I would like to report this property because I believe the listing and the way the landlord manages the property are misleading and concerning. It is a listing on Spare room.
The landlord does not provide any tenancy or rental contract and insists that rent must be paid only in cash. He also tries to avoid having any written record about payments or agreements. For example, if you ask on WhatsApp about money you have already paid or are expected to pay, he often does not reply. Because there is no written contract, he also does not stick to the rent that was originally agreed and keeps mentioning different amounts.
Before moving in, he promised that several things in the property would be cleaned, repaired or provided. However, many of these things were never done. This includes broken furniture, cleaning of the room, the messy kitchen, a broken toilet, providing proper kitchen storage space, and dirty or damaged curtains.
The carpet in the room also has a strong unpleasant smell which I have not been able to remove despite several attempts to clean it.
The landlord smokes inside the house. He also spends almost the entire day in the common living room rather than in his own room. He is frequently talking on the phone or playing sound from his phone, so his voice and phone noise can be heard for most of the day, from morning until evening. As a result, the shared living room is barely available for other people to use comfortably.
The shared areas are also generally kept in a very poor condition. The living room is often messy and the kitchen is regularly dirty. He frequently leaves his dishes unwashed. This means that the common areas advertised as shared spaces are often not properly usable.
The landlord also gives very little information about how things in the house work. For example, he did not explain how the appliances or heating system work. When I said that my room was cold, he simply said that it was "not cold yet" and did not provide heating.
I also believe the photographs in the advertisement are misleading. There are only a few photographs and there is no photograph showing the complete room. The part of the room that is not shown contains damaged/broken furniture. I was told that these things would be moved, repaired or replaced, but this has not happened.
Overall, my experience of the property is very different from what was presented before I moved in. I am particularly concerned about the refusal to provide a contract, the insistence on cash-only payments, the avoidance of written confirmation about money, changing statements about the rent, and the difference between what was promised and what was actually provided.
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