The Munich housing market, Hoheneckstr. 53 and racism

München, like any other major city in the world has a housing market crisis. Demand is too much and the supply is perennially low. Add to that being an Indian who cannot speak fluent German, the options one has for housing really narrow down very quickly leading to desperation.

In March 2024 I was frantically searching for a room to rent. I had to shift out from my subsidized student dorm by the end of the month. The pressure of having to finish my Masters thesis by the end of March did not help things as well. To say that I was desperate to find a room to rent would be an understatement.

It was in this scenario that out of the hundreds of messages I had sent to landlords, a certain Mr. Roland Lux from Hoheneckstr. 53, München - 81243 messaged me back.

Initial meeting

The initial meeting itself was quite weird but I had already made up my mind to okay the room. It seemed strange to me that he said if he faced any problems with me he would not hesitate to call the police. Why would someone mention calling the police in the first meeting itself?

He also said he expected me to not be at home on weekdays. I wasn’t sure how he was going to enforce this as my understanding was, once I rent a room I can choose to stay in or not.

Despite these misgivings, the fear of being homeless however pushed me to okay the room.

It was a Familienhaus (bungalow). He was renting three rooms to outsiders. Apart from the renters, his wife, daughter and daughter’s son stayed there along with him.

Moving in and the start of troubles

The moment I officially moved in with my stuff I knew I had made a giant mistake. He sat me down and started writing rules. He acted like a hunter who had successfully trapped his prey. I had a pit in my stomach.

• The WiFi would only be turned on from 5 PM to 12 PM on weekdays and would be available the entire day on weekends. I soon realized for him, full day started from 10 AM until midnight. On weekdays the WiFi was turned on erratically. He decided when to turn it on. If he decided to turn it off before midnight, tough luck.

• I should not be home during the weekdays.

• I should take bath for at most 10 minutes (to save on energy costs).

• I shouldn’t be loud after 10 PM. (This is normal in Germany.)

I could adjust with the last 2 rules as well. But the first one was unacceptable. In hindsight I know that whenever I rent a room I’m supposed to clarify what services will and won’t be there. But at that time I thought basic services such as WiFi and laundry would always be present.

The new semester was starting soon and I wanted to finish an already over-extended Masters as soon as possible. I thought instead of wasting time searching for a new room all over again, I could adjust for the duration of the semester and then shift out.

I soon also found out that even though he had a washing machine and dryer for his family, the tenants were supposed to catch a bus and travel 15 minutes to the nearest public Waschautomat to do their laundry.

I questioned him regarding why the WiFi was not starting even at 5 PM sharp on weekdays. It used to start randomly at 5.30 or 6 on most days. In return all I got was an unexpected deep guttural yell that freaked me out. It was a yell that made it clear that he saw me as inferior to him. On other days, other questions or disagreements were responded to by him with racist yells like “Fuck you bloody Indian”. Every day was spent walking on egg shells. Every day was spent in the dread of “I don’t know what he’s going to fight about today.”.

The other tenants moved in and moved out within a month or two like clockwork. His attitude was the same towards the others as well. The rest of them were able to find other rooms to move into. There were people from Kerala, Bangladesh, Nepal, Iraq. Not one person was white or German. It was only at this stage, around three months in, having seen many asians move in and out of the house, and having been on the receiving end of racist remarks did I finally come to the conclusion that it was Mr. Lux who was the problem and not me. Until then I was not sure if I was behaving in an unreasonable manner. I kept blaming myself for not having the know-how to enquire before-hand which services would be present.

I remember the tenant from Kerala one day taking a bath (which I came to know later was longer than 10 minutes) and Mr. Lux banged the bathroom door hard enough to knock it down, dragged the tenant out to the hall and demanded that he vacate the house right then. Threats to tenants to leave the house that very second and about calling the police were commonplace.

The tipping point came when I was having a family emergency one evening and I was on the phone fighting and arguing. This day was an exception. Until this day I had always been cognizant of not disturbing the rest even though I had been on the receiving end of pointless nastiness. It was around 11 PM. Admittedly, it was late. He came banging at the door. I opened the door to see him seething. I realized suddenly it was late and I told him I’m sorry. This did not appease him. He grabbed my neck and I was speechless. He had always used the threat of physical intimidation to have his way. But I never thought he would cross the line.

Moving out and aftermath

This incident occurred the same month my exams got over. I shifted out at the end of the month. Yet, the dread and the mental health hit I’ve experienced as a result of staying there cannot be easily undone or forgotten. I’ve written this piece in an effort to dissuade someone else who might be looking to shift in there. On a more selfish front, writing this piece helped me in a small way to get the incident out of my system.

What still seems inexplicable to me is how his wife and daughter let this attitude of his pass. They even acted as if his behavior towards tenants was justified.

Hope this helps someone make an informed decision.