Unfortunately my second month stay at Sofia's place was not as pleasant as the first. The flat has problems which led to several uncomfortable technical visits, followed by me getting yelled at over the phone "I NEVER HAD A PROBLEM RENTING BEFORE...". To add context, they are new hosts, and they were aware of the issues in their flat. As a guest, you expect to run into issues in a flat from time to time, but you do NOT expect to get a hostile attitude from the hosts and after that happened i moved out since it was no longer comfortable to stay there.
The place itself is very nice, it's a luxury flat for an executive who it appears did not use it very much. It's on a high floor, with windows on 2 sides, and it has 2 floors. The bedroom has fabric wallpaper, soft carpet and a massive comfortable bed. The kitchen has a balcony with a small table and chairs which is a really nice place to relax. So, no complaints there, it's really nice and that's the reason that I chose to book a second month.
The major issue was the boiler; long story short, it had not been serviced in years, there were 3 total technical visits to fix it during which both the heat exchanger and the thermostat were replaced. I believe the hosts were aware of issues with the boiler, since during one of our calls they anticipated the issue which i was describing to them. After the first 2 visits, showering was no longer uncomfortable, but I could tell there was still an issue so I informed them simply as a show of good faith and they arranged another visit. This last visit was very uncomfortable, i was bossed around and told to go and test the water as if i possessed special temperature sensing capabilities; everything i told them was eventually confirmed, and I even made my own tests that led them to replacing the faulty thermostat, but it was all a LOT more stressful than it needed to be, since really what you want is for the hosts to take responsibility to diagnose and fix the issues themselves, and they were not at all proactive in this case.
The issue that finally led to me moving out was that the fridge appeared to stop working. I say appeared because I'm still not sure what happened, but all my food went off overnight, including things that I had literally just opened. Previously the fridge had worked without issue. I turned the temperature regulation from low to medium and the fridge still seemed warm, so I figured there was something wrong with it. Not wanting to deal with any more stressful visits, I informed the hosts that if it did turn out that there was an issue with the fridge, I would like to move out and be refunded the rest of my stay. This prompted Juan to call me, using Sofia's phone, and shout at me in a totally inappropriate and unproductive manner. So I moved out with 9 days left to go, there is no going back after you get shouted at by the host. The hosts later visited the flat with a technician, and informed me that there was nothing wrong with it, so honestly I still do not understand what happened.
A few other points, the flat has issues with the electrical tension, you will notice that the lights dim every few minutes. This also has the potential to damage the appliances. Also, the televisions are old, probably excellent quality for their time but they also seem to be in need of replacement. The flat does have cable TV but you can't use it downstairs since the modem is plugged in there. And, the house has a list of rules, I have not verified if they are published on the listing but you may wish to inquire about that.
All in all, I wish Sofia and Juan the best and thank them for a pleasant first month, but I would suggest that they take care of the issues in their flat proactively and NEVER shout at their guests.