Steer clear - better places around.

Pros - Good location, nice rooftop space.

Cons – Rude host, apartment a bit dirty/rundown, up 5 flights of stairs.

On the owner - a few things - firstly, wrote to the owner when booking about Wifi. She promised that the apartment would have Wifi, which I required for my work (I wouldn't have booked without wifi). However, the day before our reservation, the owner informed us that wifi wasn't actually available. This annoyed me a bit, but I made alternative arrangements, and chose to move on. Host's emails were friendly to this point.

However, a bizarre incident occurred when we left. Owner told us new guests would be arriving in the afternoon – so we told her we would move out at about 10am. When we left, we must have accidentally left the small air conditioner on in the bedroom and a light on in the living room. Apparently the cleaning lady arrived 30mins after we left. About an hour later, we received a hysterical email from the host, complaining about the air-conditioning and the light being left on. Amazingly, she then threatened to pursue us for the cost of the air conditioner. She also complained that we left the house "dirty", which we simply did not – we left all our rubbish in a box by the door, and otherwise spent very little time there. I sent her 3 emails asking her to tell us what we left "dirty" but she refused to tell us, and later seemed to drop this claim. The only reason the apartment might have been "dirty" is due to her cat (see below). She then kept on sending strange emails, saying things like "I don't know what to say anymore", and "I am very disappointed".

We've used Airbnb numerous times and have never experienced anything like this. To write emotional, rude and threatening emails over an hour of air conditioner usage and threaten to pursue us for the cost seems bizarre to me.

Aside from the host, the apartment is ok. While it's big, and the roof is nice, it's quite old and dusty and a little run down. There is no curtain in the main bedroom, so the room gets very bright and loud in the morning, so sleeping in isn't really an option. We also had a few hot water issues as the bathroom was very old. Also, a cat lives in the apartment – not on the roof as the owner suggested. It's a very nice cat, but it sleeps on the couch at night and seems to spend most of its time inside, so there are the usual issues with cat hair on the furniture and cat food smell etc. Finally, it's up about 5 flights of steep stairs, so wouldn't be suitable for older visitors.

I think there are probably better places around the area for the same price or less, and be very careful of the owner.