This is the first part, and probably the first of many of our brand new project, which we titled "Project Home".

As I mentioned before, my boyfriend and I moved in together in May of last year. But what should have turned out to be a beautiful dream, turned into the nightmare. I know due to my asthma I am more vulnerable for illnesses such as the flu and colds, but it is the third time this year that I have fallen ill (and we're only February!) and I believe stress and lack of sleep has been a big influence.

We only have been living here for ten months, but you wouldn't believe the things we have had to deal with. It is crazy. There were the weekly parties at our upstairs neighbour. We even caught his friends doing drugs one time in their car on the parking lot, which is supposed to be a parking lot for occupants of the apartments only. I can tell you, with your own car parked aside, you don’t sleeping at ease anymore. We called the cops on them, because we were scared that they would drive off in their car, possibly causing an accident in traffic. Not for their sake but for the other people on the road. Of course the cops decided not to show up.

Another thing that has been bothering us a lot is that we are paying quite a lot of rent for an apartment that is full of defects. We pretty much needed to beg over and over for repairs. And the landlord has been coming up with excuse after excuse not to do repairs. He even refuses to fix some of the things that need fixing. For instance, our boiler needs fixing. We can still use the heating and have warm water, but it is only a matter of time before it breaks down completely. You wouldn't believe the stunt the landlord pulled in order to get out of fixing it. We have a new appointment in a month to have it fix, but there is no way to tell what he is planning next.

Also don't get me started on the real estate agency. They have chosen the side of the landlord unconditionally. They don't care if the landlord is lying, in their eyes we are the ones that are lying and being difficult. The landlord even told them we wouldn't let him enter the apartment to do repairs. Yes, because that totally makes sense. We are the ones whining about getting the defects fix and then we don't let him enter? Sure.

It has really come to a point in which we are desperate. It's scary that you can be scared to go home in fear of what you might find there, or scared to go to bed in fear of the noise the upstairs neighbour will be making.

So I wanted to turn this post into a little request. We have already been getting a lot of tips and ideas from the people that we have been talking on how to deal with a difficult landlord, but if you have any more tips, simply leave a comment below. Or if you can relate, tell me your story. It feels so good to know that we are not alone.