Justine accommodated us by allowing us to check-in early. We only called her once for a fan because the bedroom was so hot. She had a 60 year old metal fan that was somewhat adequate.
Since we felt the description of stunning was not representative at all we decided rather than interject subjective comments we would just describe the place and area.
The flat/apartment occupies about 1/3 of one floor of a 100+ year old row house in an area that has a lot of homeless and vagrants. In fact in front of Justine (the owner/host) a group of people asked us to call the police because of some fight going on in involving what we were told was a child trafficking issue. Consequently, wedid not go out after dark.
The furniture except for one couch is about 50-90 years old and is in rough shape. As another reviewer noted there is no cushion on the leather chair so you can't sit in it and the leather is not just torn but chunks of leather are missing. When we mentioned this she accused of us spilling tomato sauce and was putting a claim in for damage. We never had any tomato sauce in the unit.
The frayed thin shears which partially cover the front windows are held in place by dowel rods. The place is warm and stuffy so she tells you to air out the place by leaving the back windows open but not the front ones "for safety reasons" which we agree with given the neighborhood.
Bedroom is very small (no dresser just some narrow wood shelving so keep clothes in your suitcase) and you have to turn sideways to get to the other side of the bed. Windows above the bed have no curtains and there are no clocks anywhere except one near the ceiling in the kitchen. If you need it dark to sleep, this bedroom likely won't work.
Only a small stove top metal espresso maker otherwise no coffeemaker. The kitchen is small with almost no counter space. You have to move the butcher block to access the washing machine (no dryer, laundromat is down the street) or to open the fridge which is only about 30"x 18". A small cube freezer sits on the floor (apparently not for guest use). No ice maker but she did provide 2 plastic trays to make ice. There is no A/C and the heat is by radiators. The wall thermostat has no wires connected to it, it just hangs there.
The bathroom has been modernized but again is very small with little light. No plug for a hairdryer, etc.
The hairdryer she provided had a cord that is coming apart so we left it out for her since we thought it might be a fire hazard.
The bathroom door does not have an operating handle, just a hook and eye (that you have to move as it swivels, held in by one screw) to keep it closed.
On a positive note the tube (Ladbroke Grove not Notting Hill) is only a block away and we were gone all day sightseeing not even coming back before we got dinner so it marginally served our purposes.
However as owners of several rental properties and people who have traveled through out Europe it was disappointing given the description. We have never given a property less than 5 stars but felt we would be remiss to rate this property anything more than a 2 star or fail to rate it.