First and foremost, I would like to emphasise that the apartment was empty for almost 2 1/2 weeks during my two months stay, which make the issues which arose even more painful - as one does not expect several issues to arise in such a short period of time.
The first problem revolves around a broken heater in my apartment, on which upon the landlady provided me with a portable heater out of goodwill. However, after the mechanic had fixed the heater (I did not attend due to my work in Brussels), I realised that the toilet had been used (both, the opened ring and the seat were pulled up, and urine was on the toilet itself). Thus, the heating never fully functioned until the end of my stay.
The next issue to arise was extreme cooking smell, which came from the apartment beneath mine. I guess it came through pores under the floor, as opening the window made it even worse, as the fume hood exit was right next to my window.
Lastly, the washing-machine made my clothes smell very musty, which is unacceptable if you work in an EU institution environment and also generally is disgusting.
After contacting the landlady and outlining all my concerns, I got an extremely aggressive response which did not in any shop nor form solve the several issues. Instead of resolving the conflict, I was offered to leave the apartment asap as any of my points was in her theory, unfounded - which basically means I was accused of lying. I cannot be bothered to further outline this extremely unconstructive behaviour and I am aware of the fact that the landlady is again, going to contest these allegations. Nevertheless, I needed to share my side of the story, as there always two.