Daniel’s place is truly lovely. It is beautiful, with many great stylistic touches, and quite comfortable. The balcony is wonderful. And the place is very clean and well maintained. Daniel puts a lot of care and effort into keeping the place nice. The only compliant I would have about the place itself is that the bed is not especially comfortable and could use a thicker mattress.
Daniel was a very communicative and hands-on host. He was very friendly and welcoming. However, at times, his hands-on approach, combined with his concern for the apartment, can be overbearing. For instance, he knocked on my door multiple times, sometimes unannounced with very little notice, to check on the place and water the plants. He also seems to have an unreasonable expectation of his tenants’ duties. Not only did he express dismay with me multiple times for not watering the plants to his liking, but he also asked me at multiple junctures to hand off keys to other tenants, even when it was rather inconvenient for me to do so. He also asked me to unload a large box that he dropped off containing new plates for his kitchen cabinet. Finally, he has many rules for the place — such as no shoes, squeegeeing the shower, making no visible marks or dirt on anything. He does not seem to appreciate that normal wear and tear to his apartment is part of being a host with a consistent stream of long term tenants. For example, he was upset with me that I dropped a few specks of laundry detergent on the floor.
In short: the place is wonderful; the location is impeccable, and Daniel is a kind and caring host; but he can be overbearing and has unrealistic expectations of his tenants.