By Sabine Klier
Asbestos alarm in the apartment of pensioner Marita Lohrke (70). But only after she informed the building inspector did her property management react. Promised her a relocation apartment, the removal of the asbestos glue and the repair of the floor. Two months later, she is still slaloming around the broken plates with her walker.
Marita Lohrke has been living on the 4th floor of the senior citizens’ home on Iranische Strasse in Berlin-Mitte for two years. She pays 550 euros in rent for 42 square meters. Because she suffers from the lung disease COPD, she always has to carry an oxygen cylinder with her, from which she is ventilated.
She finds it difficult to walk, so she uses a walker. “Like most of the other residents in the house, I didn’t put down a carpet because otherwise I would get stuck with it,” she says. The floor panels had come loose in five places in her apartment. Danger of falling! She reported this to the administration a year and a half ago. The repair is complex and must be carried out by professionals due to the risk of asbestos.
Six months ago an employee from the housing office came. Lohrke: “He asked my property management to give me a relocation apartment immediately.” Only after the BZ got involved did things seem to be moving forward. “Three days after publication, I received the keys to an apartment on the same floor,” says the pensioner.
Five floor tiles in the apartment are loose and damaged Photo: Sven Meissner
Because the severely disabled senior citizen cannot manage the move alone, the property management wanted to hire a moving company.
“So far no one has contacted me,” says Marita Lohrke. “I wrote several emails. The property management is playing deaf and mute. I don’t want to die because of asbestos. You can’t treat old people like that!”
A request from the BZ was not answered by the property management.