The neighbors win! (part 3)

This is the final chapter of my little story about renters' rights, the German word for gas leak, and neighbor gossip. Here's a quick recap: a few weeks ago, all the tenants in our building got a bill from the landlady for the amount we owed in Nebenkosten, which is sort of like a condo association fee for renters in Germany. Everyone owed a lot - anywhere from 200-700 euros. The neighbors in my building decided to contest the charges.

There was another meeting while I was out of town. We know this because Brian had not yet left for Disney World when a couple of the downstairs neighbors knocked on our door one night. He was already getting ready for bed and is a little afraid of them anyway, so he didn't answer. When I got back, the couple on the floor below us (not the ones whose balcony we drop stuff on, the other ones) had written up an English translation of all the notes from the meeting, included an English version of the German renters' rights code, and attached a copy of the letter they had just sent to the landlady. At the meeting, the group decided that each tenant should send a letter separately. So with the help of my 3rd floor heroes, I just had to copy what they had written and change some of the numbers.

But I didn't have to. The next day, we got a letter from the landlady explaining that she had agreed to all of our demands. Our main argument was that the costs of repairing a gas leak and fixing the windows were expenses that she couldn't pass on to us. So was she trying to sneak that past us the first time and see if she could get away with it? Does she still think she's right but its better not to make the tenants angry and get into a legal dispute? I don't know, and it doesn't really matter. We got 2/3 of our money back already. I baked some cupcakes for the translating neighbors and the case is closed.

However, our relationship with the neighbors has changed a little. By getting involved in this discussion and showing up at the first meeting, I have sort of broken the ice. I don't know if that is good or bad. It was simple to be anti-social. Now I might have to try and chit chat in German when I see them on the stairs, rather than just saying 'hi.' Maybe we are becoming the neighborhood project (or charity case) and they will try to keep including us until we give in. I guess there are worse things than having nice neighbors, though I am sure they gossip about us when we are not there. Of course, we used to do that over the fence with our neighbor in St Paul. We just did it in English.