written by wife of husband, it was he who signed the contract and spoke with the landord, posted on husband’s account
We found a lovely apartment over [Finn.no](https://finn.no/), around this time last year. We were told everything was in order and ready to move into. We signed the contract (couldn’t be there for viewings, as we were on vacation but it really seemed like the ideal apartment for us. We signed the contract. Again, we were not told of any issues wrong with the apartment over emails or phone calls).
The deposit of 29000kr + 14500kr monthly rent.
On the day of moving in, the landlord gave us a very short 5 minute tour of the apartment. He said there was “one piece of damage to the wall” when there were noticeably more issues. Somehow, we thought nothing of this and just thought “perhaps he hasn’t checked more than one area of this apartment”. Whilst showing us opening the window, he had real trouble trying to close it again. Ok, fair enough, maybe he hasnt used those windows enough to know it might be broken – Turns out NONE of the windows are functioning, you need the right exact spot and the right exact strength of pull to close it properly and even then, there is winddrafts from each of the 3 windows AND on top of that, its on top of a restaurant and next door is a bar open to 3am almost every day full of tourists not sound proofed .
Ok, next, he conveniently forgot to show us the bathroom. I asked to see it, he let us in. There was an insane foul smell of sewage. I asked him about it and he responded “It’s just that the building has old pipes running through it, run the water and it’ll go away”, we ran the water. For hours, different days, different temperatures. trying to get rid of that smell, we also did a lot of researching and ways to get rid of it, asking plumber friends what could be the problem, it just… it didn’t go away. We are pretty sure that we just got accustomed to it eventually. My plumber friend said that pipes connected to restaurants are the worst and hardest to fix Not sure if this is ACTUALLY true but he did say they’re the worst jobs to work on.
The next issue: The stove. The stove would automatically fail every time you turned it on. It would fail in the middle of cooking if you accidentally moved a pan a little bit off the sensor. We were not told this was an issue, we weren’t told we’d have to run to the power switches, turn it off and on over and over until it connects. We actually didn’t know how much of a bother this was until it was a couple months in.. we did email him about these problems but wait there’s more
When we moved into this “fully refurbished” apartment, we noticed how DIRTY everything was, the duvets were STAINED, the mattress had a massive red stain near the bed side table, the towels were covered in make up stains and fake tan. The oven wear was FILTHY and caked in food, the table placemats, the baking equipment, everything was literally matted in old food. We actually decided on moving most of those things into storage because we had those items from my husband moving from uni dorms so it wasn’t THAT big of a deal but still bothersome nonetheless – Under the bed was worst of all too, filled with dustmites and smell of just old stagnant air, filled with these boxes filled with rusted hangers and old magazines that made them unusable anyways. Of course, it’s not a bother for us to not use it or take it away. I just wonder if the past tenant got reduced rent from leaving dirty items.. also, there were many other issues that are probably very menial to a lot of people hearing in the bedroom you sleep in, everytime the person above us uses the toilet.. not the best audio sounds to listen to and wake up to during the night, just as an example. or the fact almost all the apartment in the building are AIRBNB so there’s literally no privacy, constant noise and ruckus, constant cleaners everyday.. it was just a lot that i feel shouldve been told to us, given the fact we are paying 14500kr monthly, or is it just me being silly?
Now you’re probably thinking, “why didn’t you complain after?” we did email this to our landlord who asked us to document every issue we had these are all issues he told us about the day of moving in, we thought it was wrong of us to have to go through complaining about each and every problem of the apartment he’s already aware of and even refused to fix the stove top the day of moving in anyways because of the “awkward” measurements of the stove in the kitchen bench (realised this was a massive red flag too late). When it came to changing things out removing a picture frame from the wall he said and I quote “as long as everything is put back the way it is, i dont care if you paint the walls or hang up things, just make sure it is the way you moved in\* This to me, made me realise eventually, he doesnt actually care about these bigger problems in general and just wants someone to “deal with it” which we unfortunately did because we were dealing with other issues that required lawyer assistance too and it was just too much for our mental health to indulge both of those issues simultaneously…
So now, it’s been a year, we had ONE issue where we immediately emailed the landlord and told them of the issue. We had been using a kettle on the kitchen table and not noticed that the water spilling had made water damage on the top side of where it was standing bubble up a bit. We took full responsibility of that to begin with because we didn’t want to create unnecessary issues after we moved out and lets be honest, it would be pretty obvious that the table bubbling that there was an issue caused. Not to be pedantic but, the table was encrusted with dirt down the edges actually impossible to clean without having to buy some blade to fix it which in my opinion isn’t going to work that well for cheap wooden table anyways) and obvious coffee/hot chocolate spill all over the legs and sides of it. We didn’t complain about it. We just cleaned it because obviously MAYBE it was missed but isn’t it the responsibility of the landlord to make sure everything is in order for the next tenant too just like he expects the tenants to leave it as we came? \*amongst everything else discussed earlier
Now here comes the main issues: The landlord emails us with a attached file of a table from Ikea, it’s a table, exact model as the other table we had been using except it’s a different colour+material. First, we notice the price; 3500kr + shipping; 1700kr = 5200kr total for a small eating table from Ikea, I think to myself for such a table you can buy a better quality one that doesn’t bubble from water being on the table & should it be our responsibility for him to want a better quality table for more price than the original table to begin with. We check the table’s on the website, The same model and colour we had originally costs; 2000kr so total should technically be 3700kr. You may be thinking “why do you care, it’s only XYZ amount over”. It’s really just the principle, why would you buy a more expensive table in a different colour/material if we did not ruin such expensive table to begin with? It feels like we are being scammed here.
