This afternoon, I spent (wasted?) about an hour cleaning my balcony – again (see https://www.hellemoller.eu/2020/09/14/i-cant-believe-this-is-actually-happening/) (that was probably stupid, but I could no longer stand looking at the mess). It currently looks like in the photo above. I have not washed anything, and my gut instinct tells me it would be asking for trouble to put the furniture back once again. But at least I can sit on my balcony now.
This time, there was too much rubble to carry to their doorstep in one go, so I just threw their “gifts” onto the scaffolding. A lot of it was stuck, so it took quite a bit of hacking and scraping. Washing the floor and the marble shelves (which were brand new from February last year) would probably reveal some damage done, and that would ruin my mood which for some strange reason is relatively good right now. Perhaps because I have just been out of town, and am going away again next week, and for another two weeks after that will be relocating to house- and catsit elsewhere in Berlin.
I do appreciate the fact that I am able to get away most of the time, and that I live in a (for me) new country with a good train service and an endless supply of places to visit (although when during the winter I decided to sell my parking space, that was not what I planning on spending the money on :-)).
However, truth be told, given the lovely weather this month, not to mention Covid19 and my age, I would have preferred to be able to spend most of the time on my balcony and sometimes have one or two visitors over for brunch/lunch/coffee/drinks.
On Wednesday 9 September I came home to find a corner of my balcony looking as below, after I had cleaned it a couple of weeks earlier when they had previously dumped a load of sh.. there.
As mentioned in the post linked to above, the monstosity they are renovating is “unter Denkmalschutz” and that seems to mean they can do whatever they like, and I apparently have to keep smiling and am not allowed to complain.
I decided to leave it a couple of days to make sure they had finished, and yesterday, Sunday 13 September, I finally had enough looking at all that disgusting mess and cleaned it, as shown here:
I was going to wash it all and put the furniture back this afternoon, when I found the same corner again looking as below. And of course still nobody saying even as much as “oops” to me about it. In fact, the entrepreneur has not even bothered to reply to my e-mail about it, and neither has our Hausverwaltung, Schön & Sever (who is on the side of Cresco Real Estate anyway).
When in May 2019 at a meeting of owners in the building we were first informed about the renovations next door, we were told that the part of the scaffolding that is really close to our balconies would be there for six to eight months (starting in June 2019) and that our balconies would not be affected. I was surprised that we were offered compensation – on hindsight probably a pitiful amount but I did not pay much attention because – six to eight months seemed like nothing, and “my balcony would not be affected” – so – yeah-yeah, whatever. And in any case, that was the first and last we have ever heard or seen of that money, so perhaps that was just another lie.
Now I finally understand why I was lied to so blatantly. If I had known:
To what extent a summer, an autumn, a spring, and another summer– and most likely the second autumn as well – would be ruined;
The amount of cleaning I would need to do over and over again;
The ugliness I would have to look at;
The amount of sun and daylight that would be stolen, and for how long (years rather than months);
The inexplicable and despite many complaints loud shouting, roaring and singing (?) sometimes already shortly after 6 AM, even on some Saturdays, which wakes up the entire area;
Not to mention the construction noise which up to now has been for longer periods of time and louder than I ever thought possible, often causing me to have to get out of the flat – in times of Corona where I should be at home – and on my balcony (!) – most of the time;
– I would have paid more attention, been less impressed that they were even offering any kind of compensation, and reserved the right to adjust that amount upwards later.
Do I feel like an utter fool? You bet.
By the way – what is that ridiculous net doing there? It no longer has any function, since it is hanging loose in many places, sometimes flapping wildly in the wind. All it does is make the whole thing look even more messy and ugly. But perhaps, to them, that is reason enough to leave it there.
Came home to find some more “presents”. Even more disgusting ugliness to tolerate. And just in case I was twiddling my thumbs and desperate for something to do – I can always keep cleaning my balcony.
Have they communicated with me about this in any way, shape or form? No, of course not. Their arrogance just keeps reaching new heights. They are renovating one of the ugliest buildings in the world and it is “UNTER DENKMALSCHUTZ”. Ooooohh. That means they can do whatever they like.
By the way, I’m told the building I live in is also unter Denkmalschutz. I don’t for the life of me understand why, but there it is.
EDIT 26 July: A full working week later, absolutely nothing has happened (apart from another couple of mm of dust). The situation is 150 percent worse, as I now am not able to use neither my balcony nor my living room, and my wild flowers and herbs are dying because they are not suited to be indoors.
The initial promise that our balconies would not be directly affected, which turned out to be false already more than a year ago, is getting further and further from the truth by the day.
Maximum daylight, and to have full use of my balcony, would have been particularly important to me this year where I am still trying to stay at home four to five days a week most weeks. As it is now, I barely have the use of neither my balcony nor my living room.
How is it even allowed to encroach upon other people’s private property, as seen in the photo, for so long?
EARLIER: Around mid-day on Friday 17 July, I was ordered – not asked – to empty my balcony of all plants, furniture etc. before Monday 20 July, because on that day, they wanted to start repairing the wall where the scaffolding is.
Despite the fact that 1) we were told at the beginning that this would not directly affect our balconies (in the case of my balcony, it has done nothing else for 13 months now ….), 2) it would cause some chaos in my living room and kitchen to find room for everything, and 3) technically, I was away from my flat for the weekend, but luckily, I was not further away than I was able to cancel two other plans, and go home and do as I had been told.
I even did that quite happily, because I thought it would be the beginning of the end of the nightmare.
