The tired low-rise blocks in Strandlien in Bergen have a history of complaints in a class of their own.
Strandlien is located on a hillside over Damsgårdssundet, outside Bergen city center.
In December last year, TV 2 helps you get tips about large amounts of mold, strange leases and years of conflicts in the dormitory houses Strandlien 23 and 25.
A tenant who does not want to stand up for fear of reprisals from the landlord, says that she complained about mold for several months without the landlord reacting.
– STRANDLIEN 25: One of several tenants who ended up in conflict with Somiga Eiendom sent this picture from their bedroom. Photo: Tenant
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Another tenant who wishes to remain anonymous for the same reason, received a letter last year in which the landlord threatens to create a negative website about her if she does not apologize for a review she wrote about the home on revju.no.
Watch the TV 2 help you episode Muggent rental market on TV 2 Play where we reveal shocking living conditions in Bergen.
In the episode, we interviewed both former and current tenants in Strandlien.
The general manager of Somiga Eiendom AS, which we have chosen to anonymize, would neither be interviewed nor give a written comment in the program.
But after watching the program, he has changed his mind. See the landlord’s answer further down in the case.
Got the wrong room
One of the people we interviewed is former tenant Karoline Hamre.
It has been over ten years since Karoline lived in Strandlien, but she believes that the landlord still owes her money.
And she is upset that the landlord is still active in the market.
In October 2011, Karoline was one of the six students who stood out Bergens Tidende and said they felt cheated by the homeowner, the same person who currently runs Somiga Eiendom.
Karoline is today a teacher and still lives in Bergen. She lived only 12 days in Strandlien.
– There were many things that did not hang on. The landlord showed the neighboring object which consisted of five bedrooms and looked completely different.
She adds that when she arrived at the dormitory she met 11 other students and noticed that there were many rooms.
– And then I got a very small room that was not the agreement, says Karoline.
When Karoline lived in Strandlien, she paid rent for one month, NOK 5,800. She has in all years believed that she is entitled to a refund.
It is only now, after TV 2 helps you investigate Strandlien, that the landlord has chosen to refund the 5800 kroner.
Karoline says to TV 2 helps you that she is happy with the payment even if it came 10 years late.
– I do not think they paid back because of a bad conscience, but because they were “fresh” and came in the spotlight to TV 2 help you.
– But it makes me happy that they have to make up for it.
According to the landlord, the reason for the sudden payment is that he wants reconciliation with Karoline Hamre and another former tenant, Johanne Vaagland.
Johanne lived in a collective with four other students in Strandlien 25. The landlord lived with his family on top of the same building.
Johanne says that she was often accused of things she had not done.
– What I remember best was when he sent his wife to yell at us because of a scratch in a table that we had nothing to do with.
Anonymous threats by email
Johanne lived there from the autumn of 2010 to December 2011. She posted a review of the home on hybelrating.no because she wanted to warn others.
Over a year later, she received an anonymous threat by email.
– It referred to things that happened when I lived here, which made me immediately connect it to this house, and I was in contact with others who had lived here and received similar threats.
– GOT ANONYMOUS THREATS: Former tenant in Strandlien 25, Johanne Vaagland, believes the landlord has an explanation problem when he claims not to have knowledge of the anonymous threats she received by email. Photo: Ørnulf Riisnæs
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In the letter, Johanne was threatened that personal information and negative rumors about her would spread on the internet if she did not remove the review.
It is still unknown who wrote the threat email.
Landlord wants reconciliation
The lease that included Johanne and Karoline took place before Somiga Eiendom was established, but under the auspices of the same man who currently runs Somiga Eiendom.
Today he denies having anything to do with Johanne’s threatening letter.
Johanne, for her part, believes that the landlord has an explanation problem:
– We are three pieces that have received similar threats that explicitly refer to events that happened when we lived there, which only he or others from the home can know. And the only thing we who received threats have in common is that we have lived there, Johanne writes in a text message to TV 2 help you.
At the same time, the landlord claims that he now wants reconciliation with both Johanne and Karoline, and writes in an email to TV 2 help you:
«In connection with previous tenancies in 2011, we must strongly regret that you experienced injustice and that at that time it was not cleaned up for the best for you (…) We dare with this hope that we together in a reconciling spirit can leave behind us what has so far been unsettled. We have refunded the paid rent for August 2011 to Karoline. “
– ON OLD PLOTS: In January 2022, Johanne Vaagland with TV 2 helps you to Strandlien 25 which she left in December 2011. Photo: Ørnulf Riisnæs
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As for Karoline’s criticism of the landlord about breach of contract and that she was given a different room than she was promised, the Somiga boss answers today that it was due to “communication failure”.
The landlord’s version of the conflict over a scratch on Johanne’s table is that since no one volunteered, all the tenants in the collective had to count on “joint and several liability.” He adds that the claim was withdrawn.
The Consumer Council: – Should not really sign
Leases in Strandlien require, among other things, that the tenant has joint and several liability if the water pipes freeze; that guests can not use the house’s wi-fi, and that the landlord has free access to common areas in the collective.
– DENSITY AND COLORFUL: One of the pages in a lease from Somiga Eiendom AS. These are the landlord’s own highlights. Photo: Fredrik Drevon
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In the compact and highly detailed contracts, the font is highlighted in a number of different colors, italics and thicknesses.
Caroline Skarderud, a lawyer in the Consumer Council, has read some of the contracts for Somiga Eiendom.
– Such a lease where all the text is tightly packed in small print is something you really should not sign. Because you should understand what you are signing, and if there are many obligations that the landlord has more or less the right to put in, then you can be a bit in the scissors if you have signed.
– When it comes to maintenance obligations, the landlord can demand quite a lot from the tenant, but there are strict rules in the Rent Act around getting into the home, Skarderud says to TV 2 helps you.
– WARNING AGAINST PACKED CONTRACTS: Lawyer Caroline Skarderud in the Consumer Council. Photo: Glenn Aaseby
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– Guests “stole” wi-fi capacity
The landlord replies that the clause on joint and several liability is due to the fact that frozen water pipes can lead to water leakage if the tenants on their way home switch off all heat in the house to save electricity costs.
– RELEASE: A student who told about large amounts of mold in the room she rented from Somiga Eiendom, has dropped out of the contract. Photo: Screenshot / Fredrik Drevon
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Furthermore, he writes that free access for landlords in the collective’s common area is necessary to maintain washing routines.
He claims that the reason why tenants are not allowed to provide network passwords to visitors is that there were a number of complaints from residents that a tenant had visits from several overnight guests who “” stole “capacity when downloading movies, etc.”
Therefore, “the said clause was included in the lease for the benefit of the tenants.”
After the TV 2 helps you episode Muggent rental market was shown, we received a text message from the student who had been complaining about mold in his bedroom for several months. The message states that she:
«(…) Gets out of the contract without paying anything more as a result of yesterday’s episode! Thanks for your help!”
The landlord, on the other hand, claims that the mold problem is mainly due to incorrect use of the home.
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