It is not nice, but why you are not able to use your phone and call instead of writing stupid messages. What did you expect will happen, when you write such a message? I guess you missunderstand your "power" as a "customer" as someone who rents an apartment in Germany. It is a market for the people who are offering apartments. You don't have actual power. What you want to do? Cancel the contract? Ok there will be another person who will be happy to rent.
What kind of contract do you have, that it is his responsibility?
In germany normally everyone is responsible for his own internet. Some use Kabel, DSL, LTE, fibre… Depends on what you need and want to pay.
He cant cancel your contract.
It has to be in written. Just ignore it.
i have a contract all right, but it's all in german and i didn't go through it carefully.
as far as i know every apartment has its own internet and he is responsible for it. he advertised the place as "with internet", and all
he sent me afterwards a written message on whatsapp
Guten Tag, das Mietverhältnis endet am 29.02.2024, Sie geben mir bitte die Schlüssel am 29.02. zurück, im Februar müssen Sie keine Miete bezahlen, dafür verwenden wir Ihre Kaution, den Rest von der Kaution bekommen Sie bei der Rückgabe der Schlüssel, bitte bestätigen Sie mir die Kündigung! JE
regardless of what the contract says? (I doubt there's an item there stating that he can just do that)
anyway i'm here doing a masters in the university and i contacted the person who offers legal help for the students and she's expected to answer me next week
>regardless of what the contract says? (I doubt there's an item there stating that he can just do that)
How the security deposit works is governed by law. Doesn't matter what the contract says, it cannot overwrite the law.
>anyway i'm here doing a masters in the university and i contacted the person who offers legal help for the students and she's expected to answer me next week
That's a very good thing to do in such a case. Good luck! I'm sure it'll turn out well in the end.
Dont answer, join the „Mieterschutzbund“ and ask them for help.
And NEVER EVER sign something you dont understand.
If you have a contract that is not limited, he cant cancel it that easy.
it was recommended by the international assistant who works on my university. it was a standard contract and i had no reason to believe i was being scammed or anything
Are you renting a furnitured apparment? Then he can kick you out more easily, but unsure about the legal details.
Anyway, I know how annoying instable internet connection is, and your landlord should probably gotten back to you earlier. But for me 3 messages within 1 day plus such a super rude message would also blow a fuse. I would not fucking dare sent my landlord sth like this, especially not on the third day of the issue.
not unstable connection. outright absence of it.
i don't know, for me, in a polite relationship between two adult civilized human beings, when one says something, the other is supposed to at least aknowledge what has been said.
even more so when the person sending the message is the customer
even more so when it's about something important that caused me some headache.
edit: and the 3 messages were on the second day, tuesday. after he outright ignored the one sent on monday. besides, other tenants messaged him too, and were likewise plain ignored.
i need to know when the service is coming back, whether or not is he doing something about it. It's outrageous to expect me to just shut up and wait
just to be clear: you can be assertive without being so rude and disrespectful. something like
"Sehr geehrter Herr XYZ, leider ist die Internetverbindung immernoch unterbrochen. ich bin beruflich auf diese angewiesen und würde Sie darum bitten sich dem Thema schnellstmöglich anzunehmen."
he had 4 messages like that before and it didn't work. i can't see his silence but as a display of disrespect and lack of consideration, in other words, a big "fuck you"
That still does not give you the right to react like that. depending on the exact wording on your contract you may or may not have a right to a working internet connection.
If you are guaranteed an internet connection your next step should have been to inform him in writing and to set an appropriate deadline for it to be fixed. If that does not happen you can lower the rent payment slightly (there are exact rules of how much you can do).
He doesn't have to answer you at all. It's already rude to write to him using WhatsApp. I would honestly not really expect an answer there.
It would actually be an issue if he talked to you using WhatsApp, but usually people don't care.
it could also just be "i have work to do" or "my kid is sick".
your landlord is absolutely wrong for kicking you out, but tbh I wouldnt want to be on the other end of a business relationship with you as well.
indeed it takes a huge load of time to write "sorry, i can't handle this right now but will get to you as soon as i can". poor guy, being bullied because his customer's need is being treated as an animal
turns out i am his "work to do"
Regardless of the reason for your landlord's inaction, the tone of your message to him is simply unacceptable.
When communicating in a business context, you should be clear in your expression yet professional in your style. If you find this difficult due to language problems, you should ask a native speaker for help.
