Brian Cowie in Bangor

Invasive rude and made me and my guests always feel uncomfortable.

Landlord was very rude and intrusive. Didn’t respect personal space or boundaries. Made me and guests I had feel very uncomfortable. His name was Brian Cowie.
Jacob

Minimal help, he lives in Thailand so is very absent.
Will blame problems on you and won’t accept and of the blame. Strange.

There was no option for zero stars so I've had do make do. He's got a few kids at uni age at the time of writing and it shows, patronising and with no grasp of sense expect unnecessary lectures to be a staple and for even the briefest of conversations to seemingly last hours. He is dismissive and stubborn to the point of it being twistedly commendable so expect any complaints you have to be met with either condescending denial or to be outright told that you're wrong regardless of the testimony of your fellow lodgers (yes lodgers not tenants, because having you as a tenant would allow you more rights). He is a strange form of coward, and will try being friendly at first in an effort to convince you too overlook his sheer incompetence at managing a house, but anger him and he will resort to intimidation dressed up in formality to try to assure you he has the upper hand. I cannot rate this landlord any worse and cannot stress how much he is to be avoided, it was only for sake of brevity this section of the review is not a published novel.

Resident landlord is extremely difficult. He will be living with you, there’s nothing you can do about it and it will happen throughout the year for weeks at a time. He will seem really helpful during your first few days in the house but that seems to change after the rent has been paid. Repairs are random so you could walk into someone fixing the sink one day or just “checking” something, because apparently that’s okay, it’s not. Be careful and read the lease very carefully before signing anything.

Be aware that the Resident Landlord, Brian Cowie, can be very difficult to live with. He came across as congenial and accommodating during initial communication but frequently attempted to micromanage the lodgers and was often passive-aggressive, intimidating, nit-picky, and quick to blame the lodgers for problems. If your lease is an Excluded Occupancy Agreement, understand that it does not afford normal rights to the tenants. The house rules posted in the 8MV Lodgers Facebook group seemed to be subject to change at his discretion, which poses problems since signing the contract means agreeing to fluctuating rules. Dealing with him was tolerable before he moved in with the lodgers, but having to share a house with this man for almost 5 months was an extremely stressful experience, definitely not something I would have agreed to as he had given the impression that he stays elsewhere during the majority of the year, and unfortunately a situation in which I remained trapped due to the inflexible contract terms. Avoid this landlord!