Leaving an unhealthy attic just as it's finally being renovated: "It's given me chronic health problems"

BarcelonaIn Barcelona, ​​it's possible to live in a rented apartment with extremely unsanitary conditions. It's also possible to live there knowing the building manager is aware of the situation, that a city inspector has visited the apartment, and that an architect has even certified "a dramatic situation of dampness" that can cause rhinitis, bronchitis, and even pneumonia. These are, in fact, the respiratory ailments that Felicia, the tenant, has suffered every winter for the past five years. With mandatory renovations still underway, she will be leaving this penthouse in the Born district in a few days because the landlord has decided not to renew her contract, which expires in a few months.

At number 9 Canvis Nous Street, very close to the Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar, a narrow, uneven staircase leads to a bright penthouse with a terrace. The building is old and needs renovations that are barely being carried out. "I've continued living here because it's impossible to find anything else," Felicia explained to ARA, complaining that she has to leave just as the building is being renovated. "And now that I'm leaving, they're doing the renovations that were due. I'm being forced to leave my home just when they have no other option but to carry out the renovations, depriving me of the right to enjoy the property in habitable conditions for which I've been religiously paying." However, the rental agreement administrator, Judith Strub, contacted by this newspaper, explained that neither the owner nor she had the authority to carry out the necessary renovations because, she says, they required the approval of the homeowners' association, and that once the special assessment was agreed upon with all the residents, it was finally carried out. "This is the apartment of a landlord who lives with his nearly 100-year-old mother in a rented apartment to care for her," explains Strub, adding that the tenant has continued living in this century-old building of her own volition, as this situation was not to the liking of the landlord or the building manager. "During the five years she has lived in the penthouse, other apartments have become available in the same building with a similar rent, and she hasn't been interested in moving," Strub explained, something the tenant says she was unaware of and that no one informed her about. The rent was €650 per month when she moved in in 2021, and now she pays more than €700, an increase mandated by law due to the landlord's right to pass on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to the rent annually.

The apartment's conditions are extreme because it consists of only a 15 cm wall with no rooms or insulation around it. But that's not all: in the upper part of the attic, in a loft where her bed is, the walls are only 4 cm thick. This has meant that, during the renovations, pieces of wall have fallen onto her mattress. But the real problem is that, according to an architectural report, the building's complete lack of insulation causes water vapor from the air to condense and adhere to the interior walls due to the temperature difference with the outside.

All of this is visible at a glance. Felicia's attic has mold on the walls, which she cleans herself with bleach, and part of the parquet flooring is completely worn down by leaks from the roof every time it rains. He shows videos of damp, crumbling walls, videos of him holding pieces of wall from the construction work being done outside, and also how he expels condensation from inside his house on a typical winter day. "The other day my kitchen cabinet fell off. It came loose from the wall because of the dampness," he explains.

Chronic rhinitis and pneumonia

All of this has caused Felicia respiratory problems, forcing her to take more than ten sick leaves in recent years, as the ARA has confirmed. "I have developed well-documented chronic health problems, including migraines, sinus infections, lung infections, and pneumonia," she says in a letter she recently sent to the Landlords' Union. In winter, she can't sleep in her bed and has to go down to the sofa and put a pillow over a heater, trying to get through the night as best she can. "Every morning I wake up with puffy eyes," she says. When she complained to the landlord or real estate agency, explaining that she couldn't heat the apartment due to condensation problems, they told her to open the windows, she says. They also told her to clean the mold off the walls herself, which she often does to avoid further health complications. All of this has cost her a lot of money. From the sofa, completely stained with condensation, she explains to ARA that she has already had to replace it once, as well as the bed, because water seeps in. "I've also lost a lot of clothes. In total, I've probably lost more than 2,000 euros," she says. The contract she signed with the landlord is from 2021, just one year before the occupancy permit for the penthouse expired. Issued in 2007 for a 15-year term, the permit would not be renewed under the conditions in which Felicia has lived, as certified by architects.