Rain dripping over the windowsills, drafty front doors and loose bathroom tiles. Dozens of residents of an apartment on Lagelandstraat in Den Bosch can talk about it. A large number of the apartments suffer from a laundry list of defects, but despite a load of complaints, residential rental company Heimstaden does not solve the problem. The apartment is now full of banners in the hope that something will finally change.
‘We are cold due to poor maintenance’, can be read on one of the banners on the balconies. These were hung by a group of residents who had had enough. “No maintenance has been done for years,” says Silvester Klaasman. He recently founded a tenants’ association and went door to door with a number of other residents. “There are 182 apartments here and half of them indicate that they have problems,” he says.
“It creaks and squeaks from all sides here.”
The complaints range from repairs that are not resolved properly to leaks and poor insulation. For example, resident Audrey’s windowsills are flooded when it rains because her window frames are rotten. Her roller blinds also look brown from moisture. “Last year I had to pay 1,700 euros extra in energy costs,” she says. “Sometimes someone comes by. Then they fill it up or put a piece of rubber between them, but that is of course not a solution.”
Maria Camen has also been experiencing nuisance for two years. Her toilet bowl is broken, but will not be replaced. The bathroom tiles are loose and when she takes a shower the water leaks onto the carpet in the next room. “They resealed the wall and that would be temporary. But now it’s leaking again and all I’m told is that my complaint is being processed.”
According to residents, rents and service costs are increasing every year. “We recently had a tax assessment of 112 euros,” says Henk Vernauw angrily. In the meantime, he shows how much draft passes by his front door. “But maintenance doesn’t happen. It creaks and squeaks from all sides here and that cannot be solved with a tube of sealant.”
“Maintenance has been carried out in recent years.”
Overdue maintenance is also visible on the outside of the building, such as loose panels and leaking rain pipes. But according to the landlord, maintenance has indeed been carried out. “We do not recognize the image that no maintenance has been carried out in recent years,” says Heimstaden spokesman Edward Touw. “We have indeed done that, both minor and major maintenance. This does not alter the fact that we take it seriously that residents are not satisfied. So we’re going to listen to that.”
The residents will go to the Heimstaden office in Eindhoven together with local SP on Thursday, where they will hand over a black book full of complaints. “We have a list of requirements of things that need to be improved,” says Silvester. “Everyone pays a lot of rent and after all these years we should get something in return.”
