When we moved in, and despite paying a £50 cleaning fee, the flat was in need of a deep clean.
It was half a day’s work to clear cobwebs, wash dust, dirt and grime from doors, door handles, walls, windows, light switches and skirting boards, sanitise the kitchen bin (there was an old toilet brush inside), and vacuum and mop.
We found a nitrous oxide canister under the armchair in the lounge, and bottle tops, ring pulls and coins under the sofa, while setting it up as a room for our toddler.
We shared photos but Jess, the owner, insisted that the flat had been professionally cleaned.
Beyond the flat, the communal areas need attention. Bushes blocked the main entrance, the front garden was strewn with litter, the back garden is overgrown, we filled up an entire vacuum bag cleaning the stairway, and the exterior walls need rat-proofing.
A few days into our stay, we noticed a rotten smell coming from a hole above a skirting board. After we contacted Airbnb’s customer service division, Jess booked a visit from pest control. The source of the smell was a dead rat. Pest control also found evidence of mice in the kitchen and a moth infestation in the lounge carpet.
In the last week of our five-week stay, and after multiple requests, Jess agreed to refund us the cleaning fee and a night’s stay as compensation for having to vacate the flat while the carpet was fumigated and the mouse traps refilled with bait.
She’d previously suggested we move out and she'd refund us the remainder of our stay – not a practical solution for two working parents and a toddler renting her flat because of renovations taking place at our home. Unfortunately there were no feasible alternatives available to us.