You can't fool a Finn..

I blogged a while back (well, months back..) about the recent change in the flat renting situation in Geneva region. I have a part II to the story - watch out, it's another rant on how I find the whole flat renting business pretty unbelievable! 

Pre-check

Sometime in late Feb/March our contact person from the Regie came to do a pre-check (for the moving out cleaning). I thought she does not speak English, since the secretary always took care of communication with me, so a I asked a friend for a play date and language support. Well, turns out, when really needed, she does speak English! She went through the flat and reminded me of things that needed to be cleaned, took a photo of the balcony (which later turned up in the internet, being the only photo that advertised the place) and was very suspicious of the interior design stickers (cars) on Valtteri's room door. 

I received her notes a few weeks later, in French, by mail. When another friend translated them to me, we had six points to especially pay attention to, two of which I could not locate in the flat: marks on a washroom door/doorframe that should be painted, and fingerprints (!) on the bedroom wall next to the washroom. I asked for clarification by e-mail and received a picture of the door - indeed the washing machine door had banged marks into it and it needed to be painted. But nothing on the other point. 

We moved, and cleaned. And cleaned. And painted. And ripped down the plant climbing the wall on the balcony and cleaned the wall behind it, better than would have needed to be done when comparing the situation to the tens of photos we took of the flat when moving in. And good that we had those photos! Because when the day of the inspection came, we were able to show that the black mark on the floor in the hall was already there and not caused by us. 

Check and post-check

The technical inspector who carried out the moving out inspection, really did not speak English, but she had the right attitude and we got along fine. She was not happy with all of the cleaning, but was very happy with the balconies and the painted areas. It seems she had her usual spots to check, those that are often overlooked by tenants in the final cleaning, in addition to the list from the pre-check.  After she was done, we signed the final inspection paper with four points to clean: surfaces on a few cupboards in the kitchen, the stove, the wall in the bedroom that the head of the bed had been against (this was the "fingerprints on a wall facing toilet" although it is not facing toilet) and toilet bowl's tartar (at the very back). She was nice enough to organize for us to keep a key so I could attend to this little bit of extra cleaning right away, and return the key in the afternoon. 

And so I did. And then we waited for our contact person to visit the flat for a check so that we could get our deposit back. Well... Of course we needed to put a little pressure on them before she found the time to visit the flat, and guess what was the end result? She was not happy with the cleaning - and had five (!!) points that needed more cleaning! Two of the five were new items that the technical inspector had already approved. Yep, this is the way you tire out an expat and get them to pay for the cleaning (which may or may not be carried out at all..). But not us!

Post-check's post-check

I insisted that we keep to the original list, and that the next check-up would be done with us present. I had to repeat this message a few times before I got my way (persistency of a terrier..). So, on the agreed day, I went to pick-up the key from the Naef's office in Geneva, went to Bernex and cleaned "with the rage of a monkey" (a Finnish saying, no idea where it comes from) while my friend and her daughter kindly spent time with Valtteri in the park and the building's garden. I used as tough measures as were needed to get it all cleaned in a way that would for sure pass the check, but ignored the printed photos (completely out of focus and thus useless anyway) that came with the keys. (I had asked for photos of the targets that did not pass the check by e-mail so that I could respond to their leaning requests correctly in an effort to be cooperative and communicate that there must be a misunderstanding instead of the scam I new they were trying). I was so tired and dizzy from the bleach fumes that I lifted my middle finger up to the bus that did not wait for us even he must have seen us running and touching the back of the bus as it left the stop. Not like me at all. Not these days anyway, maybe when I was younger ;)

Early the next morning we were back at the flat, all of us. Our contact person from Naef arrived and started with complaining about the fact that she waited for us downstairs (a whole two mins I'm sure) while we had been waiting for her in the flat. Her bad mood was pretty clear but what came next left our mouths hanging open. She started checking cupboards that were already approved by the technical inspector so I explained what were the parts that had required additional cleaning and demonstrated that they were cleaned. She then walked to the toilet and started talking about the shower head that had calc marks (which had come from the technical inspectors check that the water ran clear in the shower). My words "You just understand that we need to stick to the list of the technical inspector.." pushed her buttons and she walked to the hall, slammed the door closed one meter from Valtteri and nearly yelled "The technical inspector wants the flat to be clean!". And she added "You can go now." Of course I did not move. I kept my cool while Antti calmed Valtteri and asked her what the next step was. She bitterly replied that we would be getting our deposit back. Just to be sure, and to twist the knife in the wound a little, I confirmed with her that we had passed the inspection and the deposit would be returned. Yes. 

Ah, freedom! Freedom from Naef!

Revenge

I understand that our contact person was under pressure because she had not secured new tenants, but that was no excuse to lash out on a customer, nor a soon-to-be-ex-customer. The fact that she and the technical inspector did not agree on the cleaning was also not my problem. I was right, and I bet she knew it. 
So we got our deposit back. Friends have encouraged me to complain of her behavior, but now it feels such a long time ago I probably won't. Finally found the time to finish writing this blog entry! For me the best revenge is to see the flat still in the market. Naef has already lowered the rent by four hundred francs (the discount we asked for..) but have lost three months of rent so far. [imagine evil laugh here]