Eeek, we're moving

[Sabeine]

We're moving this Tuesday to another apt about 5 min by car from where we live now. This new place is almost 2000sek a month cheaper than what we are paying right now. The place we live in currently is newer and therefore the rent is higher. This new place is near a lake and in a quieter neighborhood so we are happy.

What I am not happy about is the move itself, and also the person that lives in the new place is being very cheap. He wants money for everything that we thought were a part of the apt. Now he says that the dishwasher is his as is the freezer! If so, then he has to put back the old ones but he says he's gotten rid of them long ago. So Anders told him that what's there is ours now. The man refused and told us we have to buy them. We called our management company and they are "trying to work something out" whatever that means. If the guy is so stupid as to throw out what was a part of the apt then he is responsible to replace it. At least this is how I see it. The guy is digging in tooth and nail and acting like a true jerk. He is one cheap bastard. Excuse the language. I don't want to "work something out" does that mean that we'd have to pay him a difference? If so, I feel that he has to take the loss since he threw away the original things and leaves us with no choice. or better yet

So that's the situation. We're also going to be without internet for about two weeks even though Anders called to swtich it over a month ago. Such is great service.

Off my soapbox now and back to packing.

Sabeine (a bit ticked off today)

[Carolyn]

Damn, I'd be royally ticked off. He tosses fixtures and fittings away that came with the apartment, he should bloody well have to replace them, not you guys! Hope that whatever "gets worked out" is to your advantage, not his.

[Cake Guru]

Definately contact Hyregästföreningen. just because he *says* he threw the stuff away does not make you responsible for this stuff. What he is doing is against the law. (my father in law is a judge at Hyresnämnden)

[Sabeine]

Thanks Cake Guru, and Carolyn.

We have once again talked to our förvaltaren and they say that he is wrong. They said that we do NOT have to buy the items from him. The man has started to nearly harrass us with daily phone calls telling us to buy the items. I answered once and told him we are not buying the dishwasher and freezer, he cannot sell them to us since they should be a part of the apt now. He was a bit rude with a comment about that I don't know much, then I told him to not call here again and that we would consider it a form of harrassment and police anmäla him. He hasn't called since Sat. Then I called our förvaltaren and asked them if the locks will be changed and they said yes. I also asked if there was a way that I could get proof of this via a locksmith receipt and they said sure. This is turning into a big problem with this man, he is getting a bit scary. He seemed so normal when we first met him. The problem though is that if this man takes the items with him then förvaltaren will replace them. The replacements will most likely be new, and then they said they will have to add that onto the rent. I am upset over this because this was not what we signed on for. We are a bit stuck too since our current place has been rented and we can't say no to our new place since housing is in high demand here in Stockholm as in most larger cities in Sweden.

We won't know until tomorrow what will happen since that is when we get our keys. Until then I am holding out hope that the man will come to his senses and leave the "vitvaror". Otherwise we will be calling both the förvaltaren and the föreningen that Cake Guru posted about. At least we know that förvaltaren is on our side. I asked them if Anders and I bought slightly older/used dishwasher and freezer ourselves would förvaltaren lower our rent then since these items were included in the original rent. They said they would think about it. That was nice to hear at least. I really hope that it won't happen like that though, it is a lot to shell out for those two items, money we were planning to spend on other things like a trip over Xmas to see my sister. We don't have to buy a dishwasher that is not imperative, but we do have to have a freezer.

[Sabeine]

I should add that we will most likely not have internet for two weeks or so. Our service will be cut off in our current place tomorrow and the service in the new place won't occur until the middle of the month.

I'll post what happened once we get internet, or maybe I could get to the library but we'll see. We are going to be removing wallpaper from both bedrooms, hall and living room and then painting them. It will take a bit of time combined with the actual move I might not have so much time to get to the library.

But I'll be back here in two weeks and tell the "tales of the move" hopefully I won't be crushed by a sea of boxes or fall into one. ha ha. I'm sure it will go well, I'm hoping so.

[Sabeine]

We have internet! I thought it wouldn't arrive until the middle of the month, so this was a great surprise.

We are still moving so far we have mainly been painting and such.

The former tenants took the dishwasher and freezer, they're jerks.

