owner.

So, after saying goodbye to everybody I had to leave behind in Vienna (which was not so easy I can tell you that), the moving took place. 2 slovak blokes and me loaded all of the stuff into the truck and then we drove all the way to Aachen, where we arrived some time in the middle of the night.

The next day we unloaded the truck and that’s where we are now.

Negotiations with the house owner will include a number of fuzzy aspects.
For once the flat is very large, divided into two seperate halves one of which would be ideal for sub-letting. The next thing is that the flat is not fully finished construction-wise. There is one balcony missing (instead there is an abyss you might easily fall into), and the access to the unfenced roof terrace is missing (another staircase in the corridor).

We will see how things evolve. One thing that makes me really like the flat is that it’s very spacious and bright.  It’s also right next to the train station where my commuter train takes me to work. It would be a nice space. But money and sub rental conditions will decide.

Update: I am moving again. I found a flat that is a bit smaller but of same style, in the outskirts of Aachen. I will spend less time commuting. This time I got a proper contract, and the flat not very expensive. Goodbye evil Landlord.