Budapest landlord cut power and threat me

So i paid my rent and included utilities, the contract stated that. But my landlord cuts my electricity power (for cooking)because he said there's smell.



What can I do , can I call the police? Or is there any other solutions to this ?
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Welcome,

In order for members to help you, you need to give a little bit more information.

Are you in a house or an apartment? Has any of your neighbours noticed a smell?

Did the landlord say anything else than than "a smell"?
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So i paid my rent and included utilities, the contract stated that. But my landlord cuts my electricity power (for cooking)because he said there's smell.



What can I do , can I call the police? Or is there any other solutions to this ?
- @lucky chan

Wow, that's not cool.

We had downstairs neighbors a few years back , I think they were from Paskatain.

I persoanlly loved the smell coming up to our flat. In fact I used to almost hate it because it smelled so tasty and I already had dinner. Made me want to snack.

Hate to say it but people in the house were complaining about the smell.I had no issues with it but I'm American.

Perhaps cooking ethnic foods has caused some idiots to make a ,"stink" and the landlord is just being a jerk?

You could perhaps contact the  electric co. and ask what the issue is.

So sorry, not all houses or landlords are decent.

I really doubt this is a police issue. If you feel your landlord is taking advantage of you, perhaps contact a lawer.

It sounds more like a civil matter then a police matter.






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So i paid my rent and included utilities, the contract stated that. But my landlord cuts my electricity power (for cooking)because he said there's smell.



What can I do , can I call the police? Or is there any other solutions to this ?
- @lucky chan

How has he cut the electricity for cooking?  Just switched it off at the distribution box?  Changed the wiring?

Have you tried ventilating  the place when you cook?   What is it that smells? 

Is there a house manager for the building? 

You need some kind of advocate to help you and to give you more leverage/support.   

Unless the landlord threatened you or you him, the police are not going to be interested - civil matter of contract as Marilyn says.
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In general I have no problem with smells from cooking (actually I like Chinese, Pakistan, Indian, etc.)

Still disturbing neighbourgs is not good, when this evolves in cutting electricity there in my mind should be a serious issue. The landlord takes a big risk by just cutting without good reason.

Calling to local authorities or police is a good thing to do, only if you give your point of view. Still he gets a bad reputation and registered and a friendly relation is unlikely in the future. Good to report though.

I do not believe cooking can be a serious topic, but if it is, perhaps better to rent in a village (also cheaper).
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@cdw057 By the way if real cooking, in Hungary I think there is lack of foreign cooking and there should (or is) a good opportunity, but that is another matter.

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Maybe it's not about cooking but something else like trying to get the person out of the property. In which case, it's some kind of harassment.

That would be a police matter if it was racially motivated. Accusations of racism would definitely bring a reaction as China is a heavy investor in Hungary. Perhaps before all that, the embassy  (whichever one) could be contacted for advice.    Or contact employer or university.  This would be an escalation.

Maybe negotiate to ventilate or only cook pungent food a couple of times a week.   

But cutting off the power is an underhand and less than transparent method by the landlord.
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I tend to agree with Mr. Fluffy. Maybe this is a underhanded way of booting the tentant out and not giving back their deposit.
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I tend to agree with Mr. Fluffy. Maybe this is a underhanded way of booting the tentant out and not giving back their deposit.
- @Marilyn Tassy

Unfortunately it's pot luck if you get a complete nitwit for a landlord or one of the nicest people in the world. 

I've had both here.   

Luckily we live in our own house now so we're not suffering from that although we've got  one unthinking neighbour  who gets on my nerves for not being considerate. And yet another one who is just plain nuts who seems to be regularly at death's door but never quite makes it over the threshold unfortunately.  One day, fingers crossed. 

But meh to them, we get on pretty much OK with everyone else.
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Can I ask what you're cooking?

If it's Cantonese salted fish 鹹魚 for example then it will indeed smell up the whole floor and attract complaints from your neighbours.
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Can I ask what you're cooking?

If it's Cantonese salted fish 鹹魚 for example then it will indeed smell up the whole floor and attract complaints from your neighbours.
- @zif

Kimchi?

(I know it's Korean).
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Kimchi would not stink up the whole floor. Frying with chilis could, though. Frying up ginger and garlic also smells, but not unpleasantly. At least in my opinion.

Stinky doufu 臭豆腐 would certainly be the worst, but it's a street food not usually made at home. For good reason.
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Kimchi would not stink up the whole floor. Frying with chilis could, though. Frying up ginger and garlic also smells, but not unpleasantly. At least in my opinion.

Stinky doufu 臭豆腐 would certainly be the worst, but it's a street food not usually made at home. For good reason.
- @zif

My son had a Korean GF for a couple of years.