Cake Guru, I got your message today. I hadn't checked my voicemail for many days. Thanks for calling and leaving a message. I think that things will work out, förvältaren has now said that they will most likely pay for the items at no cost to us. They will charge the former tenant though. They also left the place pretty messy and there is the handle missing for the oven and things like this. We have made a felanmäla for these things and they said they will come and take a look on Monday. I think it sucks that the former tenants are such bastards. It's hard enough to move without the additional crap that they have put us through. I think it will work out in the end, it just might take awhile.

[Brandy]

Sabeine, I'm so sorry for your troubles. I really haven't heard any stories like that before. Honest. It seems like it was just really bad luck. I'm sure that förv. will take care of everything. The hassle must just be an added royal pain.

Good luck and take it easy!

[Natooke]

We have internet! I thought it wouldn't arrive until the middle of the month, so this was a great surprise.

Glad to hear there was one thing that worked out during the move. What a royal pain in the butt this guy is ...

[Sabeine]

Yes this situation is really unique. We have moved once before here in Stockholm and didn't have this problem with the former tenants. In fact the former tenants were pretty nice and left us some shelving for our storage unit at no cost to us. We are leaving them for the next tenants who we have also met and they are super nice people! I'm also buying a nice little plant with a note attached welcoming them into their new place. I think it will be a nice surprise for them, and give them a smile.

I ran into idiot tenants like this man back in the States too. I bought a condo and the sellers were similar in the respect that they changed things moments before I was to move in. The good thing with that situation was that I was a RE agent and was aware of my buyer's rights and knew who to go to get the matter straightened out. Things were also resolved pretty quickly. Here I am not aware so much of my rights. Förvaltaren is working for us to get things straightened out but the problem (and I guess sometimes can be a good thing too) is that they are trying to be so diplomatic with this man. I wish they would just send the man a bill and be done with it. Why do they have to coddle him almost to the point of making him feel like he is somehow in the right? It irks me. I want things resolved quickly and this is a bit patience trying. Not only did he take the freezer, and dishwasher but the oven handle is missing, and yesterday we realized after studying the floorplan again that so are two closets that were supposed to be in the storage unit. I know it's going to be resolved it is just such a pain in the meanwhile where each time we discover something we have to felanmäla and then a couple days later someone will come to look and see if this is true. It is time consuming with the waiting when all we want to do is move our stuff. We can't move anything into the storage unit because if they are going to put in the two missing closets then we can't have stuff in the unit until the closets are replaced. Grrrr...

Sabeine (still standing on soapbox, but now shaking fists) ;D

[Aussie]

Gosh Sabeine what a pain for you. I guess as you say there are weird people everywhere but isn't it a shame that the nice people are always the ones to be inconvenienced.

When we moved from our rented apartment three years ago, we scrubbed everything clean and made sure that all was in perfect order. We were there when the owners did the inspection and passed it. They even checked behind the stove, the exhaust fans, windows - everything! I was surprised at how thorough the cleaning process was expected to be and my brother-in-law who is a real estate agent here in Stockholm told me that this was the norm.

We had removed the hat and shoe racks and installed a cupboard instead and we had to "make good" the change - everything had to be exactly as it was when the place was first rented to my guy 6 years before. He had kept the hat and shoe racks in the shed and simply sold the cupboard and replaced the original fittings. If he had thrown them away, we would have been charged for new ones, so I don't see how this guy can possibly waltz away with these things.

We ended up buying an apartment and the old owners (who I still see in town occasionally) were wonderful. Not only was the place spotless, but they left a small gift and card to welcome us to our new home. I really appreciated their thoughtfulness.

I hope this eventually gets sorted out to your advantage. And yes, you may be right in that the agent needs to be tougher with this guy!

[Carolyn]

Just an update for those who may be wondering where the heck she is, Sabeine called me today. Apparently what they thought was THEIR internet connection turned out to be about 2 days worth of the previous tenant's internet connection before it was shut off, and Sabeine won't be getting "turned on" (sorry, couldn't resist, I'm an old hippy), until around the 1st of July. So unless she can make it down to a library and actually get on line before then, we're going to have some personal dead air from her for the next couple weeks. But she's okay over-all and will update when she can.