After an initial reaction of pleasant surprise when entering the apartment, our opinion of this place declined considerably during our stay. I now have a view of lack of attention to detail and maintenance, overall stinginess and inadequate responsiveness on the part of the owners.
The first thing I do when entering a rental property is to check functionality. We immediately found that we could not open the washing machine (solved by downloading an instruction manual and using a knife!); the gas hob was meant to have automatic ignition but this did not appear to work (and no lighter was supplied); the one, very small radiator for a 3 room property did not work (we have the same brand at home so we knew how to use it); some of the exterior window shutters would not work properly; and the water in the bathroom required some force to switch from bath to shower mode.
Regarding the heater, we did request another one before we realised that the small one wasn’t working and, in fairness, it was delivered to us quite quickly on the first full day of our stay.
Security is another issue, with one outside and one inside window unable to be locked and, if the shutter is not down on the double bedroom window, anybody can enter the property via two windows.
The terrace provides a pleasant place to sit outside and smoke, relax, get some fresh air, etc. However, if you accidentally close the door from the outside, you’re stuck: there are two exits from this terrace but neither lock has a key given to renters which fits. The high walls would make it challenging to call for help!
Apart from the inadequate heating, there was no kitchen roll, no spare bin liners supplied, no masks or gel, no salt or pepper and four small sachets of instant coffee and two of milk supplied (a ‘gift’ from the owners) – please note that all the things I have listed cost pennies. As our arrival at Lisbon was not until 2300hrs, we were obviously unable to do any shopping until the following morning. We would have appreciated the opportunity of being asked if the owners could buy a small amount of essential supplies for us as a consequence (of course, we would happily have transferred money in advance).
The sofa has no back and is, in effect, just an uncomfortable bed settee. Given that the property has just one combined bathroom and toilet, there is an element of trying to cram in as many bodies as possible.
Finally, when a guest is arriving late and there is no physical meet and greet, I would expect the owners to wait up and ensure that guests have arrived safely. We arrived at the property just after 2330hrs and we did not get a response to my Whatsapp until 1030 the following day.
In case anybody thinks that our expectations are too high, I would like to point out that we used to rent out a property in Denia (Costa Blanca) and we achieved our goal of full occupancy and the highest rental price in the city for a two bedroom apartment within three years of starting the business. We also never permitted more than four guests to stay.