More Anniversaries

This week marked one year since we'd moved into our apartment. While I am pretty happy with our place, this anniversary also brings to mind exactly how long it can take for things to be accomplished here in Rio.

For example, here is a list of items that were not "taken care of" when we moved in and we were assured would be fixed/provided immediately. Note that these do not include all of the things that went wrong after we moved in.

• Walls under AC units repaired - moisture damage (we ended up contracting this ourselves a few months ago).
• Keys provided for closet doors - they do not close properly without the keys. (We finally found purchased some replacements last month). 
• Island and additional cupboards/storage installed in the kitchen (ummm... yeah don't even get me started. I am not holding my breath). 
• Touch up painting throughout the apartment (we ended up contracting this ourselves a few months ago).

I'm sure that there were more things but I have probably surpressed the memories over the past year in order to survive. The moral of the story? If possible, do not take possession of your apartment until all of these little things are taken care of. OR, be prepared to take matters into your own hands. In our case, we finally just contracted the work out that had to be done, and took it off our rent.

Comments

[Expat Newbie]

Wow....i happened upon your site recently and was amazed to find similarities in our experiences after reading many of your posts. We are only here 3 months- moved into our new apartment 2. Yes, there were outstanding things that we are still awaiting completion of and YES it is frustrating. Despite my request, our contract does NOT address these works and as such our obligation remains to pay the rent over anything else.

After reading this post, i believe i will explore contracting out the work and deducting it from the rent so we can finally settle in. I am really tired of the back and forth on the matter. Our relocation people have simply stopped replying to our questions...