Now, on the evening of Monday 20 July, has anything happened – anything at all? Nope.
Do I feel stupid for believing them, and for clicking my heels and letting myself be bossed about by them? Yep.
I could have kept my week-end plans, and then spent today emptying the balcony.
Instead, I am now wondering how many weeks or months I have to live with the chaos (and watch my herbs and wild flowers die because they are not meant to be indoors).
I often find that many Germans are very suspicious of others, and I understand better and better why. They probably think everybody is as unreliable as they are.
Time to recap what I have already outlined in several previous posts. Perhaps if I link to the entrepeneur, Cresco Real Estate, often enough, somebody will finally respond.
Some time during the first half of 2019, we were informed that a scaffolding would be constructed at the end of the neighbouring building, that it would be there for six to eight months, and that it would NOT directly affect our balconies.
The scaffolding was constructed during June 2019, and before the end of the summer, the work for which it had been constructed was completed (it had created an unholy mess on my balcony, but that is another story).
Three important factors are 1) that that part of the scaffolding is not linked to the original scaffolding around that building. It was put up much later, and could therefore also be removed without affecting the original scaffolding. 2) It has not been used for anything at all since late last summer. And 3) As far as I can see, when they get around to repairing that part of the building, they will need to take the scaffolding down anyway and use another one.
So that was one summer partially ruined, for which we were promised financial compensation – money that we have not seen or heard of since then, but it is also not really my point. I would rather have had the full use of my balcony all this year.
Fast-forward to February-March this year, when we all started to look forward to getting rid of the scaffolding and thus get a lot more daylight on our balconies and in our homes.
Nothing happened. On 7 April, in an e-mail to Cresco Real Estate, and to our Hausverwaltung, Schön & Sever, I asked when we could expect the scaffolding to be removed, enabling us to fully enjoy the priviledge of having a balcony, especially this year, where we have to stay at home much more than normally. I re-sent the e-mail a week or two later. I have not yet received a reply (as of 21 July).
A couple of weeks ago, some workers suddenly appeared on the scaffolding, raising my hopes that it would now be removed, but they only removed one little component, which caused part of the net to fall on my balcony. They did not bother to pick it up, but left soon after. I had to get out my ladder and a hefty pair of scissors to remove it.
Meanwhile, the scaffolding has now been there for 13 months, not six to eight months which we were initially informed, and the best part of the second summer partially ruined. How much longer will we have to look at this eyesore, and how much longer will it be stealing valuable daylight, for no purpose whatsoever. Both Cresco Real Estate and Schön & Sever are still refusing to answer this question.
One more thing – especially this year, where socialising is so limited, it would have been ideal to be able to invite one or two visitors for brunch or lunch or coffee or whatever, on the balcony from time to time. Obviously, the way that looks now, this is not really possible.
As if the often infernal noise was not bad enough, but that is unavoidable so everybody tries to just ignore it . (Unlike the inexplicable shouting and singing which starts shortly after 6AM, and the loud “music” being played at intervals during the day, but our complaints about that are largely ignored),
But THE most frustrating thing is the fact that my questions about it are studiously ignored, both by Cresco Real Estate and by Schön & Sever who both still refusing to respond.
Starting to sound like a broken record, but I am SO TIRED of being met with the sight of this mess every morning.
On 1 June, my hopes were raised when a couple of workers turned up and removed …….. ONE little component, which resulted in parts of the netting falling onto the table on my balcony (photo in previous post). They did not bother to pick it up. They just disappeared again and I have not seen them since. I had to get out my ladder and a hefty pair of scissors in order to get rid of the bundle of netting.
As described many times before, this part of the scaffolding went up early last summer, beginning of June as far as I recall, it is separate from the rest of the scaffolding, and the word was it would be there six to eight months (!) which would have meant it would be gone my March this year (2020). Fast-forward to July, it is still there.
If it had a purpose, and was actually being used for something, that would be another matter, but it has not been used for anything at all since about August or September last year (when they made an unholy mess on my balcony, but that is a seperate story). All it has done is stealing valuable light – light which would have been especially important in March and April this year (which was the time they had told us it would be gone again) where most of us stayed at home 24/7 except for very short grocery-shopping trips, light which would have been valuable now, and light which will be even more valuable, but I fear it will still be lacking, come late summer and autumn.
Some of us are still spending much more time at home than we would normally, and we still have to look at that mess which makes it hard to fully enjoy the priviledge of having a balcony in these times.
But the most frustrating factor is that nobody wants to deal with or even hear about it. Obviously not the workers, and also not the entrepreneur, and not even our Hausverwaltung. On 7 April, I e-mailed them both asking how much longer, and re-sent that e-mail a couple of weeks later. So far, none of them have bothered to reply.
Superduper. When this happened two days ago, it gave me hope – not only that they would remove the netting – but that perhaps they were finally going to remove that part of the scaffolding, which has not been used for anything for about a year but has caused such great nuisance.
But since 1 July, all that has happened is that I had to get my ladder and a hefty pair of scissors out to get rid of most of that netting myself.
No sign of them today either.
Both our Hausverwaltung Schön & Sever and the entrepreneur Cresco Capital Group or Cresco Real Estate or whatever they are called are still refusing to answer questions about the scaffolding, which should have been removed end winter/early spring, as described earlier. My latest e-mail was sent 7 April and re-sent a couple of weeks later. You would think they had had time to respond. But obviously not the will.
In this of all years where some of us spend much more time at home than normally. And I, for one, would have liked to be able to enjoy spending some of that time on my balcony.
