Berlin – Tenants in the Heerstraße Nord area in Spandau are going through difficult times. In addition to the sometimes high back payments for heating costs and the elimination of rent discounts previously granted, a number of arson attacks frighten the residents. One week after the fire in an 18-storey high-rise in Obstallee, tenant Linda H. describes how she was doing – and why she is disappointed with the behavior of her landlord, the state-owned housing association Gewobag.
“When the fire broke out, I was in my apartment on the second floor,” reports Linda H. “I had a smell of fire in my nose and at first thought that it might just be a memory of a facade fire that had happened a few days earlier under my window. ”But then the police hit the door of her apartment. “Out immediately, it was said,” says Linda H. “I was still wearing my nightgown, quickly put on my jacket and shoes, grabbed the computer and then I’m out.”
She stood outside in sleet for two hours and froze. Hoping that she can go back to the apartment soon. “Because we weren’t allowed to go back so quickly at first, I went to my mother’s,” reports Linda H. When she was allowed back into the house that afternoon, no one from the Gewobag could be seen. “Fortunately, our tenants’ advisory board was standing in front of our house. He told me that I could go to the Hotel Ibis, where there is substitute accommodation, ”said Linda H. That is what she did. “This is very important to me because I am currently completing a training course that takes place online every day from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.”, says the tenant. “So I am dependent on a functioning internet connection for my future professional life.”
Tenants’ council calls for a task force
But she is only allowed to stay in the hotel until this Friday. “I have to get out at noon. I don’t know what happens then, ”says Linda H. The problem: The Gewobag simply cannot be spoken. “I try to reach them every day, but nobody answers. Neither by phone nor by e-mail “, says Linda H.” Unfortunately I already know that. “Her bell has not worked for a year, and the intercom is broken. “I kept writing damage reports. Half a year. Without success, “says Linda H.
Christopher Ortmann, tenants’ advisory board in the housing estate, reiterates the criticism of the landlord. “Gewobag left the tenants completely in the lurch after the fire last Friday,” he says. Gewobag should now react to the situation and form a task force that must be activated immediately in the event of a fire, he demands. Fire incidents have increased in the Heerstraße / Maulbeerallee district in Spandau since March of this year. Even before the fire in the high-rise apartment building, Gewobag counted 13 fires in its inventory.
The Gewobag presents the communication with the tenants in a different way after the fire in the high-rise apartment building. According to a company spokeswoman, Gewobag has given its tenants the replacement accommodation in the hotel “personally on site and by telephone through our service center”. “Our employees have also informed the tenants personally on site and through notices that they are trying to find alternative accommodation.” 72 rooms in the hotel are currently occupied by tenants. Gewobag is responsible for the costs.
Residents are calling for a security service
Elevators, heating, water supply, electricity as well as the reception of television and internet were affected by the cellar fire in the high-rise apartment building, according to Gewobag. The processing of the damage takes place “successively”. Since Tuesday there has been electricity again and a repaired elevator in “almost all apartments”. According to Gewobag, the plumbing work also started on Tuesday. The hot water supply should also be restored on Friday evening so that tenants who have stayed in the hotel or with friends or families can return to their apartments. The tenants have already been informed about this “personally and via house notices”. Linda H. does not seem to have reached the information. “I haven’t heard anything from Gewobag,” she announced on Thursday. “I’m desperate.” When asked, Gewobag admits that the connections for internet and television in the high-rise building have not yet been restored. This will still take time.
Despite the renewed fire, Gewobag does not consider the reintroduction of a security service to be necessary. “Taking into account the size of the quarter, the structural conditions as well as the very different times of the day and also the causes of the fire incidents, a connection between damaging incidents and a lack of patrols cannot be established,” explains the company. Meanwhile, the tenants are collecting signatures for the introduction of a security service. Around 800 signatures have already been collected, according to tenant Petra W.
The Alternative Tenant and Consumer Protection Association (AMV) stands behind the residents. “We support the tenants in the demand to commission a security service to protect the housing estate, at least as long as the arson continues,” says AMV boss Marcel Eupen. “We also expect Gewobag to appoint a risk officer for the residential area who can be contacted day and night.” Even more: “After all, due to repairs that have been delayed, we are forced to remind Gewobag that the residential buildings are properly managed”, says Eupen. This is currently “unfortunately not taking place”.