Handover is over

Yesterday was the handover and it happened without a hitch.  Well, two minor hitches.  

First, the handover was scheduled for 1 pm.  So I enter the building and go upstairs to the apartment around 12:55 am.  And the front door to the apartment is open and the guy from the cleaning company, two representatives from the management company, and the new tenants.  Oh yeah, we forgot, this is Switzerland where everyone arrives 10 minutes early.  I took the new tenants downstairs to show them the cellar and laundry room and when we came back upstairs, Zürich Daddy Geek had arrived and the management company ladies started going through the apartment noting all of the marks on the walls, etc.

At one point it was time to check the interior door keys.  Interior doors are locked with keys that kind of look like skeleton keys.  As soon as we moved in, I took all of the keys and put them away, to keep Little Geek Girl from playing with and possibly losing them.  After the movers left I looked at the keys.  Four of them were oriented one and the other two the opposite way.  So were the doors.  So I just put the keys in the door.  However, it turns out, each door has a unique key and at first the management company ladies were concerned when none of the doors were locked.  Then I explained what I had done and they returned all of the keys to their proper doors.

On the forums and mailing lists there are often horror stories of landlords bringing out the white gloves and checking the taps for mineral build-up.  We took care of cleaning issues by hiring a cleaning company which would guarantee cleanliness issues.  We were also a little worried about being assessed for damages to the apartment and having to deal with making claims to the liability insurance company.  I guess we took care of that by taking a 20 year old apartment that had not been recently renovated.  We've had the outside blinds serviced, the dishwasher and refrigerator replaced, and not been charged a thing.  When it was time to sign the paperwork, the representative told us that everything was in order and we would not be charged anything.  Whew.