bigguskultus

So, before starting my post, I'll clarify that I've already tried to talk to this person and solve things rationally. I'm not trying to annoy her for no reason at all -- being annoying is my last resort.   So, I live in a rented room in a classic German house (you know the type -- narrow, several floors, pointed roof). My landlady owns the whole building and she lives downstairs, but because most of the other rooms are vacant she frequently occupies them too. So, this means I have no other "private" space than the room itself.   At first, the relationship wasn't too bad. I did notice she was a bit weird and brusk when addressing me sometimes, but attributed it to her being old and, well, German. But things have started going downhill.   Regarding myself, I will say I'm not a perfect Mieter. My room is a bit of a mess sometimes, I grab cleaning products from the building shed and forget to put them back for a day or two, etc. But, really, that's all there is. I don't smoke, I don't bring people, I'm out of the house most of the time, I never listen to music from speakers and I don't even switch the TV on. The only time we've had an incident was when I came back home around 11 PM and walked a bit heavier than usual, and 2 minutes later her husband was banging my door.   However, I noticed that she started "relaxing", so to say, and treating me with less politeness. She still, to a big extent, thinks that she can control 24/7 the state in which I leave the room. The times in which she's been in the flat, she's told me to leave windows closed at all times, the bathroom door open at all times, and one time she came in while I wasn't there (I gave her permission to come in), she closed a window that I'd left open even though it wasn't raining or anything. Then, the cherry on top was playing very loud music in the middle of the night, thus waking me up, not answering when I banged at her door multiple times, not apologizing when I sent her a message and only when, the following morning, I sent her another message telling her to please not repeat it answering alogn the lines of "oh, so sorry, next time please just knock on the door if it's too loud". *eyeroll*   I have a Mieterschutzbund membership and am willing to call the police if she plays loud music again, but other than that my German is not that great yet and it's been really hard to confront her. Really, pettiness is all I have to no go mad right now. Do you have any ideas on how to annoy her, legally of course? So far, all she's gotten is a subscription for a religious cult pamphlet, but I'd love any suggestions.

I largely use my own cleaning products. She provides special "organic" cleaning products for the bathroom and kitchen for any of the Mieter to use. This was specified when I moved in -- I'm not just grabbing random stuff from sheds and assuming it's OK to do so.

For those who are asking, the reason why I rented this place was because I discovered that my previous Vermieter was involved in criminal activity, so I had to leave the flat ASAP.   How could I agree to this arrangement? First off, as if you didn't get that from the post, I'm a foreigner. Renting a place in NRW is already hard enough without speaking fluent German. When I had to find another place once I knew my previous Vermieter was a drug dealer I did not stop to be picky about the kind of place I stayed in.   I have tried to look for another flat and have an ad put up, but it's not getting any candidates. What do you expect me to do about that?   Secondly, what exactly am I not taking care of? Is there a rule in Germany that says a rented room has to be spotless and tidy 100% of the time? I work two jobs, and when I get home I honestly don't feel like cleaning or tidying up most of the time, but I still spend at least one day of my weekend cleaning the entire place.