A Second Tale of Two Apartments aka How I Got Out Of A Lease

Following on from the last post, I signed the lease for Nido on Friday 16 December. I hadn't paid the deposit though because it was late in the day and with the weekend coming up the money wouldn't transfer in time anyways. I figured that I would wait until Monday to deal with it.

On Sunday I got an email from Peter saying that his friend owns an apartment building on Studiestræde which is right in the center of the old part of the city, like literally right in the center, where those famous classic canals and colourful buildings are located. It's also where the first hotel that I stayed at in that first week is located. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would find somewhere that central.

Photo by Nick Karvounis / Unsplash

Just to emphasise the point a little bit more, when I looked up the address on Google Maps the first landmark that I saw nearby was Rosenborg Castle. Like yes, an actual palace. The next thing I noticed was that basically every cafe, restaurant, museum, and general point of interest that I had bookmarked and wanted to check out was like 5 minutes walking distance from this apartment. It was also very close to the Chabad House (more on that in a different post) and to the main Shul. I could not believe my luck, from one perspective, but then I remembered that I had already signed a lease with Nido. Nevertheless I told Peter that I was interested  in at least checking the place out and he put the real estate agent in touch with me. 

Due to some quirky Danish laws, at least as far as I understand the situation, buildings that were built before 1991 have a maximum cost per square meter that is allowed to be charged as rent, and landlords can't charge more than that. If you can find a place in such a building, it means that you get to stay in a much bigger property than would usually be possible within that budget. Suffice to say, since this building was built in 1798, it fits that classification!

The reason why not everyone stays in those buildings is because there are only a small amount of them, as any newer buildings don't have that rule applied. In the case of newer buildings, the market determines what the rent should be and since in Copenhagen there is more demand for accomodation than supply, that means a lot of money for not a lot of space. It also means that whoever manages to rent one of those places don't usually move out, and most of the time when they do, there is a multi year waiting list of people ready to replace them. So in summary, it was a rare opportunity and I concluded that I should at least check it out.

I set up a viewing for Thursday and during the week assessed what my options were if I decided to take it. Peter asked one of his friends who is an amazing property lawyer and they said that since I signed the lease, even though I didn't yet pay the deposit, if I wanted to terminate it, or pull out of the lease, I would be subject to the notice period specified, which was 3 months. That meant that it would cost about R66000. A ludicrous amount of money to spend as I would essentially be renting 2 places at the same time. No matter how amazing Studiestræde would be, it just simply wasn't worth it. The other option is if they are willing to simply allow me to cancel the lease and to go and find another tenant, but I got the gut feeling that as nice as the Danes are overall, in real estate, niceness is not in the equation. I asked Peter what his advice was, and he suggested that I wait until I see Studiestræde and then make a decision.

I tortured myself the whole week trying to guess what the place would be like, and discovered that the very building even has a wikipedia page on it, had some famous past tenants, and is listed in the listed in the Danish registry of protected buildings and places. I also read that the insides of the apartments were redone in around 2012, but that the building was built in 1798. 

By Unknown author - http://www5.kb.dk/images/billed/2010/okt/billeder/object420961/da/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=106065376

I checked out some older Facebook group posts that had listed rooms available for rental in buildings on Studiestræde and already kind of knew that it was going to be really nice. It would have its drawbacks, like noise from the street during the summer months when the sun sets really late, and potentially hearing noise from your neighbors moving about in their own apartments, since the buildings are so old and lack modern sound insulation materials within the walls and floors/ceilings. And it would almost certainly be a Copenhagen style bathroom where the shower is right above the toilet. Also, it wouldn't be furnished so I would need to buy any and all required furniture whereas at Nido it was already fully furnished.

Finally Thursday arrived and I made my way to the address. I waited outside the apartment building and took in the atmosphere of the historic street and heard ambient church bells.

Yet another ludicrously handsome real estate agent greeted me and rang the bell to let the current tenants know that we had arrived to view the apartment. The people who were currently living there told us that we didn't need to take our shoes off, as is customary when entering most private homes in Denmark since the ground outside is often muddy and wet, because they were already in the process of packing and the floors were probably going to be re-sanded and polished after they moved out. I was immediately taken aback by how big it was. 

It might be because I've now been staying in a really tiny temporary hotel for weeks but this place felt enormous! However even upon later reflection compared to Johannesburg houses it was quite nicely sized. The bathroom was kind of Copenhagen-ey but there was a kind of separation between the shower and the toilet, and the cabinets in the bathroom looked new and there was quite a lot of counter space. I did take a video of the place but since it included all the furniture and belongings of the people that are currently staying there I won't upload it here.

There was also a nice entrance hall area where you generally would put your coat and leave your shoes. There were 3 rooms and a small kitchen, most notably completely separate from the bedroom and 2 living areas. The first living area and coat/entrance hall had really great views of the street. The kitchen had a new stove and oven, and a small fridge. Bigger than a bar fridge but still smaller than a conventional one. 

I already knew that I was really happy with the place but couldn't say yes to the real estate agent until I knew what the deal with Nido would be. Perhaps he seemed a bit puzzled, as in why isn't this guy immediately saying yes to this place. I asked the people currently staying there if they found the noise from the street bothersome and they told me that although this was the center of town for some reason this street was actually quiet. Furthermore they said that since the bedroom is all the way in the back, you can close several doors to insulate yourself away from the sound of the street on the odd occasion that there was any, like on Pride weekend for example. I also asked if they heard noises from the other apartments from their neighbors and they said no. 

The real estate agent showed me the courtyard area that had a bunch of sheds, one of which belonged to the apartment to store occasionally used items and he pointed out that the common laundry area was somewhere around there. I told him that I would think about it, and asked when the latest that I should let them know if I wanted to take it was and they said that I could let them know by the following Tuesday (bearing in mind that Monday was a public holiday). 

I went back to the office and reported back to Claus and Peter how much I liked it and they suggested that I call Nido up the next day and ask them if they would consider allowing me out of the lease. The next morning I called them and didn't quite do a great job of explaining my predicament, and the person that I spoke to on the phone sounded kind of serious, but wasn't sure how to proceed and told me that they would email me with more information later. Not good, and certainly rather lawyerey sounding, because that could mean any time between now and February really. 

I kind of anguished at my desk all day waiting to hear back from them, furiously refreshing my Gmail tab, and upon Peter's advice decided to call again at around 1 pm. I prayed a little prayer that they would be nice and let me off the hook and with a burst of positive energy I spoke to someone different this time and explained the situation more eloquently than in the morning, explaining how I really did like Nido but just found somewhere that personally suited me slightly better, and the person sounded very understanding and put me on hold to speak to his manager and after a few minutes came back and told me that it was okay and that they would cancel the lease. It was really kind of them and I was so happy. 

I told Peter who mentioned it to his lawyer friend who was very surprised and said that it was a very unusual thing for a landlord to do. With all this coincidence going on, I can't help but think that there is a higher powerlooking out for me in this adventure and wants to keep me close to the Jewish community of Copenhagen and spiritually connected in some way. If you remember my speech that I made at Rosi's house you will know what I am talking about.

P.S I know that I still need to finish my second part about the first week that I was here and the hackathon competition, and the move to Cabinn from Sankt Annæ, and losing my favourite toothbrush in the move, but I'm all tuckered out from writing this evening so I will have to put that off to the next post.