Getting out of hand

On Monday there was a third leak detection, in an attempt to find the cause of the damp/mold problem in my apartment. As I said before, I was mildly optimistic about the outcome. I had asked the owner of the apartment to be there too. I might have saved myself the trouble, as although he did show up, he didn't do or say anything.

This is what happened. In order not to take an extra day off from work, I negotiated with my manager to switch my regular Friday-off to Monday. The leak expert was scheduled to ‘appear’ at 9 a.m. Knowing that he was coming from Antwerp and taking into consideration the traditional Monday morning traffic jams, I wasn’t surprised when he called me little after nine to inform me that his ETA was 9.30 or even 9.45 a.m.

By then, our janitor, next-door’s janitor and her husband, my upstairs neighbour (who also has water damage in his apartment), the guy from the insurance company and one of the owners from the apartment next door, had gathered on the sidewalk. In view of my earlier negative experience with some of these people, I decided not to join them. However, when I saw them becoming nervous, glancing at their watches every thirty seconds, I ventured out. I politely wished them all a good morning and informed them about the expert’s phone call. Five minutes later, the owner of my apartment knocked at the door. When he saw the damage, still somewhat hidden by the screen I had put up there, he was clearly impressed. The last time he was in the apartment the wallpaper had still been up, camouflaging the worst stains.

The apartment - 1st floor - that  I visited last week.
It's located in a 1950 villa and has been beautifully
done up in 2008.

However, destiny decided that is wasn't meant for me to live there.

Finally the expert arrived … and so did my elderly next-door neighbour (he lives in the same building as I do). He’s a good friend of my landlord and I left the two men chatting while I joined the group outside in order to tell our janitor that my landlord was waiting inside. Two minutes later the whole group came stampeding into my apartment. When the expert removed the screen which since last July has been hiding the worst damage, they all fell silent! All parties concerned finally realized how serious the situation was.

Everybody started suggesting possible causes. Yet almost each time the expert questioned what we were saying. During this debate, my landlord simply sat there, stunned and not saying a word. The expert measured the dampness in the wall and took some photos. Next the whole group moved to the apartment upstairs, where there is damage too. I stayed with my landlord, who was mumbling to himself, hardly listening to what his friend and I were saying.

Next the whole group moved to the apartment nextdoor. My upstairs’ neighbour tried to join them, but the janitor of the other building simply refused him the access as he was ‘only a tenant’. This really p… him off; enough for him to call his insurance company and to start a legal procedure. Half an hour later an expert sent by his insurance company showed up. By then everybody was outside again. I chatted some more with my landlord before sending him home. After all, he wasn’t of any help at all.

Later my upstairs’ neighbour dropped in again informing me that the tenant on the first floor had first refused to let the expert in. She had even threatened to call the police, which she didn’t. Instead she called her husband/friend? to complain about the situation. Not long after that, and to everybody’s surprise, the police arrived. They instructed the young woman to co-operate and let the expert in. Which she did, reluctantly.

And the result? Nothing, Nada, Rien, Niente, Noppes (the last one is Dutch)! The cause of the leak still remains a mystery. Now the ball is in my upstairs neighbour’s – or rather his insurance company’s – camp. Next step? A forth leak detection this time by another company. When? Who knows?! And the police? Well, there is a fair chance that we (and by that I mean the janitors/owners – definitely not me!!) may have to call them in if the tenant next door still refuses to co-operate.

Who would have thought it would come to this? This thing is really getting out of hand. The only positive news is that I have done everything I could. It’s no longer in my hands. In fact, it never was. I’ve just been too kind in order to spare my elderly landlord. From now on I’m leaving it to other people to deal with.

After everybody had left, I made one more phone call … to the nice real estate agent I met last week when I went to visit the apartment in the former villa. I knew that the apartment had been let to someone else, but I just wanted to assure him that … ladybird was still looking for real estate!

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