I didnt meet our host personally but it was not hard for my friend to get the keys and communicate with the owner.
However, I do not believe 8 persons would fit as described. The apartment is not very big and I would definitely not sleep on sofa which was not comfortable at all even to sit on.
Internet was not working and hot water didnt work all the time either. Altogether I guess we were not lucky but only the rooftop made it better as we could spend some time up there weather permitting...