Overall, this is a lovely condo with great views of the city. It’s a very nice, walkable neighborhood with lots of shops and small grocery’s, etc.
The unit is on the 6th floor, on the front side of the building and close to the intersection of two busy streets. If I’d known HOW busy Carlaw was, especially at night, I may have passed on renting this place. Big trucks and semi’s use Carlaw all through the night. Even after months of staying there I regularly woke to vehicles rattling up the road, airbrakes hissing, or a rumbling engine idling at the intersection.
Also, the streetlights (and lighting from a sculpture across the street), kept the front bedroom brighter than I prefer. Although there are blinds, they have large gaps between them, and only thin shears, not black out curtains, to cover those gaps. So, I ended up wearing an eye mask at night. I did try the back bedroom, hoping it would be quieter and darker, but it was missing one main blind. So, that didn’t work.
Just know, if you like a quiet, dark bedroom, you may not be happy in this condo.
Personally, I didn’t really love that the TV is built into the marble counter because of the fear of spilling something into the electronics! Also, you can’t watch TV while cooking or sitting at the small table eating a meal. I found it an odd set up which made a big part of the kitchen unusable. You may not be bothered by that.
During the day, there’s a lot of traffic and loud buses on Carlaw, so I didn’t find it very relaxing out on the deck due to noise. But the bigger issue was a group of pigeons that kept roosting out there and making terrible messes all over the tile floor and furniture. I didn’t even like opening the sliding doors for air when there was so much poo everywhere.
Bara tried his best to both discourage them as well as have the deck cleaned a few times. But they were quite persistent and kept returning. He stated that this issue had happened the previous year as well.
Even after he covered the bottom of the sofa with netting, they would hide out under the front edges of the sofa cover and continue to poop all over. So, I just found myself not using the outdoor space, despite initially thinking it was a nice part of the condo. I know it’s a city, and pigeons exist, just be aware that they are quite fond of his deck! Maybe if you’re around all day and not gone as much as I was, they’ll be discouraged from living out there.
House cleaning -- the agreement with Bara was that the place would be cleaned “every three weeks” and there was a $250 cleaning fee added each month. But, over the months it was, on average, five or six weeks between cleanings. He did refund one month when his cleaner was out of town.
So, during my last month I asked if we could just “call it even” on the cost of replacing a frig shelf that had recently broken ($178), since at least one other cleaning had been missed during my many months stay. Sadly, that really set him off and our relationship quickly soured.
Just days before this had happened, he’d requested having a realtor bring in possible tenets to view the place while I was at work. I didn’t feel comfortable with this proposal since I was working long hours at work and also had my suitcases out as I was starting to pack. It would have been an inconvenience to tidy up the apartment before leaving for work early in the morning. So, I said no, and I think he resented me for that, as well as for making the request for a cleaning refund.
He sent an angry email stating that the costs of cleaning up the pigeons more than made up for the missing housekeeping visit(s).
In my opinion dealing with a pest infestation on the deck is not the same thing as housekeeping services in the unit. The unit is rented with a deck – so it’s the owner’s responsibility to keep it usable. Which he did! And I was very appreciative of how he dealt with the ongoing issue.
And in that email he also brought up something that happened the first month I arrived in the apartment (Almost 7 months earlier.) He was now blaming me for water damage on a couple floor boards that was discovered under the front mat and bench a few weeks after I moved in.
The floor boards, and the underside of a long rubber mat were covered with old, dried white, mildew and dirt. Bara came over to view it and we discussed it at the time. It was obvious there was no way it could have been from me since it was dried out and old. Not fresh.
So now, months later via email to have him accuse me of “thousands of dollars” of water damage was shocking and ridiculous. He said the damage was caused by me “NOT using the provided mat for my shoes”, and it was my responsibility to check the unit for damages when I arrived.
Who moves furniture and carpets to check the floor when they move in? (Well, in the future I certainly will!) There's no way I created this damage, and he knew it at the time.
He just accused me months later since he was angry about other things. And maybe wanting Airbnb to deal with cost and not his home owners policy.
And his theory, that I didn’t use the provided floor mat means the damage wouldn’t have been UNDER the bench and mat, it would have next to the mat. His theory and his claim is ridiculous.
Plus, there’s no way he would have continued to let me rent his place