Neglect and Negligence

From the very first our experience at Nicky's rental was bad. The welcome board was for another party entirely so we assumed our rental was double booked. Once inside the unit the air was thick and sticky with the stench of mold, it would take another 2 days for the smell to go away. The stainless steel surfaces in the kitchen were dirty and smeared and the dishwasher didn't work after we had used the sparse kitchen wares provided. The photos show a flat screen TV but there was no service. Nicky told us we would need a "TV expert" to access our Netflix & Amazon Prime accounts, however with only one working remote for the cable box even that was impossible. In the windowless bedroom the paint was peeling, there were blood stains on the bedspread and the derelict dresser looked as if it had spent a couple of weeks out on the curb. The shower had mildew crawling up the walls a foot from the floor. The ick factor here is very high.
The neighbors upstairs partied Saturday night and with the bare floors above us, we heard their conversations and footsteps until 5 am on Sunday in the bedroom below.
The "farm" consisted of a chicken coop and a couple of goats, a few weedy patches, broken down lawn furniture, a junk yard and a picnic table. The only produce that we could 'help ourselves to' consisted of a couple of basil plants. There were no tomatoes, milk or eggs. Watching the freight trains which rumbled by the property frequently made me think that a hobo might be very comfortable here.
This is not the hip, quirky illusion that Nicky is selling, it is the setting for a vacation from h--l. Nicky described the neighborhood as diverse and safe. This is code for an impoverished community with many boarded up buildings that native Chicagoans know better to avoid and scary place to walk. This place is an urban desert with goods and services miles away and gentrification many years away.
Worst of all was Nicky's negligence in sending us off into the night without ever mentioning the sidewalk hazard just outside her front gate. Beware of the random 4 inch drop in the level of the sidewalk with broken concrete that she and many others have "wiped out on” according to Nicky. In the dark shadows under the trees there was no indication of the hazard before you stumble. She blamed the city for the broken sidewalk, but in truth she is responsible for the sidewalk maintenance, which, along with so much else she has neglected. Even the porch light had no apparent switch, so it was a very dark descent from the street into the dark entry well. After my fall and sprained knee she did offer to lend me her car to drive to the doctor's office across town, that was the best she could do.
Buyer beware of this rental, seriously.