Long house renovation

Tenant had to sleep in car due to construction noise

The renovation of the buildings and the road surface near the Wels train station is causing great displeasure among the tenants.(Bild: Markus Wenzel)

There was great anticipation in Hofmannsthalstraße in Wels for the urgently needed renovation of the nine-storey high-rise wing. However, after one and a half years of building work, many of the hundred tenants are now disappointed. They have had to put up with a lot of inconvenience during this time. 

 "We were put off for a long time with the start of the renovation work. Then the builders suddenly turned up and set to work without notice. The noise was unbearable, it was impossible to have a conversation. My husband also works at night, he had to sleep in the car during the day," says one resident.

Balcony unusable for a year
A neighbor adds: "We couldn't use the balcony for over a year. Our windows were covered with plastic sheeting. We couldn't ventilate it all summer, even in the hottest weather." And the elevator in the nine-storey building broke down several times over several days. "It is particularly annoying that there was no information from Welser Heimstätte. The only thing we were told were the rent increases - despite the loss of quality of life," say the two ladies.

The high-rise has been undergoing modernization since April 2023.(Bild: Markus Wenzel)

Heimstätten board member Jörg Teufelberger can only partly understand the anger. "We wrote to all tenants before the work began, put up a notice and organized an information evening." The duration of the construction site of two years is quite normal for a high-rise building and a project with a volume of eight million euros. "A rent reduction is not legally possible. The rental agreement even states that a major refurbishment must be tolerated."