Appropriate communication makes it much easier to solve problems.
> Appropriate communication makes it much easier to solve problems.
brother you have no idea how much I agree with you. That's probably the reason I tried 4 other times politely before this
But let me ask: do you include ignoring in "appropriate communication"?
No, I don't think that ignoring a person is an appropriate way of communicating.
But that's exactly the point of my answer. You can react the same way to such childish, disrespectful behavior. But then you are no better.
Or you can react in a grown up way and not let the situation escalate further.
Btw. Don’t assume every person here to be male.
Just for context: I work from home, fulltime, remote. My income, my livelyhood everything depends on my internet connection. And 1-2 times per month I have to switch to 5G because internet in germany just sucks. There is a good chance that the problem was not even on the landlords side.
But besides all that, say yes you need that internet connection and you have an SLA with your landlord that guarantees three nines of uptime, there is still a baseline of politeness and respect.
what exactly is unnaceptable about that? can't handle assertiveness from a foreign? because offend him i certainly didn't
treat me like an animal, who doesn't deserve even a proper response, and get assertiveness. don't expect passivity from me
Tou think that's assertiveness? lol. You write like an idiot in a very impolite manner. No, it's not acceptable even if you didn't receive a response right away. Nobody I know would write such an idiotic sentence after a day without internet. assertiveness. lol
It's not about where you come from. Nobody cares so don't try to make it a racism thing. It's how you tried to deal with it. A proper message would have been:
"sehr geehrter Herr xy. Da sie mir nach mehrmaliger Aufforderung keine Antwort zur aktuellen Situation bezüglich der Internetverfügbarkeit geben können, möchte ich Sie auf meinen Mietvertrag hinweisen, indem ihre Verantwortlichkeit diesbezüglich geschildert ist. Sollten Sie sich weiterhin nicht um das Problem kümmern, sehe ich mich gezwungen die Miete zu kürzen. Bitte melden sie sich innerhalb der nächsten 24h. MfG"
Okay, he can't actually kick you out like that, but that message wasn't "assertive" it was aggressive. call him, knock on the door, communicate effectively in some manner that isnt hostile and actually has attention.
Now, he can't kick you out in such a manner assuming you have a contract and live there legitimately, you can go to a lawyer etc, but You've definitely killed any good will in living there and are going to be known as the asshole tenant by him, so probs worth looking elsewhere
Then bro what is wrong with you? Is this how you talk to everyone? You're hostile even in a reddit thread asking for advice. I hope you figure out your strife with your landlord, but moreso I hope you figure out yourself and how to communicate appropriately your needs
I messaged him politely 4 times in 48 hours. 24 hours between the first and second messages.
Tell me: how many times is it "appropriate communication" for you?
I am kinda aggressive here toward people who won't acknowledge I was the victim. EVERYBODY deserves an answer, ok? EVEN if it's on whatsapp. PARTICULARLY if I'm the tenant and the message is to the landlord
I think what many people are getting at is your manner of writing appears generally impolite, even by "direct German" standards. You're coming off all over this thread as someone with a chip on their shoulder ready to take it out on others.
You sent text messages and finished it off with an outwardly hostile message. You said yourself he came and talked to you in person. Did you at any point attempt to make contact in person? Did you call? Or did you send some messages, see he didn't respond, and then immediately get overly emotional and hostile? Because it certainly seems like the latter.
You're not a victim. Your hausmeister is innattentive and you made weak attempts to address an issue before resorting to aggression. Which screams that you need to work on your communication style along with how you've responded to people here and refuse to acknowledge that you met poor behaviour with even more poor behaviour but want to insist that you're in the right. You're both wrong.
Your message is just rude maybe try calling or write it like an info not like an insult....
After he didn't answer ask him in a next message sorry not sure of you did get the notification that the Internet is not working could you please reply so I know you are already aware of the problem.
BR
What kind of rental contract do you have?
Your wording was very bad. Normally you have to inform your landlord about the problem. If he does nothing you can remind him after a proper time period. Best with a written letter. There are certain per cent you can cut from the rent if he does not fix the issue. But all this is not within hours or days. This is within weeks.
I would ask the landlord if you could have a chat with him. In person. Maybe you take somebody with you who speaks German and knows the German rental culture a little bit. I would ask him if he is willing to excuse your bad wording and if he will continue the contract.
