The good the Bad and the terrible: Van is not the best of hosts and no one really lives in this place except those who use it as an AirBnB, which means there are some obvious problems: I would suggest you stay clear of Van, although the flat could be nice, but here is my story:
Van threatened me, and that was my introduction to my stay in London which was not very nice. He said, "this is my house and you play by my rules, understand"? And all this because two days prior to my visit I sent Van an email and said, "I will get to the building and there will be a key box and I will enter the code and the key will appear, correct? And he replied, "yes, that is correct". But when I got to the building there was no key box, as Van did not tell me that the key box was under the staircase in the basement. So we called Van and the other number for Mauritz and of course no one was there. I did notify Van that we were delayed and would be late getting to the flat. After a half hour waiting around, a neighbor came and asked if we were looking for the box and we said yes and she showed us the box. Then after an hour or so Van called me back and said that he didn't want anyone to know that it was an AIRBnB! That's when he threatened me and said, "This is my house and I set the rules and you follow the rules, understand"? That did not sit well with me starting my stay in London, I did not like being threatened. I also did not like the idea of the secrecy. What about the other people in the building not knowing that there are strangers coming in and out of their building all the time? How do they feel about that? I would not be so happy to have strangers in my building all the time!
So lets get to the basics of the flat! The flat is spacious for 2 comfortable for 3 and cramped for 4. There are obvious problems with the accuracy of the "beautiful" description. In the primary bathroom the shower head and bracket are broken, I told Van about this. In the second bathroom there is a hole under the toilet with mold seeming to be creeping in. The television in the primary bedroom does not work, the wifi in the primary bedroom does not work. The TV in the sitting room only has streaming services no LIVE TV so one can't get current news. So, if you want to witness the Jubilee, The Open or the Championships at Wimbledon, forget it! The flat could use a couple of fans as it gets really hot. I know the British don't think it ever gets hot, but entering the flat, it will get hot and the front windows do not open. The carpets are filthy and are obviously not washed under the tables. There are lamps all over the place and there is a movie light in the primary bedroom that takes a significant amount of space, can't imagine why one would have a movie spot light in the bedroom, unless you are into that type of thing. The décor in the sitting room is very comfortable other than the dirty carpet on the floor and the number of lamps. The bedroom is very 1990's Hollywood, not necessarily my taste and the cupboard are full of Van's "stuff so I had to move a table and lamp out of the closet so my wife's dresses could hang properly. I was not happy with Van's attitude about keeping things secret and always reminding me to empty the trash as if I was some sort of teenager who did not clean my room.