… or how to take a shower after 10pm in Germany.

If you rent a flat in Germany, or even if you own property, you are usually bound by something called the “ortsübliche Ruhezeiten”.

Ruhezeit is quite simple to translate – quiet time.  It is the time when you have to be quiet, i.e. not make a noise that could be heard outside of the flat.

That’s the easy part.

ortsüblich is one of those words that tries to define something, but fails.  It literally means “the usual times for where you live”.

So the ortsübliche Ruhezeiten are the usual times to keep quiet in the place that you live in. (more…)

And finally…

We are now getting settled in our new flat, but we still have one problem left to sort out: the old one!

You see, although we have given notice on our contract, unless we can find someone else to take it on we will be in that contract for the next few months.  And that means paying both the rent and the mortgage – not something we really want to have to do.

The magic word here is “Nachmieter” – someone who will start a new contract before ours has ended and thus free us from it.  We have been placing advertisements online and on notice boards for the last month and, although there have been several people come to see the flat, no-one has signed a contract yet.

On top of all that going on, we also have to redecorate it.  Something that we want done by the end of September, so that theoretically new tenants could move in from the beginning of October.

So if you are looking for a flat with good connections to Frankfurt (the U-Bahn is just a short walk), then please get in contact with us!

Having lived in Germany for so long, it is  not so often that I come across a bureaucratic process that is new to me.  I think the last major ones before this year were getting married, registering a birth and starting a business.

Buying a flat was, of course, a new and very complicated one.  Yet more was still to come.  Last week I took part in our first Eigentümerversammlung – a German Word worthy of a podcast sometime

The Eigentümerversammlung is the annual meeting of all the owners of the flat in our block.  You see, our block of flats consists of two houses, each with 8 flats.  So there are theoretically 16 owners.  Some live in their flats – as we do, others rent them out.  Some even own more than one.  Each year they all come together for this important meeting to approve the accounts for the building and make any plans for long-term repairs.

And so I found myself discussing items such as colours for paving stones, alternatives to cable television, trees that need cutting down, and various other problems that need sorting out.

Actually, it’s a very organised way of doing things.  The building has an administrator who looks after things for the rest of the year and can take action in emergencies, but otherwise we have to agree on what is to be done and how it is going to be paid for.

On the other hand it can be quite restrictive, as you cannot make certain alterations to your flat – especially if they will be visible from the outside – without the other owners agreeing as well.

Most points on the agenda were dealt with without too much discussion, but every now and then things got quite lively as the discussions became more passionate for their respective causes.

The meeting was a very new experience for me.  If I hadn’t realised before that I had an important responsibility as a property owner, then I did now.  What a long way I’ve come…