The place is nice and well located. Unfortunately after staying there 8.5 months my advice is the following:
1)If you are travelling for a short period is way too expensive, you can find much better places for less money. 2)If you are travelling for a long time: AVOID IT WHILE YOU CAN!, and here is why: the monthly discount makes the price somehow more reasonable but the host lives in another city and won't provide any personal support (not once he showed up while I lived there).
Plus the host is the kind of person who would falsely accuse and charge a guest $21,355.57AUD (that's right he basically claims everything I touched is ruined and will get it replaced at Harrods I guess). He is claiming that the normal wear and tear of the place "caused severe damage". This would have happened to anyone living there long enough. So you can imagine the kind of host you will be dealing with. All of this based on blatant lies and exaggerated claims or with no real basis. This is what happened:
The host has not been near the apartment before or after I left so everything he claims is based on what the new staff of cleaners told him. He has no idea of the state in which the apartment is. The place is really old and many things were falling apart when I got there. Particularly the metallic things in the bathroom and kitchen (melbournian weather I suppose) as well as wooden things elsewhere in the house. Two mattresses were very stained when I got there. The children living there probably caused that, you wouldn't mind this for a short stay and I didn't make much of it at that moment as I was supposed to stay for a month only. Because of the lockdown I had to stay 8.5 months and after I left the cleaners came to the apartment and knowing someone had lived there for a long time saw it as a chance to make some good money. I cleaned the apartment like never before, and yet they claimed the apartment was "extremely dirty" (I was apalled when I read that). To prove it they sent the host pictures of dust under the beds, crumbs in the microwave oven, lint in the washing machine and dryer, a stained mattress (that was stained before I got there) a stained wall and a close to perfect toilet (I have the pictures to prove it). Things that would take a normal staff of cleaners 1 hour tops to clean.
But they didn't stop there, they said that my daughter had worn shoes and clothes from the host's daughter, this is physically impossible since my daughter is much older and even if she had wanted they didn't fit (I explained that to the host but he just cut me off). The cleaners claimed that the smell of the toilet was "almost unbearable" a blatant lie. WHY? Well here's the end of the first part of the story: they told the host that they would need 15 HOURS!!!!! to clean the apartment (no, I'm not making this up) I wonder what they would clean if everything is ruined. This is as far as the cleaners go.
Then the host took over, he made an assessment of how much it would cost him to completely renovate the apartment including buying a new washing machine, changing the ceiling of the bathroom and living room (at an exorbitant cost) and other ludicrous things. The amount is $21,355.57AUD , he decided I should pay for it and let AirBnB know that. I am a university lecturer in Mexico, the conversion from pesos to AUD means I struggle to make ends meet. I am not elligible for government support since I work overseas. This nightmare is extremely distressful for me as I face the prospect of being in debt for the rest of my life. I rely on AirBnB at the moment to find accommodation. So far I have had only good reviews but this is putting that in jeopardy as well.
While I was there I lived a normal life with my daughter, no parties, not once I drank, not even people around, this can be backed by the neighbours, nothing out of the ordinary. I hid expensive things such as an expensive carpet so she wouldn't touch it and she was an amazing kid. I am generally tidy and more so because of my daughter. Within reason I'm happy to take responsibility and contribute to the cleaning fee, but this was taken way out of proportion. I am not willing to agree to an extortion, the host probably thought if I ask for that maybe I'll get 5% from either the guest or AirBnB, and thought well that is fine. That pretty much summarises the kind of person he is and how much he cares about his guests.
Now is up to AirBnB to not let this extortion escalate any further and stand up for their clients. As I said this could have happened to anyone living there long enough.
Bear in mind that this comes from a person who runs the business from another city. As far as I know he has not been in the apartment for years. Firstly the cleaners took the host for a ride, then he decided to renovate his apartment at my expense claiming "Entire apartment needs professional cleaning including every piece of cutlery/crockery/cookware." This is just an example of how disproportionate and dishonest his intentions are. The host closed his description of the incident with the following appalling statement "THE ENTIRE APARTMENT IS A HEALTH HAZARD AND I AM MORTIFIED" This is the person you will be dealing with.