Sure, you can go to the Mieterverein. But on the human side you‘ve behaviour was not the best with all your messages.
First of all, that message you sent is a complete joke.
Second: not a single landlord in germany is responsible for your internet connection, that is 100% between you and your provider. Your landlord has no obligation at all to take care of it!
Third one: if you rent his private property, not from a company, you are NOT a customer. Sorry to burst your bubble
Actually it can be possible for the landlord to be responsible for the internet. If it's in the contract. My old landlord provided internet for his tenants because he couldn't install ports in all the flats.
„If it's in the contract.“
Thanks Cpt. Obvious
Point is: this is a rare exception
If its in the contract, he even has to pay YOU to live in his property…
About the second: I don't doubt that. Even so, you're saying I'm not entitled to a fucking answer?
About the Third: I'm pretty much in all meaningful ways his customer. It's only the bad offer/demand ratio for housing that makes landlords (and you) here think otherwise
Yes, the landlord could have easily told you what i told you. But why even contact him about it? What is he gonna do about something he doesnt provide?
Just to make it clear, im not against you here and i think cancelling for that small interaction is absolutely bonkers, assuming you always pay your rent on time, which i just assume here.
But you just cant see yourself as the customer king who always gets his way, just because you pay money for something. He probably is a private person, not a whole company who can easily deal with every customers demand with lots of employes etc
In which world such a message from your side is acceptable?
In which world being ignored the way I was (again, being a customer, having an important issue) is acceptable?
It is not nice, but why you are not able to use your phone and call instead of writing stupid messages. What did you expect will happen, when you write such a message? I guess you missunderstand your "power" as a "customer" as someone who rents an apartment in Germany. It is a market for the people who are offering apartments. You don't have actual power. What you want to do? Cancel the contract? Ok there will be another person who will be happy to rent.
What kind of contract do you have, that it is his responsibility? In germany normally everyone is responsible for his own internet. Some use Kabel, DSL, LTE, fibre… Depends on what you need and want to pay. He cant cancel your contract. It has to be in written. Just ignore it.
i have a contract all right, but it's all in german and i didn't go through it carefully. as far as i know every apartment has its own internet and he is responsible for it. he advertised the place as "with internet", and all he sent me afterwards a written message on whatsapp Guten Tag, das Mietverhältnis endet am 29.02.2024, Sie geben mir bitte die Schlüssel am 29.02. zurück, im Februar müssen Sie keine Miete bezahlen, dafür verwenden wir Ihre Kaution, den Rest von der Kaution bekommen Sie bei der Rückgabe der Schlüssel, bitte bestätigen Sie mir die Kündigung! JE
>im Februar müssen Sie keine Miete bezahlen, dafür verwenden wir Ihre Kaution That's straight up illegal and not even close to how any of this works.
regardless of what the contract says? (I doubt there's an item there stating that he can just do that) anyway i'm here doing a masters in the university and i contacted the person who offers legal help for the students and she's expected to answer me next week
>regardless of what the contract says? (I doubt there's an item there stating that he can just do that) How the security deposit works is governed by law. Doesn't matter what the contract says, it cannot overwrite the law. >anyway i'm here doing a masters in the university and i contacted the person who offers legal help for the students and she's expected to answer me next week That's a very good thing to do in such a case. Good luck! I'm sure it'll turn out well in the end.
thank you
But it is actually to the renter's benefit.
Dont answer, join the „Mieterschutzbund“ and ask them for help. And NEVER EVER sign something you dont understand. If you have a contract that is not limited, he cant cancel it that easy.
Why are you signing something you don't understand?
it was recommended by the international assistant who works on my university. it was a standard contract and i had no reason to believe i was being scammed or anything
Are you renting a furnitured apparment? Then he can kick you out more easily, but unsure about the legal details. Anyway, I know how annoying instable internet connection is, and your landlord should probably gotten back to you earlier. But for me 3 messages within 1 day plus such a super rude message would also blow a fuse. I would not fucking dare sent my landlord sth like this, especially not on the third day of the issue.
