Airbnb instead of rental apartments? In Cologne-Mülheim, a landlord is trying to disgust the residents out of the house. Overnight he turns the house into a construction site and has the apartment and toilet doors torn out. The police only intervene after an escalation, but public pressure is effective. – Leon Wandel reports.

298 euros rent for an apartment in Cologne? There has to be a catch. There is a huge catch for Dennis A. and his neighbors. The homeowner and his brother are harassing the residents of the apartment building using brutal means.

It started with a heating system that only partially worked, a front door that couldn't be locked, and broken lighting in the hallway. A few weeks ago, the landlord turned the entire house into a construction site.

Due to the age of the house, the toilets are not in the apartments, but in the hallway. The landlord had the doors and door frames torn out on all toilets except one without notice. This means that on most floors the toilets are practically unusable and all residents have to share a toilet.

An 83-year-old woman lives on the ground floor and she was hit even harder. She has two small apartments in the house, one of which is furnished like a library. A few days ago, a piece of cardboard suddenly stuck to her door telling her to vacate the apartment.

The perfidious thing: The handwritten request is signed “City of Cologne”, a ridiculous attempt at deception. After the pensioner cleared the room into the night, her apartment door was torn out by craftsmen. The tenant told Dem that she has been living in fear since this incidentCologne City Gazette.

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All of this harassment obviously serves to force the tenants out of their four walls. The homeowner's brother announced in his absence that the house would only have room for Airbnb apartments in the future. That is already the case with the city of Cologneclarified. He claimed that the tenants were living there illegally because the house was registered for commercial use. However, the city of Cologne contradicts this claim.

There was never an official request to vacate the house. The residents were only informed about this verbally. The tenant, Charlotte S., has lived in the house for almost 30 years. She reported to thatCologne City Gazette, she was told she could be happy that she would be given two to three months to move out.

But the person responsible supposedly had an explanation for everything. Because no one was attacked or insulted, the tenants are being looked after. He excuses the construction work by saying that such an old house always needs to be renovated. According to him, the work was also announced five to six weeks earlier. However, the postman was apparently ill and suggested that the letter had not arrived on time.

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Public pressure is working

The police were already informed about the defects in the house, but remained inactive for a long time. According to information from Perspective Online, Dennis A. was at the police station at least once, even before the media picked up the case. However, he received no help there.

Only after an argument broke out between the landlord's brother and some tenants and the police were called did the police intervene on behalf of the tenants. Only when the doors were removed did the authorities take action. Under pressure from reporting by WDR and RTL, the landlord announced that he would reinstall the doors.

The fact that the landlord and his brother were able to take things this far shows how dependent tenants are on their apartments. Because the prices for housing in Cologne have been up since 201075 percentincreased. In addition, short-term rentals via portals such as Airbnb make the already precarious housing market even more competitive.

This makes it very difficult for tenants to find a new apartment if they are confronted with unreasonable conditions from their landlord. Taking legal action against the landlord can mean an expensive legal battle. In this case, the landlord usually has more leverage.

This case makes it very clear that landlords are not primarily concerned about the well-being of their tenants, but rather only care about their profits. But the media attention and the personal confrontation with the landlord have also shown that the tenants are not completely at the mercy of harassment and it is possible to successfully exert pressure.

The postToilet doors out, apartment doors out: homeowner terrorizes tenants in Cologneappeared firstperspective.