So I do all the cleaning and the cooking and maintaining of the home. I have deep cleaned that apartment so well, and restocked them with unused cleaning supplies had we left any dirt when we first moved in there were half-used cleaning supplies so we assumed we leave our cleaning products for the next tenants too except i didn’t want to leave them with ONLY half used things However, he has now sent pictures alongside the new table purchased. Included was a picture of the bags left under the bed that were ORIGINALLY THERE AND literally unusable due to being packed full of just random stuff, so we just didn’t use them because we didn’t need to. Now the part that confuses me the most is, when we moved in, i cleaned absolutely everywhere including under the bed and it was massively(!!!!) covered in dust too. Before we moved out the top of the wardrobe was wiped down with a microfibre stick with a cloth at the end to wipe up dust too, and somehow there’s a video of him wiping down dust from the top of it. Ok it’s possible there was a corner untouched but to try and claim a cleaner to clean that is insanity. I am not bigger than 2m tall and i did my absolute best to clean the top of the wardrobe with the stick. I just find it absolutely strange and quite frankly weird that he would even suggest getting a cleaner for that. I know I cleaned that apartment super well because those were his only 2 issues despite putting back every dirty thing from the apartment that had been used from the previous tenant AND we told him that fact too, but of course, he doesn’t complain about that because he already knows he gave us a dirty apartment with appliances that don’t function. He could’ve told us that there was dust that needed cleaning and we couldve sent a buddy to go and vaccum it, but no, he just says there’s a “utflyttingsvask” which is suggestive that he or someone else is going to clean it + there’s a fee for it..
When we told him we were moving out, he sent a reply saying that we had to give a 3 months notice, however, in the contract it says that the tenant must stay for at least 1 year we did and then renewed for 1 year at a time. We told him that it the contact didn’t seem like a running contract being automatically renewed and he responded “Ok that’s fine”.
Maybe Sketchy part: \*husband’s pov\*: I paid for the 1st months rent and deposit into the private account of the landlord. I have done some research and apparently this is an illegal deposit? there were no deposit accounts made and given to me? and I didn’t sign any forms nor see this account on my list of bank accounts. I am so confused right now. The landlord said he would pay the deposit balance last week saturday via emails on the following monday but yet the money isn’t in the account yet. \*He hasn’t actually given me the price deductions of the apparent “cleaning” so I’m not actually sure, how exactly, he has sent me the deposit? Am I just supposed to believe he himself or has hired someone to clean and I take his word for it or does he not actually have the deposit money available and waiting for the new renters to send him the deposit in order to send it to me? It’s been a month since he’s been aware we’re moving out, been around 3 weeks since we moved out, and 2 weeks since our contract has ended. He called us saying “that everything was in order, and if there were any other issues with the apartment \*there wasnt\* and that only the table would be refunded\* We had seen the apartment on [finn.no](https://finn.no/) with a 1000kr increase in rent and we noticed when it was changed to “Rented out” so he obviously has new tenants already so thats why I think he wasn’t bothered about the 3 months notice because it’s in the city centre and SEEMINGLY very luxurious to live in and therefore tenants are easy to replace. However, I dont see also how he can charge this ludicrous price knowing full well appliances and such dont function properly? seems scammy to me + try to rinse money out of previous tenants \*being us\*.
if you have any insight, please let us know !!!! we are extremely stressed because we don’t want him to suddenly have all of these costs arising after he already confirmed over the phone everything was OK (other than the table) but now over email theyre changing, ANY OPINIONS ? welp thank you for reading this novel – love you
by Inzanee