I am unable to recommend this property to anyone who is not familiar with Indian culture and religion. We stayed there for two weeks, things started great but ended horrifically.
House/room is rather cold and heater is not available. Despite having enquiried about heater availability prior to booking, heater device given to us was rather old and knowingly not working properly. It worked in the first night, broke down in the second day and host advised that heater was no longer available in Melbourne till next winter due to close proximity with summer, although summer only kicks-off on December 1st and our stay was in between September 11-25th.
Hot water system of the house is under economic tariff, therefore hot water tank is only powered between 11pm and 7am. If hot water in the tank is used up, then hot water will only be available until 11pm that day. The way I found out that this was the case, was when my wife and I came home from a day of hiking with friends and upon entering the shower there was no hot water. Outside temperature was around 8°C. The only way we could have shower was by boiling water in the kettle, and using a cup to wash ourselves. It was rather traumatic. Host was asked about the hot water issue the next day and said that hot water was available everyday until around 6pm, however I am a qualified electrician and know from professional experience how hot water tariffs/systems work.
Communication was terrible. Hosts imposed a number of house rules upon us not specified in the ad. Exemples of rules are:
1 - no shoes are allowed in the house even though hosts use sandals and thongs/flip flops in the kitchen and bathroom. When we were caught wearing shoes in the kitchen were were unpolitely told off that street shoes were not allowed in the kitchen due to being in close proximity to the house's preyer room.
2 - Exhaust fan in the bathroom must be turned on prior to having hot shower to avoid painting on ceiling and walls from peeling off (??). We were asked to turn exhaust fan on to dissipate the smoke from hot shower. The next day we were treated rudely because “it was obvious that smoke would cause painting to come off” although exhaust fan was turned on, but after shower.
Hosts pointed at some kitchen utensils kept in a specified cabinet that we could not use because those were used to cook sacred food. A holly knife which we never touched or used disappeared and hosts implied that it was our fault that such knife had disappeared. Hosts asked what time we were checking-out so they could ensure we were not taking any house belongings with us (stealing in other words).
Hosts were clearly annoyed that we were there and made us feel super uncomfortable as if we were disturbing their household routine and being a nuisance.
Location of the place is about 15-20m uphills walk to train station (Heidelberg) which then takes another 25m to Flinders Station. Therefore, total commute time is about 40-45m.