The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
The Good: Apartment is located in a nice, quiet residential area, about 3-minute walk to supermarket(s) and restaurants, and 10-12 minute walk to the nearest metro station. Upon our arrival, we were promptly greeted by Christian (Francine’s trusty sidekick who lives in the same building). He gave us the keys, explained how everything works, and was nice enough to spend a few extra minutes answering our questions about means of transportation and nearby food establishments.
The Bad: First of, the advertised “air conditioning” was a single wall unit in the main bedroom. Francine was well aware of the fact that we were traveling with the kids (hence the request for two rollaway beds), and should’ve disclosed the information about the lack of A/C in the living room area where the kids slept. So needless to say we found it pretty deceiving and were put off a bit right away. Secondly, the whole place in general is in bad need of a makeover. Peeling paint here and there, missing handles on doors, garbage container that doesn’t work, old blinds/curtains – all of this could literally be taken care of in a couple of days and on a budget. As rental property owners ourselves, we know that a fresh coat of paint can go a long way when presenting the place to the potential tenants. And lastly, there was just a tad too much of personal stuff in the apartment. Family portraits, pictures, etc. are everywhere you look. Perhaps others don’t find it strange but when we see a collage of 50-60 family photos in the restroom, we find it a bit odd. None of the above, however, was what made us leave the place after spending there only one night. So here it goes…
The Ugly: Mold… lots and lots of BLACK MOLD in the bathroom. We could not believe our eyes when we saw it. Not only it’s disgusting but it’s also extremely hazardous/dangerous. The kids absolutely refused to take a shower and frankly, I don’t blame them. We were afraid to brush our teeth in there and leaving the toothbrushes exposed. Yes, it was that bad. After taking a few pictures and sending them to Francine, we received the following reply from her (not exact quote but pretty close): “Oh yes, I know about the mold problem. It’s fairly recent. I’m just waiting for my insurance company to come over for an assessment.” Ummm, what?! First of all, with that amount of mold it was pretty clear that the problem was nowhere near “recent”. Secondly, you either take care of this before you place people in there or you let them know about it ahead of time. But honestly, I can’t imagine anyone who would be okay with living in such conditions. It was definitely a deal breaker for us. To make matters even worse, Francine sent someone over (Christian?) the next day to simply paint over it. I don’t know what the rules and regulations are for this in France but in US you are required to hire mold removal specialists. You can’t just mask it with paint or whatever because the problem is still there and sooner or later it will be exposed again.
Conclusion: Unfortunately, this was not a pleasant experience for us, and we can’t recommend Francine and her apartment to other people.