sos-the-rope

  Again, I don't have any dispute, mate, just trying to follow standard normal procedure. It's OK, I called em again and they'll be round on the morrow to tell us what needs doing in writing.

  I'm only actually just asking for a ballpark figure based on experiences... I know it's a normal expectation, I wasn't planning on contesting it.

  You think it's easier just to find a different, cheaper firm? I actually did ask around months ago but didn't get any recommendations.

  I'm not in one, do I have time in under a week?! Is this going to involve lawyering up? The contract is really just fluff, like I said, it barely qualifies as an actual contract in this area in my non-lawyerly opinion. I've seen enough contracts, I understand that just putting a bunch of generalities basically means this is not covered and we'll effectively just negotiate.

  What option do we have though? At the moment we need the flat right up to the last minute, we have kids and we work from home so it's occupied 24-7.   We need to be there at the other end to take care of the kids while there's no school too, and work won't give any time off.   The contract is useless, doesn't mention any price, or hardly more detail than "normally the one moving out gets the repair done".

    5000? That seems insane in my case.   The contract is truly a masterpiece. Long pages of general info with almost no specific guide to what you will need to do.   I understood from it I need to pay for repaint and repair, and also pay a portion of the kitchen etc. stuff that's now a write-off.

What's the approximate cost I should expect for the little jobs that need doing after I move out?   Flat is about 100m sq. and there's the same plain, white paint on the walls that was here when I got here almost 10 yrs ago!   No major damage anywhere, just the usual furniture scrapes, wear and tear, and nail holes in the walls from paintings etc.   I assume (and they've said verbally) they will just do   professional clean new coat of white paint (clearly in the past they've just painted over cracks, mold etc., that's their lookout) filling a few bits of plaster (see above)   The kitchen is pretty darned old so I expect to fork out for that, and so on, but in general the place is better than when I moved here, new toilet seats, showerheads, and I even insisted on replacing the rusted radiator they lumped me with the same day I arrived here back in the day!   Just trying to get a sane ballpark figure so I know if I'm being messed around in a few weeks.

So this is a huge improvement, the tax forms now have purple highlight showing where the tax office already has the info so you can leave them blank.   HOWEVER, I'm doing mine with the form filler thingie and the note next to the "Wichtiger Hinweis" (e.g. on the Vorsorgeaufwand form) runs off the screen so I can't see *what* case you're meant to tick the box in?!   The intro to eData it refers to doesn't seem to say if you tick this box either?!   https://www.finanzamt.bayern.de/Informationen/Formulare/Steuererklaerung/Einkommensteuer/Infoblatt_eDaten.pdf   Anyone figured it out yet???

  Next time call the fuzz.

  And look at the numbers.   6000 people in the trial. 2000 ish got the drug which has been known and used *since the 60s* so it wasn't exactly a hard bet that it might help with lung conditions.   And 4000 ish people didn't get it.   That's a 1:3 proportion. So... cripes, I can't even type it, it's so sad.

So wonders never cease - apparently all those office jobs that could never be done remotely are being done much more efficiently and happily remotely.   And now all the form filling with info that presumably the recipients could just look up, since in many cases, like tax, they actually produce the info - looks like from 2019 the tax folks will just use their own info.   Why did it take a massive global crisis to make this happen?!

  Trimmer is one of the memorable unsympathetic characters in that wonderful novel.   I wonder if he inspired a certain A. J. Rimmer in a Jungian way? Obviously I know the real inspiration.

  Thanks! I was talking about Frankfurt, this is the forum for that place. But that's a good sign I guess.

  Reminds me of Waugh's "Sword of Honour".

  That's fine, but the old "normal" wasn't really that normal. That's partly why we ended up in this mess.   So many jobs that can be done remotely but aren't. People taking flights as though it was just walking down the street. Chinese people getting exploited as cheap labor. Etc. That is not a pre-crisis situation, it's a crisis.