Hello people,
I was living in a dorm in Heilbronn from April to September 2023 which is managed by Studentenwerk Heidelberg. I have shifted to another city now but after 3+ months I received my deposit back. It has many deductions which I will be discussing. I was living in a 2 people sharing apartment.
When I moved in the room had some dust and I had to mop it clean also the common areas like the kitchen and bathroom were like they would be when being used(not shining clean). But when I was vacating and the housemaster came for inspection he was just being so uncooperative.
I swear I cleaned my room top to bottom with no dust or stain anywhere, and even though I never cooked, I cleaned the kitchen to the max and the toilet-shower-sink was whitest it has ever been, that guy came and spotted 2-4 strands of hair or some dust accumulated near window corner in some shelves and rejected the inspection and asked me to do it again. Sorry but after moving to Germany my hair fall is a little more than normal, no matter how much I clean, somewhere you can find a strand or two. That guy wants a brand new apartment from me which I could deliver sorry. I asked him to be reasonable because something so basic should be ignored. Later I just simply did my best and then dropped off my keys to his mailbox on the last day. The very next working day, the new tenant moved in, and I got to talk to her via the roommate. She complained about the tidiness in the kitchen specifically.
Now when I received less deposit amount I was chill as I was expecting this and had already accepted it, but I was curious regarding whether the Studentenwerk actually sends a cleaning company and then charges me according to that, so I asked the new tenant whether or not anyone came to clean the apartment? She said ‘NO’. They deducted around 190 EUR and even then no service was wrong according to me, so I mailed the property manager in Heilbronn asking her for the breakdown of the cost, she then sent me a breakdown which I will attach. It had 80 EUR for cleaning(50 charged to me and then 30 to be forwarded to the new tenant as compensation) which is fair, to be honest, and I don’t mind this. But SURPRISINGLY, there was around 100 EUR deduction for “KEYS LOST”. I had a keycard for the room and apartment, and two physical keys – one for the mailbox and one for the nightstand in the room. I was charged for all, I again checked with the new tenant and she confirmed that she got the keys the same day she moved in, and me moving out just the previous day doesn’t make any sense regarding the housemaster going to make new keys as there was a buffer day in between which was a public holiday.
The Studentenwerk is lying and cheating me with this charges, I want to visit but I don’t know what can I do if they still don’t cooperate and additionally, for more than one month the heating systems in the building was not working, meaning no hot water in the house, no heating at all, it was raining and on an average 10 Degree Celcius temps on some nights which was chilling. I am not exaggerating, I am a very adjusting person, but on some nights it was so cold it was terrible, and no help from Studentenwerk. This is a breach of contract as far as I can comprehend the contract. As an international student and a mere peasant, I didn’t do anything but now if they are willing to lie then I am willing to take it forward. Will the ASta provide any help or the renter’s association can look into this? Any guidance? Sorry for getting too personal and in detail here, I think it was necessary to understand the situation. Thank you so much if you have read it all. I really appreciate it. I hope you have the best year.
[News Article regarding no heating in apartment](https://www.stimme.de/regional/heilbronn/stadt/lokales/kein-warmes-wasser-zimmer-wohnheim-studenten-heilbronn-max-planck-strasse-studierendenwerk-heidelberg-art-4831387)
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by jeetpatel20