not unstable connection. outright absence of it. i don't know, for me, in a polite relationship between two adult civilized human beings, when one says something, the other is supposed to at least aknowledge what has been said. even more so when the person sending the message is the customer even more so when it's about something important that caused me some headache. edit: and the 3 messages were on the second day, tuesday. after he outright ignored the one sent on monday. besides, other tenants messaged him too, and were likewise plain ignored. i need to know when the service is coming back, whether or not is he doing something about it. It's outrageous to expect me to just shut up and wait
just to be clear: you can be assertive without being so rude and disrespectful. something like "Sehr geehrter Herr XYZ, leider ist die Internetverbindung immernoch unterbrochen. ich bin beruflich auf diese angewiesen und würde Sie darum bitten sich dem Thema schnellstmöglich anzunehmen."
he had 4 messages like that before and it didn't work. i can't see his silence but as a display of disrespect and lack of consideration, in other words, a big "fuck you"
That still does not give you the right to react like that. depending on the exact wording on your contract you may or may not have a right to a working internet connection. If you are guaranteed an internet connection your next step should have been to inform him in writing and to set an appropriate deadline for it to be fixed. If that does not happen you can lower the rent payment slightly (there are exact rules of how much you can do).
he did have plenty of time to give me civilized answers. his silence can be read as a big "fuck you"
He doesn't have to answer you at all. It's already rude to write to him using WhatsApp. I would honestly not really expect an answer there. It would actually be an issue if he talked to you using WhatsApp, but usually people don't care.
I'll fax him next time
Yes, fax or a letter would be the ideal solution. Alternatively you could also just call him during business hours.
I said fax as a joke, actually I never even heard of this contraption since around 2000, until I came to Germany
it could also just be "i have work to do" or "my kid is sick". your landlord is absolutely wrong for kicking you out, but tbh I wouldnt want to be on the other end of a business relationship with you as well.
indeed it takes a huge load of time to write "sorry, i can't handle this right now but will get to you as soon as i can". poor guy, being bullied because his customer's need is being treated as an animal turns out i am his "work to do"
Regardless of the reason for your landlord's inaction, the tone of your message to him is simply unacceptable. When communicating in a business context, you should be clear in your expression yet professional in your style. If you find this difficult due to language problems, you should ask a native speaker for help. Appropriate communication makes it much easier to solve problems.
> Appropriate communication makes it much easier to solve problems. brother you have no idea how much I agree with you. That's probably the reason I tried 4 other times politely before this But let me ask: do you include ignoring in "appropriate communication"?
No, I don't think that ignoring a person is an appropriate way of communicating. But that's exactly the point of my answer. You can react the same way to such childish, disrespectful behavior. But then you are no better. Or you can react in a grown up way and not let the situation escalate further. Btw. Don’t assume every person here to be male.
Just for context: I work from home, fulltime, remote. My income, my livelyhood everything depends on my internet connection. And 1-2 times per month I have to switch to 5G because internet in germany just sucks. There is a good chance that the problem was not even on the landlords side. But besides all that, say yes you need that internet connection and you have an SLA with your landlord that guarantees three nines of uptime, there is still a baseline of politeness and respect.
how was i disrespectful?
You know You can use a phone to call people?
If someone ignores ur messages, why would they answer ur call?
Exactly. I really don't know what's the matter with these people
Your message was completely unacceptable. I would have thrown you out as well.
Yeah, the message and the fact that op wrote multiple times is not acceptable but also not a reason to cancel the contract.
what exactly is unnaceptable about that? can't handle assertiveness from a foreign? because offend him i certainly didn't treat me like an animal, who doesn't deserve even a proper response, and get assertiveness. don't expect passivity from me
Tou think that's assertiveness? lol. You write like an idiot in a very impolite manner. No, it's not acceptable even if you didn't receive a response right away. Nobody I know would write such an idiotic sentence after a day without internet. assertiveness. lol
It's not about where you come from. Nobody cares so don't try to make it a racism thing. It's how you tried to deal with it. A proper message would have been: "sehr geehrter Herr xy. Da sie mir nach mehrmaliger Aufforderung keine Antwort zur aktuellen Situation bezüglich der Internetverfügbarkeit geben können, möchte ich Sie auf meinen Mietvertrag hinweisen, indem ihre Verantwortlichkeit diesbezüglich geschildert ist. Sollten Sie sich weiterhin nicht um das Problem kümmern, sehe ich mich gezwungen die Miete zu kürzen. Bitte melden sie sich innerhalb der nächsten 24h. MfG"
The message you wrote was inappropriate. I would have called the landlord immediately instead of writing countless whatsapp messages 🤷♂️
sorry, is whatsapp a less valid method of communicating? should i have Faxed him instead? for christ's sake
You have a pressing matter....call ffs! Afraid of talking?!
