Standard of living

When I left my apartment in Sweden the flat had to be inspected by the landlord, this is a norm in that nice proper society.

In an inspection they look for scratches of the parquet flooring, for many or large holes drilled into the walls and make sure that all electrical outlets work.
If you have decorated the flat during your stay, like repainted the walls they could ask you to change it back to the original colour, if the new colour is too drastic or if one has used the wrong kind of paint or even if they consider that you’ve just done a lousy painting job.

In Israel I think things are a bit different in this matter.

An apartment comes as it is, as far as I’ve been able to gather, there is no minimum standard state an apartment has to be in.
Luckily for us our new little student flat was just recently repainted white and if one doesn’t mind dried paint on the windows, floors or all over the bathtub I must say it looked fresh.
That is until I noticed the little black spots of mould in the bathroom ceiling that they’ve painted over.

In my Swedish bathroom the landlord checked for cracks in the toilette bowl and the sink. I had a tiny crack in the sink but blamed the previous tenants so I didn’t have to pay for a new one. The landlord replaced in anyway.
In our little student flat here in Jerusalem, the sink in the bathroom only has one big crack and if I am careful when cleaning it I don’t get cut on the sharp edge.

They go a bit too far in Sweden I think, I don’t mind cracks or spots or scratches, as long as the place is liveable. But before one moves out of an apartment one gets a list of things to think about and places to clean:

Clean the windows and don’t forget the windowsills
Dust the walls (?!)
Wash the floor (obviously)
Clean and unclog the drains in kitchen and bathroom (eiuh!)
and to forget to clean BEHIND the stove and refrigerator etc

Its no wonder Sweden has a high standard of living. Every apartment has to be spick and span when one moves in and even if you only get a rental apartment, one is entitled to complaining and getting reimbursed for anything that might have been missed. One can get money for repainting the whole apartment if one is lucky. Also, it is standard to have central heating, triple paned glass windows, a stove with oven, a fridge and a freezer. People in Sweden really do take these things for granted.

Our nice two room apartment has big splashes of dried paint in the bathtub, cracks in the walls where the draft comes in and all the floors are askew so every table or chair wobble slightly. Only one glass pane in the window which makes it pretty cold when the temperature at night is below zero. But I don’t care, I love it anyway!
We have a fridge and a stove but not an oven. As a housewarming gift we got a small portable oven but when we plugged it in, it blew the fuse.

Of the entire building.

Hehe…