We all lived together for about a year.

I got on fantastic with her, she was funny and easy going.

She did however have a habit once in awhile of cooking with some sort of fish sauce or something that would twist my nose so badly I'd wake up at 1 am wondering if the world had ended or the apt. was on fire. I never said anything about it though. I knew she needed to feel at home too.

I like Korean food but any sort of late night cooking is smelly.

Our old neighbors from Pakastain used to cook around 8 pm and in the summer with the windows open it did sort of make the air sticky feeling and heavy.

I again liked the smell and used to want to find out what it was. Other peple in the house make a big,"snink" about the smell and got them booted out of the house. Could of just been the hot oils they used had gotten burnt.
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I think the OP here needs to adopt a "When in Rome . . ." approach and work out an agreement with the landlord to not cook foods with offensive smells and get the power back on.

Common sense says the landlord didn't suddenly cut power one day without warning. Words of some sort must have been exchanged beforehand.

In any event, the lease probably contains a covenant not to do anything which disturbs other residents.
Like
I think the OP here needs to adopt a "When in Rome . . ." approach and work out an agreement with the landlord to not cook foods with offensive smells and get the power back on.

Common sense says the landlord didn't suddenly cut power one day without warning. Words of some sort must have been exchanged beforehand.

In any event, the lease probably contains a covenant not to do anything which disturbs other residents.
- @zif
Tend to agree it needs a civilised negotiated process.

However, it looks like the landlord is way out of line.  Cutting the power is harassment - primitive and unnecessarily aggressive.

The landlord could have just followed the contract clauses - sent a written warnings  3x or whatever it says - and followed a proper legal process to ask the tenant to leave. 

Then at least the landlord will have the law on their side.   
Like
Kimchi would not stink up the whole floor. Frying with chilis could, though. Frying up ginger and garlic also smells, but not unpleasantly. At least in my opinion.

Stinky doufu 臭豆腐 would certainly be the worst, but it's a street food not usually made at home. For good reason.
- @zif

My son had a Korean GF for a couple of years.

We all lived together for about a year.

I got on fantastic with her, she was funny and easy going.

She did however have a habit once in awhile of cooking with some sort of fish sauce or something that would twist my nose so badly I'd wake up at 1 am wondering if the world had ended or the apt. was on fire. I never said anything about it though. I knew she needed to feel at home too.

I like Korean food but any sort of late night cooking is smelly.

Our old neighbors from Pakistan used to cook around 8 pm and in the summer with the windows open it did sort of make the air sticky feeling and heavy.

I again liked the smell and used to want to find out what it was. Other people in the house make a big,"stink" about the smell and got them booted out of the house. Could of just been the hot oils they used had gotten burnt.
- @Marilyn Tassy

Oh don't talk to me about fish sauce.

Not quite the same but I was in Viet Nam for a month or so and that fish sauce is in everything there.   To me it tastes like metal.  I got sick of that endless metal taste and the bizarre lip smacking that goes on there - really strange behaviour.  Used to grind on me and by about 2 weeks of it I'd had enough.  It's enough to put anyone off.

I only had one extended round of Hanoi but I wish I'd seen more of the rest of the country - fish sauce and lip smacking notwithstanding.
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If you want to live overseas, one of the first rules you should learn is, "Don't Get Into a Fight with your Landlord." Because right or wrong, you're going to lose.
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If you want to live overseas, one of the first rules you should learn is, "Don't Get Into a Fight with your Landlord." Because right or wrong, you're going to lose.
- @zif

Can't agree with  that as a general statement.

It really depends where it is.   

If it's a country where there's rule of law, public protection and adequate social services from that kind of landlord behaviour, then it will be resolvable.

My own country had cases of infamous slum landlords which were so outrageous, the laws were changed to make sure that sort of thing never happened again or would be at least more avoidable and people held accountable  All tied up with organised crime. It even spawned a new word - Rachmanism.  By all accounts, Peter Rachman was a throughly nasty individual.
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“All tied up with organised crime.”

Ah, that's the point. When you're new to an area you don't know if thugs or other unpleasant methods are sometimes used there to deal with recalcitrant tenants.

Why press your luck and find out? If the landlord asks you to cook milder stuff because you're annoying other residents, then cook milder stuff and don't make an issue of it.

Because it's a reasonable guess the landlord here knows the local situation better than any of us and knows he can get away with pulling the switch to the stove.
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“All tied up with organised crime.”

Ah, that's the point. When you're new to an area you don't know if thugs or other unpleasant methods are sometimes used there to deal with recalcitrant tenants.

Why press your luck and find out? If the landlord asks you to cook milder stuff because you're annoying other residents, then cook milder stuff and don't make an issue of it.

