In the middle
Rats in the basement, broken elevators, leaky windows: the tenants in a residential complex in Mainz have been on their own for months. The landlord, a company from Munich, is insolvent.
When Badegül Elmas stands in her kitchen and cooks, she sees the rats outside in the courtyard of her residential complex. “It’s so disgusting,” she says. “I’m pissed that nothing is happening here.”
Rats had also made their home in the tenant’s basement. “Everything was eaten and dirty, my wedding dress, a lot of memorabilia from my children, boxes of personal things, I threw almost everything away.”
Elmas had to take on the pest control himself. She scattered rat poison, set traps and temporarily stored the items that were still usable in the garage.
The landlord, an investment company from Munich, has not responded to complaints for months. “Whenever I reached someone after dozens of calls and emails, they said we’d take care of it – the last time was eight months ago,” says Elmas, shaking his head.
Broken elevators, broken heaters, no internet
A number of tenants in the residential complex feel the same way as Elmas. The list of defects is long: windows are leaking, heating systems are cold, and the walls in some apartments are moldy.
For almost six months there was no light in the stairwell of one of the houses – the energy supplier had turned off the electricity because the owner didn’t pay. As a result, the distributor for the Internet connection no longer had any power.
“I fell twice in the dark stairwell,” says Siesto Genarro from the second floor. What bothers him even more is that the elevators don’t work. “That’s not possible,” he complains. “We have people here who need an elevator.”
For example Bibiana Borkowski. After hip surgery, she has trouble walking. The climb to the fourth floor is difficult for the 70-year-old, and she has to take breaks again and again. A neighbor in the building next door can no longer leave her apartment, says Andreas Borkowski, Bibiana’s husband.
Andreas Borkowski and Badegül Elmas always enjoyed living in the Mainz residential complex. But now the conditions are untenable.
Diakonie criticizes the way social housing is handled
“The situation in the residential complex is really fatal for many tenants,” says Andreas Blum from Diakonie Rheinhessen. The educator runs the intercultural community center “Katzenberg-Treff,” which is located a few meters away. Blum is the contact person for the local people, many of whom live in social housing.
“People already have enough problems in their everyday lives,” says Blum, and the poor living situation is “on top of that.” Many are overwhelmed and cannot defend themselves. Blum also criticizes: “It cannot be the case that social housing, which is already scarce in Germany, deteriorates so much and people are left alone.”
Igor and Irina Sibirski, for example, can only take warm showers because their son got them a used water heater and installed it. Hers was broken for weeks, but the landlord couldn’t be reached for her either.
Landlord responds to SWR request
On SWRThe landlord communicated the request in writing via a communications agency in November last year:
Due to recent developments and events, the previous property management recently had to terminate the contractual relationship. At the moment we are in very advanced contract negotiations with another provider to ensure emergency administration and to resolve the problems with a new administration.”
Nothing has improved in the residential complex since then. Upon further request from SWR Three weeks ago there was no response.
What the city is doing
The city of Mainz has also been involved for a long time. A spokesman said it was now known that the owner of the property was insolvent.
But that wasn’t clear for a long time. It was difficult for the city to contact the landlord because the “ownership situation was difficult to understand.”
As early as April last year, the Mainz-Bingen health department identified “significant deficiencies” in the facility and asked the Mainz public order office to take action. Since then, the city has made several unsuccessful attempts to reach the landlord.
However, we are now in contact with the insolvency administrator. “We asked the owner to remove garbage and clean the outside area, to commission professional pest control and to take on maintenance tasks on a permanent basis,” explains Ralf Peterhanwahr from the city of Mainz.
Tenants’ association advises rent reduction
Franz Obst, chairman of the Rhineland-Palatinate regional association of the German Tenants’ Association, says the situation of the tenants in the Mainz residential complex is not an isolated case. People with similar problems repeatedly turned to the tenants’ association. Rent reduction is a legitimate means in such cases.
In principle, the law allows the rent to be reduced if “the housing value is limited”. Obst believes that this is clearly the case with regard to the apartments in Mainz. The amount of the rent reduction depends on how severely the housing value is limited.
Some residents of the Mainz residential complex have reduced their rent, but many are afraid of being fired, says Badegül Elmas. She also still pays the full rental price. Just like Andreas Borkowski, who has already written numerous letters of complaint.
Both always emphasize that they generally enjoy living in the complex. And Elmas adds: “Our children grew up here together, many neighbors have known each other for decades, this is our home, you don’t just throw it away.”