Below we publish a letter from a reader and encourage you to share your opinion and send us your stories on this topic: [email protected]. Selected emails will be published on the OnenetWoman website.
“I've been paying off your debt for twelve years” [LIST DO REDAKCJI]
I'm 32 years old and I've been renting for 12 years and it's amazing My blood pressure rises when I hear comments like “not everyone should have their own apartment”. and “We have a few apartments where people rent their whole lives in Germany and there is no problem with that.”
It is significant These opinions come only from those who own their own apartmentsOften even without credit, not because they made so much money in life, but because their family helped them and the market situation was different 20 years ago.
When I say I'm renting an apartment, many people have a view of me as someone living out of suitcases, a poor marginalized person who is “a level above” the homeless. In practice, mine is no different from the achievements of a person who has their own apartment – I have my furniture, my appliances, my textiles, plants…
I wouldn't have my own furniture if it weren't for the fact that as we get older, the need for extra things increases, like a mixer, bigger pots, more clothes, a new position in the office and to be nice. And a big, solid desk, not the crappy one the owner provided, but to work in your own chair because the owner gives you backache.
Furniture is kept only in rented apartments Rent must be collected in order to have something, and it will be solved ergonomically with the tenant in mind. Therefore, in a small apartment, landlords put in boxes like Thumbelina (because small ones are cheaper), a table with chairs and a wide sofa is mandatory (because it is cheaper and takes up more space and makes the apartment look more organized).
I once asked myself if I really needed all my things, but in the end it turned out that I use them all, and they all give me some comfort in my life. Because you don't think I want to fry in a microwave oven and wear a pair of pants for the rest of my life, do you?
This is how I ended up with my furniture: to accommodate the things I've collected over the years, which are somewhat – let's be honest – a kind of anchor for me, they're mine, they remind me of home. peace For those of you who have your own apartments, this is a regular thing for you. It's such a huge norm that you don't appreciate it because you're not changing your entire environment every 2-3 years.
I've been paying off your debts for twelve years – the ones that keep you running around the bank and the ones you worry about when you can't find someone to rent for a month. Borrowed apartments where you put broken furniture from OLX and antiques found in the depths of your basement, or spent all your financial resources to finish the kitchen so you don't keep anything, but you think you can rent out these holes. Be an investment that pushes the wallet out.
Alternatively, in any apartment you put new and elegant-looking, but cheap furniture, only to look at it with a magnifying glass after the lease ends. Every little scratch gives you a chance to get back my deposit, which is more than your monthly salary. It's easy to get a scratch on such a cheap rag.
For 12 years I had to deal with “checking the apartment” like a teenager's room: did you clean it well or not? Can this be deducted from my deposit? You didn't break anything? You didn't set fire here? Aren't you peeing on the walls? No fireworks inside? Are you sure I can't take a few hundred bucks out of your deposit?
For 12 years I have been dealing with landlords' wishes to increase the rent because the quality of the apartment has increased (because I put my own furniture in it) or to give me the cost of a notary (because it is too expensive for you, but I – poor for you – can afford it).
For 12 years I've been listening to you talk about how great access is from a given location and what modern technologies you have (Smart lights for PLN 90 – you have it and you all think no one else has it), what amazing home appliances (12 years old) and what amazing micro-apartments (I won't mention that today actually every apartment is an “apartment”).
Because you can live in 90 meters, but People like me should be grateful for any roof over their heads and not worry about a small space. Because I'm “just one level above homeless” and if I don't like it, I can find a bigger apartment in a better place.
Well, I can – but see no reason why I should pay even 5,000. Zloty. A month to live like an average person. We have reached the point of absurdity, where Renting – which is supposed to be a cheaper alternative to borrowing – can cost as much or more than borrowing (because let's add the landlord's margin), but in the long run it won't give me anything. After all, no matter how much I owe you, it does not claim me.
I can't do anything in my life because I spend the lion's share of my income on this lease, collecting my own contribution is very slow, I have no family support, inflation is increasing, so what I do collect is worth less, and I am not reliable for banks. I can repay your loan, but according to the banks, I cannot repay mine.. Sounds funny, right?
“Renting of mortgaged flats should be banned”
I cannot understand how it is legal to rent a property on loan. Norms don't match fashion In flippers, because 20 years ago, some people decided to rent an apartment with a loan to strangers. Why should someone else borrow to live? Today it is the norm.
Because of the high demand from you, each of you dreams of becoming a pinball player, but at the same time you cannot afford apartments. Developers have started offering apartments according to your needs so that you can still afford the loan: small 35-meter rooms, it is so hot in summer that it is easy to have a stroke, and in winter it is dark because there are windows on only one side of the apartment.
I am not a fan of cadastral tax because I know who will pay it – again, us, the tenants.
However, I am a big fan of introducing a ban on renting apartments with loans. Because this may reduce the availability of apartments for rent (I suspect around 50-70%), but check any website: there are currently more of them than tenants.
Do pinball players make a lot of money at it? Yes, but this can also be controlled. Because, following a post I recently saw on Twitter: Why is it illegal to buy concert tickets cheap and resell them at a higher price, but perfectly legal in apartments? Will many people actually take apartments on loan if they know that they cannot hand over the apartments to anyone?
Because let's be honest: that's what apartments offer. It's not true that having your own space has become a luxury item It has become the norm to buy apartments “for share” and rent them out as part of an investment And developers, playing to the advantage of their biggest investors – flippers and pseudo-flippers – began to create small places where a cat can go crazy, but a person can feel comfortable.
Because let's face it: if The norm is to have 2-3 flats per familyIt is difficult to expect that supply will be replenished and that loans and real estate values will not increase over the next several decades.
And I don't need any pro-government programs just to regulate this nonsense. Now we have started buying apartments for our children's future and the next step will be buying for our grandchildren's future.
Finally, to close, to all those who think Germans are content to rent for the rest of their lives: talk to the people who are forced to do so, not the landlords. Because asking permission to screw a wardrobe to the wall at 32 is not an expression of freedom, it's an insult.
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