I wanted a 2 bedroom flat. Unfortunately the smell of sewage made one of the bedrooms unusable. Here’s the good, the bad and the smelly...
The listing looked good. Big windows, nice neighborhood, decent connectivity...it seemed like a good pick. The host, Barry, was very responsive to questions and the check-in was smooth. The walk to the flat is about a 10 minutes from Belsize Park (and a 15 minute walk from Swiss Cottage). A cleaning person let us in.
Immediately upon entering the flat we were hit with the smell of sewage. It was bad and unmistakable. It is such a shame!! The space is nice...decent bathroom, large main room, well stocked kitchen. So much POTENTIAL!
Again, unfortunately, just too many signs of neglect. Lightbulbs missing, wires hanging, knobs falling off, badly soiled chairs, strange furniture arrangement, pictures haphazardly put on the walls, floors hastily repaired and...the smell.
Clearly the sewage smell has been a recurring problem as it is mentioned in other reviews and in the Guest book as far back as 6 years! It was explained away as a post rain phenomenon. IN LONDON! The right and immediate solution would have been to refund some portion of the rent to compensate for the unusable bedroom. That was never offered. The long term solution is clearly to fix the underlying problem.
We won’t stay in this flat again. There are just too many better alternatives. I would urge Barry to check on the place, fix the niggling problems and the larger one and have the space fulfill its potential.