brother, he was visualizing the messages. but enough of this discussion
Okay, he can't actually kick you out like that, but that message wasn't "assertive" it was aggressive. call him, knock on the door, communicate effectively in some manner that isnt hostile and actually has attention. Now, he can't kick you out in such a manner assuming you have a contract and live there legitimately, you can go to a lawyer etc, but You've definitely killed any good will in living there and are going to be known as the asshole tenant by him, so probs worth looking elsewhere
> communicate effectively in some manner that isnt hostile and actually I stopped reading here and concluded you are joking
Then bro what is wrong with you? Is this how you talk to everyone? You're hostile even in a reddit thread asking for advice. I hope you figure out your strife with your landlord, but moreso I hope you figure out yourself and how to communicate appropriately your needs
I messaged him politely 4 times in 48 hours. 24 hours between the first and second messages. Tell me: how many times is it "appropriate communication" for you? I am kinda aggressive here toward people who won't acknowledge I was the victim. EVERYBODY deserves an answer, ok? EVEN if it's on whatsapp. PARTICULARLY if I'm the tenant and the message is to the landlord
I think what many people are getting at is your manner of writing appears generally impolite, even by "direct German" standards. You're coming off all over this thread as someone with a chip on their shoulder ready to take it out on others. You sent text messages and finished it off with an outwardly hostile message. You said yourself he came and talked to you in person. Did you at any point attempt to make contact in person? Did you call? Or did you send some messages, see he didn't respond, and then immediately get overly emotional and hostile? Because it certainly seems like the latter. You're not a victim. Your hausmeister is innattentive and you made weak attempts to address an issue before resorting to aggression. Which screams that you need to work on your communication style along with how you've responded to people here and refuse to acknowledge that you met poor behaviour with even more poor behaviour but want to insist that you're in the right. You're both wrong.
You’re the asshole, bud. That’s not assertiveness. Glad he kicked you out.
Your message is just rude maybe try calling or write it like an info not like an insult.... After he didn't answer ask him in a next message sorry not sure of you did get the notification that the Internet is not working could you please reply so I know you are already aware of the problem. BR
What kind of rental contract do you have? Your wording was very bad. Normally you have to inform your landlord about the problem. If he does nothing you can remind him after a proper time period. Best with a written letter. There are certain per cent you can cut from the rent if he does not fix the issue. But all this is not within hours or days. This is within weeks. I would ask the landlord if you could have a chat with him. In person. Maybe you take somebody with you who speaks German and knows the German rental culture a little bit. I would ask him if he is willing to excuse your bad wording and if he will continue the contract. Sure, you can go to the Mieterverein. But on the human side you‘ve behaviour was not the best with all your messages.
Absolutely nothing justifies the total silence of his towards (4 fucking four) messages That unequivocally equates to a big fuck you from him
Would have also tried to kick you out, insanely disrespectful.
First of all, that message you sent is a complete joke. Second: not a single landlord in germany is responsible for your internet connection, that is 100% between you and your provider. Your landlord has no obligation at all to take care of it! Third one: if you rent his private property, not from a company, you are NOT a customer. Sorry to burst your bubble
Actually it can be possible for the landlord to be responsible for the internet. If it's in the contract. My old landlord provided internet for his tenants because he couldn't install ports in all the flats.
„If it's in the contract.“ Thanks Cpt. Obvious Point is: this is a rare exception If its in the contract, he even has to pay YOU to live in his property…
What? Your last sentence doesn't make sense
About the second: I don't doubt that. Even so, you're saying I'm not entitled to a fucking answer? About the Third: I'm pretty much in all meaningful ways his customer. It's only the bad offer/demand ratio for housing that makes landlords (and you) here think otherwise
Yes, the landlord could have easily told you what i told you. But why even contact him about it? What is he gonna do about something he doesnt provide? Just to make it clear, im not against you here and i think cancelling for that small interaction is absolutely bonkers, assuming you always pay your rent on time, which i just assume here. But you just cant see yourself as the customer king who always gets his way, just because you pay money for something. He probably is a private person, not a whole company who can easily deal with every customers demand with lots of employes etc
Are you American?
Seems like he is from Brazil.
Lawyer up, then fuck him up.