Book a flat anywhere in the world soon and the next 5-star review might be yours.
The appartment was not as it seemed in the advertisement, and the landlady was very, very rude.
I had informed her in advance that I would arrive with my parents who would stay with me for a few days. Through the messages, she didn't seem to disagree.
But, when we arrived she was quite surprised by their presence. Maybe it was because she doesn't really speak english and didn't understand my message. And of course, if there is good will, language is a problem that can be managed. But there was not.
She was an hour late for the check-in. We were given the key by another person, but still she was the landlady, so we had to wait for her, since there were a few problems in the house. It felted like they were not expecting us.
She had claimed that the appartment was first floor, and it was ground floor with a window on the street with rather transparent curtains. It was quite cold also.There was no cooking pot, no soap, the towels seemed used, there was dirt in the bathroom, one unwashed dish, a big spider, two spider webs, no oven, I had to ask to bring me the microwave oven ,the clothes washing machine was in the common hall, shared with 2 more appartments (something that is not specified). On top of that, she was quite un-eager to help. She brought additional heating (the same night at 23:00 when we were sleeping) ,new towels, soap, shampoo etc (after 2 days or something) but she was aggressive and rude, when I was just asking for what she had claimed to be included in the advertisement. I can refer many other cases in which she was rude, like when she came knocking my door at 9:00 on a Saturday morning, before letting me know in advance, to show the place to the new cleaning lady, but it would take too long.
When I asked if two relatives who wanted to visit me could stay with me she unswered that they should rent a hotel and that she already had made an exception for me by letting my parents stay free of charge. I sent her a message saying that I respect her will. Some days later, I received a notification that she has terminated the contract and I should move out in a 30 days period.
Luckily enough, In just one week I had already found multiple other choices for accommodation, better and cheaper.
I moved out before the notification period,and although I repeatedly asked her to make our move out date formal through flatio (I even had a friend tell her that in czech and she said she would), she did not, so I had to pay for the remaining days of my contract without really living in the flat, thanks to the quite unclear flatio contract that doesn't really protect tenants. I had also asked her to bring the handover protocol for signing, but she did not.
I am happy that I moved out anyway and I am not living in this mess anymore.
We rented for 5 months and after 1 month we were put out, WITHOUT REASONS. We have never managed to contact the owner, which is unacceptable!
How can you explain that all the flats were then again on the website with an increase of more than 400 euros? If it is not a swindle, how can you call that?
We contacted him, after a lot of messages and calls, he answered once and then radio silence. He never proposed to us another way to find a flat, never answered again and let us in this mess.
NOT RECOMMENDED TO RENT A FLAT IN FLATIO!
The area is beautiful, the neighborhood is great. The apartment is lackluster, smaller than it seemed via photos, a bit dirty. Crooked toilet seat cover, no hook for the shower head, hot water ran out quicky,dishes and kitchen equipment dirty.
All this I could have delt with and would not have complained. However there was a bed bug problem.
When I spoke to the landlord about it she offered a new mattress and sheets. I tried to explain that while that would be nice it would not make the bugs go away. It needed to be treated professionally cleaned and sprayed.
She agreed to have this done in two days. To her credit she did get a new mattress and have the apartment cleaned. But it was a maid cleaning not pest control, and did not solve the bed bugs.
When I brought this up to flatio and the landlord again it became an issue. Flatio claimed as she "toook action* by cleaning the flat, that I could not leave my contract, or be put in another flat, basically said there was nothing they could do.
The landlord was annoyed, said they had done all they could and thought it was ridiculous I was still upset. The landlord was conveniently out of town during all this, and had her daughter call me, her daughter even went so far as to blame me for ruining the mattress and saying they fixed everything and I had no reason to complain and tried to use my visa restrictions against me.
Regardless of my Visa status the flat had bedbugs which I informed them of as soon as I realised what it was. 14 days I had to stay, getting bitten and fighting with flatio and the landlord. In the end we ended the contract and I was able
Find much better accommodations.
They told us every week they did the bed linen change and the second month they didn’t change it not even once
Parking lot is not really a parking lot.
Overall, good and responsive owners, but the flat was not clean at all.
Landlady statement:
Dear Melisah,
thank you for your comments.
I'm very sorry for your dissatisfaction.
I have checked the flat in advance in order to avoid any problems and I also care very much about cleaning.
The plumber has not found imperfections of the toilet.
Windows can be opened normally, the apartemet is new.
I had no information about your special mattress preferences;
in offer are just classic.
Sorry for this misuderstanding and discomfort.
Sincerely
Irena
What he's done presentation wise from the images is spectacular. And they are approximately as nice as they seem. I'll give him credit for that.
The primary issue is that if something goes wrong/is broken/is missing, consider it your problem not his.
When myself and another tenant had no hot water for a day. The answer. The response, "It's only you. It's working."
When wifi wasn't functional for the work I needed to do for my job. The response, "It's only you. It's working."
Then proceeds to ask me for proof of the wifi not working, and when I provide it, he just gives me the line to the Internet Providers support, because it's my problem and not his.
This was pretty much par for course in the 3 months I was there. I eventually just gave up an accepted my new extra expenses. probably ended up spending an extra 400 dollars on wifi for my phone because it was a necessity for my work and other kitchenware he didn't provide as well as a fan.
If you are staying there a weekend and don't need wifi. It's not horrible as long as nothing else goes wrong.
Just hope you don't book the side with the kids daycare for kids screaming at 7am every day, where he also thought it was a great idea to book young backpackers partying into the late hours of the night. Ideal for sleeping.
Apparently it's so bad that he literally has to put up signage discussing the the number of cigarette butts that are thrown around the daycare.
But considering the price, unless you get a discount, it doesn't make sense to pay what you would anywhere else while getting the headache you get with a guy whose only occasion to be accommodating is accepting other forms of payment for a service and contract he clearly has no intention of committing to.
In short, don't make the mistake I did. Just stay somewhere else. There are so many other better options instead of giving this guy your money.
Thin walls, very loud daycare outside, and neighbors that are very loud. Noise regulations are never obeyed there.
Only stay at this apartment if you have NO OTHER OPTIONS! Stay away from MARTIN URMAN