Because it's a reasonable guess the landlord here knows the local situation better than any of us and knows he can get away with pulling the switch to the stove.
- @zif

Yes, of course, negotiated settlements are better than alternatives.

The implication is there is less than Rule of Law and the landlord can act with impunity in a unhelpful way because he/she is linked up with some dodgy characters.  Or it could be the landlord is just a seggfej.    Or the tenant is.  Or both.

But anyway at the macro level, it's one measure of civil society that there is a equality based route to timely justice.  Civil matters here are slow.  Like mega-slow.

But at the micro level, the obvious thing to do is to leave unannounced for a place of safety and fight from there. 
Like
Kimchi would not stink up the whole floor. Frying with chilis could, though. Frying up ginger and garlic also smells, but not unpleasantly. At least in my opinion.

Stinky doufu 臭豆腐 would certainly be the worst, but it's a street food not usually made at home. For good reason.
- @zif

My son had a Korean GF for a couple of years.

We all lived together for about a year.

I got on fantastic with her, she was funny and easy going.

She did however have a habit once in awhile of cooking with some sort of fish sauce or something that would twist my nose so badly I'd wake up at 1 am wondering if the world had ended or the apt. was on fire. I never said anything about it though. I knew she needed to feel at home too.

I like Korean food but any sort of late night cooking is smelly.

Our old neighbors from Pakistan used to cook around 8 pm and in the summer with the windows open it did sort of make the air sticky feeling and heavy.

I again liked the smell and used to want to find out what it was. Other people in the house make a big,"stink" about the smell and got them booted out of the house. Could of just been the hot oils they used had gotten burnt.
- @Marilyn Tassy

Oh don't talk to me about fish sauce.

Not quite the same but I was in Viet Nam for a month or so and that fish sauce is in everything there.   To me it tastes like metal.  I got sick of that endless metal taste and the bizarre lip smacking that goes on there - really strange behaviour.  Used to grind on me and by about 2 weeks of it I'd had enough.  It's enough to put anyone off.

I only had one extended round of Hanoi but I wish I'd seen more of the rest of the country - fish sauce and lip smacking notwithstanding.
- @fluffy2560

I totally forgot how difficult it can be to have many different  cultures in the same house all living together.

My Japanese DIL is sweet and shy and would never offend anyone on purpse but when she ate her soup she would drive my husband over the edge .

I guess slurping in Japan is a thing.

It got to the point where my husband would eat after my son and his wife were done eating. I always had to make up an excuse why he was late to sit down to dinner.

Not that my husband has the greatest table manners in the world either!

I often tease him that I have to clean up after him like a 3 year old was sitting at the table.

We always say it would be easier if we all just ate pills and did away with actual eating all together.

Elbows on the table, chewing with your mouth open, waving your fork in the air while talking, putting more then 1/4th of a forkful in you mouth at a time getting up from the table with out asking to be excused  moving around or tapping your feet ect. where high crimes at my mother's table. TV off, no reading at the table, the list was far to long to dare a flashback attack. It's hard to keep up high standards . My older sister on top of all those house rules decided to do a Miss Manners type of etiquette course. Had to relearn how to use a knife and fork, how to use a soup spoon properly, how far apart each glass should be placed on the table all the rules. To this day I've never eaten in a 5 star restaurant or had dinner with the Queen. I even dare to use paper towels and not fine linen...It's all so silly.

My,"posh" sister actully ateneded the Queens tea years back. They were served finger sandwiches, all that etiquette was for nada. Oh I do hope she didn't lick her fingers!


Like
Kimchi would not stink up the whole floor. Frying with chilis could, though. Frying up ginger and garlic also smells, but not unpleasantly. At least in my opinion.

Stinky doufu 臭豆腐 would certainly be the worst, but it's a street food not usually made at home. For good reason.
- @zif

My son had a Korean GF for a couple of years.

We all lived together for about a year.

I got on fantastic with her, she was funny and easy going.

She did however have a habit once in awhile of cooking with some sort of fish sauce or something that would twist my nose so badly I'd wake up at 1 am wondering if the world had ended or the apt. was on fire. I never said anything about it though. I knew she needed to feel at home too.

I like Korean food but any sort of late night cooking is smelly.

Our old neighbors from Pakistan used to cook around 8 pm and in the summer with the windows open it did sort of make the air sticky feeling and heavy.

I again liked the smell and used to want to find out what it was. Other people in the house make a big,"stink" about the smell and got them booted out of the house. Could of just been the hot oils they used had gotten burnt.
- @Marilyn Tassy

Oh don't talk to me about fish sauce.

