Day 45 - Contract Review and Translation

We are very close to signing a lease for our permanent apartment, or flat if you're going to be that way. Permanent sounds very harsh, I'm glad that I put it in italics to soften it up a bit. Good work me.

All legal documents in Denmark are written in, you guessed it, Danish. As such, Susan - my real estate agent / fixer - needed to translate and explain it to me in English.

To recap, the standard lease in Copenhagen runs for 2-3 years. It requires a three month deposit and - in our case - first and last months rent. Sometimes, landlords require the deposit, the first month, and three more months rent. This is all due on the day that the lease is signed. Given the fact that checks don't exist in Denmark, the money is removed from your bank account immediately. Horrible.

Such is life and there's really no sense in complaining about it any further. I just need to accept it and move on. Life goes on. I would be an awful twelve-step-program participant.

So, our apart..pfft...flat. It is here.

I do like that Google maps has an interior map of the mall! Good work Google maps. Apple maps would have probably missed the mall all-together. Thanks Apple maps!

It looks like this.

We're on the first floor above the restaurant, on the left side. Anyway, it's a large flat. Probably larger than we need. The price is / was right and it's in a superb location. Steps from the metro.

I have this ridiculous boulder of anxiety weighing me down regarding this security deposit and the possibility of losing most of it. Let's talk about walls. And paint.

Places are freshly painted. Always. There is no getting around this. If you rent a flat, it will be freshly painted and the last tenant will have paid for that work. Fun fact, you are not allowed to do the painting yourself. The tenant can either A) trust the landlord to hire a government approved painter and pay accordingly or B) hire his / her own government approved painter. Why can't you paint it yourself? Painting is serious business and should only be done by professionals. Painting is a sunk cost. Horrible.

My other favorite bit is the dørskilt or "door sign" fee. This is the fee associated with putting your name on the door. And the mailbox. It is 500 kroner. It is non-negotiable. From what I was told today, this is actually on the lower end as far as dørskilt fees go. You are not allowed to put your own name on the door. You are not allowed to put your own name on the mailbox. This process would probably cost me less than one dollar. I am paying ninety dollars. Horrible.

You'd think that I'd be used to these kinds of things coming from Boston. Maybe if I had lived in the Peoples Republic of Cambridge, the transition would be easier.

This is what happens when you decide to live in a Commun... er Social...er country like Denmark. Alla, now is the time to say "I told you so". 

I promise that tomorrow will not be another complain-o-post. Until then, hej hej!