For Ailin Richardsen (50), it seemed impossible for a long time to enter the housing market in Oslo as a single person.
Her happiness was therefore great when in the summer of 2019 she finally had the opportunity to buy her first apartment through a fully financed loan from the Housing Bank.
Grateful for finally becoming a homeowner, she moved into an apartment on the ground floor of Grünerløkka in Oslo.
– The apartment was only 30 square meters, but it was mine, says Ailin.
The apartment was not approved
Shortly after Ailin moved in, she was told that her apartment had not been approved by the Planning and Building Agency.
– When I bought the apartment, I knew that a valve would be installed in my bedroom, but I had no idea that the apartment did not have a certificate of completion, says Ailin.
Already in 2017, it was discovered by chance that the four apartments on the ground floor were only approved as two.
This case had been a headache for the housing association for several years.
The board of the housing association therefore worked hard to get the apartments approved by the agency. This should be done in the cheapest possible way.
One of the points the Planning and Building Authority required in order to be able to give approval was that each of the small apartments had to have its own ventilation system.
In addition, one of the extractor fans in the building thanked itself in August 2019, and was to be replaced at the same time as the other work was done.
Monster pipes in the ceiling
In July 2020, it was urgent to get the apartments approved.
According to Ailin, she had been told by the housing association that only a small valve should be installed in her bedroom.
She had been bothered by bad air in her apartment for the nine months she had lived there, and was looking forward to the work being done.
– I was happy to finally get air into my apartment.
On July 2, Ailin handed over the keys to the apartment so that contractors could come and do the work.
When she returned home, she was greeted by something she had never imagined.
Large metal pipes stretched throughout her small apartment.
– I felt that the tears pressed on, and I was completely in shock. I stood there with someone on the housing association board, and asked “are you not done now?”
See what the apartment looks like in the video above.
A couple of weeks earlier, she and the other residents on the first floor had been sent a drawing of the work to be done in the apartments.
But Ailin says that she did not know that the pipes would be on the outside of the wall.
– Both the housing association board and architects had been inspected a couple of weeks before the installation. So I do not understand that we had not been informed about this before.
See answers from the housing association board further down.
– They had destroyed my apartment
TV 2 helps you has also been in contact with the other three residents on the ground floor. None of them knew in advance how extensive interventions would be made in their apartments.
One of them is Jan William Fines. He was on vacation when the work was done. Like Ailin, he was shocked when he came home and saw the result.
– I thought that now they have destroyed my apartment, says Jan William.
– URBAN: This is the pipes over the kitchen cabinet of Jan William Fines. Photo: Jan William Fines / Private.
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Unlike Ailin, he had received a verbal message from one of the board members of the housing association that a pipe would be installed in his apartment.
– He said that there would be a pipe from my living room and into the hallway. It was fine for me, but I did not know that four large pipes would be installed that run through the entire apartment, Jan William explains.
The two other residents TV 2 helps you have talked to got the pipes boxed in, and have now sold their apartments.
One of them is Kristin Lethigangas. She says that she quickly understood that something had to be done with the pipes before she sold the apartment.
– I got in a broker who estimated that my apartment of 24 square meters had a loss of value of 150,000 kroner, as it looked with the visible pipes.
Kristin therefore decided to raise and box the pipes. This cost her 85,000 kroner.
After that, she packed her things and moved.
– It worked out for me, but I feel that I am provoked just by talking about it, Kristin says.
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BEFORE: This is what the pipes in Kristin’s kitchen looked like before she was allowed to box them in. Photo: Kristin Lethigangas / Private.
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AFTER: This is what Kristin’s kitchen looked like after she was allowed to box in the pipes. Photo: Magne Risnes
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– The sound drives me crazy
It is almost two years since the pipes were installed in the apartments. The residents have repeatedly complained about the case to the board of the housing association, and were promised a meeting where the case was to be discussed.
But this meeting never happened.
In the autumn of 2020, the work was approved by the Planning and Building Agency. After that, the board left the case dead.
For Ailin and Jan William, on the other hand, it is difficult to forget the monster pipes they have in the ceiling.
– One thing is purely aesthetic, but the sound is driving me crazy. I have the TV on constantly to try to mute the sound, says Ailin.
– I struggle more with headaches than I have done before, and it is a pain I had not felt before. Some nights I also struggle to fall asleep due to the noise, Jan William explains.
Following tips from TV 2 help you, the two have measured the noise level in their apartments with a mobile app. According to the unofficial measurements, the noise level in both apartments exceeds the Norwegian Standard for noise in living rooms.
Had one goal in mind
After the case was approved by the Planning and Building Agency, Ailin has had little contact with the board.
– I think it’s sad. The board members are nice people, but all this has made me lose some of my trust in them, says Ailin.
The board of the housing association writes in an email to TV 2 helps you that the case of getting the apartments approved was a years-long and time-consuming process.
– We think it is sad that some of the unit holders are not satisfied with the result of the work, but this was work that was done with one goal in mind, to get the apartments approved by the planning and building agency at the housing association’s expense.
– Since this was something the entire housing association had to pay for jointly, we naturally chose the most affordable solution that would lead to approval, the board writes.
However, they have not answered the questions of whether they knew in advance what it would look like, or whether they could do something to avoid such an extensive intervention in the small apartments.
The board has also not answered the question of why the residents were not better informed in advance.
After TV 2 helps you, the board informed that the noise level in the apartments seems to be higher than the requirements, they have decided to take up the matter again.
– There is completely new information for us on the board. We will ask the installer to come and check the system in all four apartments as soon as possible with regard to the noise level.
In an email to Ailin, the board asks her to be patient during the process. Ailin has replied that she demands speed, but has not received a response to her latest inquiry.
– Has not done his job
Consumer lawyer Ola Fæhn reacts to the interventions that have been made without permission from the residents.
– I certainly do not think that the housing association has done its job. Here, communication has failed to the residents, and I think that the housing association does not have the right to set up such installations in the apartments, without those who live there being better informed.
Fæhn also thinks it is strange that the housing association did not complain to the installer about the case, after repeated complaints from the residents about the aesthetic execution of the work.
– RESPONDS: Consumer lawyer Ola Fæhn believes that the housing association has not informed the residents sufficiently in advance. Photo: Moment Studio
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Now, almost two years later, it is more difficult to rectify this with a complaint case, he explains.
The consumer lawyer therefore believes that the housing association is obliged to pay for boxing the pipes in the apartments of Ailin and Jan William.
– Boxing in the pipes both to make it nicer and shielding from noise, I think that is the least the housing association can do, says Fæhn.
– Abuse in one’s own home
Ailin has long tried to reconcile with the monster pipes, but is bothered daily by both the sight and the sound from the massive ventilation system.
– LAST RESORT: Ailin Richardsen felt that her last resort was to go to the media with the case. Photo: Ailin Richardsen / Private.
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– Feels like an abuse in my own home, that someone enters my free zone and inserts this.
– It has been all-consuming and I have been awake at night, says Ailin.
She feels that her last resort was to go to the media with the case.
– People tell me that they had never accepted this, but I feel a little tied on hands and feet because I can not afford legal help.
After she contacted TV2 helps you, Ola Fæhn has assisted Ailin with legal assistance.
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