Stayed 6th June to 30th August 2022.
No Electricity: 9th, 28th, 29th June; 13th, 22nd July.
No Water: 9th, 14th, 15th, 28th June; 14th, 19th July.
No Air Conditioner: 17th, 18th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th July.
No hot water: 13th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 28th, 30th June.
On 28 days of my 54-day stay there was some issue, and on leaving he requested money because I had bothered him so much to fix things or get information about when utilities would resume, while I tried to study without water, electricity, or AC in the 30C or 84F heat of an Istanbul Summer.
On arrival I was shown that the air conditioner was kept working by a cologne bottle jammed into it, but Ugur was surprised when it broke during my stay. I sat in the apartment for hours at a time on 3 occasions while it was being fixed. On the 25th repairs went until midnight.
On arrival I was shown a boiler that had a towel and bowl under it to catch water. Sometimes needed some working of a valve to function I was told. Ugur was surpirsed when it broke repeatedly during my stay. I spent 2 days sitting around the apartment so that a repairman could get to it.
The front door has a hole in it that allows anyone inside the building without a key. Someone could see me leave, then wait in the dark inside the building for me to come back after a night out. On my first day I asked this to be fixed, Ugur said that he was on it. No repair by the time I left, 2 months later. the building is also very dirty, with food waste, cigarette butts in the halls.
Running water and electricity were frequently and issue, cut without warning, and unreliable predictions of when they would resume. Ugur tried to tell me this was normal, but I stayed 500 meters away for 3 months last year with only 1 night of no electricity.
On leaving, he requested 100 euro from Airbnb because I was a "problematic" guest, presumably referring to how his apartment was falling apart. Claimed I left rubbish bags everywhere: clean, dry food delivery plastic bags packed into one another in a corner. Claimed that I broke a lamp which was simply unscrewed. Tried to blame me for stains on the lampshade, which were the result of the boiler leaking liters of water.
There are many positive reviews here. The location relative to Taksim/Istiklal st is excellent, and if everything worked it would have been fine. But that everything broke, my stay was a pain in the ass, wasting time waiting for repairmen and sitting trying to study in the heat without water or AC, and now he's trying to request money from me? I'm appalled. As a rule, I try and assume the best of people, so I was going to write no review. But in this case that would be far too generous - this is not an honest person. I'm grossly disappointed and recommend that you stay elsewhere.