Not quite the same but I was in Viet Nam for a month or so and that fish sauce is in everything there.   To me it tastes like metal.  I got sick of that endless metal taste and the bizarre lip smacking that goes on there - really strange behaviour.  Used to grind on me and by about 2 weeks of it I'd had enough.  It's enough to put anyone off.

I only had one extended round of Hanoi but I wish I'd seen more of the rest of the country - fish sauce and lip smacking notwithstanding.
- @fluffy2560

I totally frgot how difficult it can be to have many different clutrues in the same house all living together.

My Japanese DIL is sweet and shy and would never offend anyone on purpse but when she ate her soup she wuld drive my husband over the edge .

I guess slurping in Japan is a thing.

It got to the point where my husband would eat after my son and his wife were done eating. I always had to make up an excuse why he was late to sit down to dinner.

Not that my husband has the greatest table manners in the world either!

I ften tease him that I have to clean up after him like a 3 year old was sitting at the table.

We always say it would be easier if we all just ate pills and did away with actual eating all together.

Elbows on the table, chewing with your mouth open, waving your fork in the air while talking, putting more then 1/4th of a forkful in you mouth at a time getting up from the table with out asking to be excused  moving around or tapping your feet ect. where high crimes at my mother's table. TV off, no reading at the table, the list was far to long to dare a flashback attack. It's hard to keep up high standards . My older sister on top of all those house rules decided to do a Miss Manners type of etiquette curse. Had to relearn how t use a knife and frk, how to use a soup spoon properly, how far apart each glass should be placed on the table all the rules. To this day I've never eaten in a 5 star restaurant or had dinner with the Queen. I even dare to use paper towels and not fine linen...It's all so silly.


- @Marilyn Tassy



Replied in other thread - click here
Like
I think the OP here needs to adopt a "When in Rome . . ." approach and work out an agreement with the landlord to not cook foods with offensive smells and get the power back on.

Common sense says the landlord didn't suddenly cut power one day without warning. Words of some sort must have been exchanged beforehand.

In any event, the lease probably contains a covenant not to do anything which disturbs other residents.
- @zif

I believe there is some sort of law about every tenant having the right to enjoy their place without disruption. Not sure what the actaul term is used but in Hungarian they have some sort of code of rights for every person in the building.

Hard to inforce it though.Some people do over step by being too loud, slamming doors, speaking too loud in the common areas, tieing up motrbikes or bicycles in the wrong areas.Using the walkways as a laundrymat, hanging clothing off the rails, rugs and mops all over .Just making it look like a slum. A god manager keeps things running smoothly. In fact tnight we have a house meeting, once a year to settle any issues in the house.

In the old days the house manager lived on site or they hired a houseman who worked in shifts and had a small room located near the front door. He was the only person who had the keys to open or lock the front doors. He kept tabs on everyone entering and leaving the building and what hours they kept. That's bit strict but everyone also lived in peace.

Yes, they do have gangs of heavies who watch different districts and have their Lts. in different buildnings. Spies as my husband calls them.


Like
I think the OP here needs to adopt a "When in Rome . . ." approach and work out an agreement with the landlord to not cook foods with offensive smells and get the power back on.

Common sense says the landlord didn't suddenly cut power one day without warning. Words of some sort must have been exchanged beforehand.

In any event, the lease probably contains a covenant not to do anything which disturbs other residents.
- @zif

I believe there is some sort of law about every tenant having the right to enjoy their place without disruption. Not sure what the actaul term is used but in Hungarian they have some sort of code of rights for every person in the building.

Hard to inforce it though.Some people do over step by being too loud, slamming doors, speaking too loud in the common areas, tieing up motrbikes or bicycles in the wrong areas.Using the walkways as a laundrymat, hanging clothing off the rails, rugs and mops all over .Just making it look like a slum. A god manager keeps things running smoothly. In fact tnight we have a house meeting, once a year to settle any issues in the house.

In the old days the house manager lived on site or they hired a houseman who worked in shifts and had a small room located near the front door. He was the only person who had the keys to open or lock the front doors. He kept tabs on everyone entering and leaving the building and what hours they kept. That's bit strict but everyone also lived in peace.

Yes, they do have gangs of heavies who watch different districts and have their Lts. in different buildnings. Spies as my husband calls them.


- @Marilyn Tassy

In the apartment building we lived in, it was one of the residents who took the role of the "hausmeister".  It was only a small block.   Used to collect common costs -  paying for cleaning common areas,  water (that was shared at one meter) and paying the gardener etc.  I don't think people want to pay for a permanent individual these days although they do have one where my BIL lives.  I think that guy lives on site too.  But there are many flats/apartments there so the costs must be spread out to a reasonable level.  That house guy seems to know everyone and I am sure he'll be getting a cut on bringing in plumbers and fixers etc for the residents who ask. Could be a nice side earner/hustle.
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