Tenancy review for 136 Donnybrook Street in Belfast, Belfast rented from John Lambon

Landlord rating: 1

Did not seem to care one bit as long as rent was paid, rent was collected with 12 pre-dated cheques on the first day. Would always say 'call the handyman's number instead' with regard to any issues. Pressured us to make a decision on wether or not to renew the lease in January even though our lease ended at the end of August. Before he got an answer from us, we got an email stating that our house had already been signed to someone else for the next coming year. We had no choice but to move otherwise

Property rating: 1

Electricity stopped working the day we moved in, fuse blew but we couldn't find the source, someone was supposedly coming to fix it that evening but each time we called they postponed until the answer we got was "I don't have the materials for this, maybe tomorrow". An outside contract had to be called in that night as we were literally in the dark. The problem found was that the wires connecting one of the spotlights in the bathroom had melted together (nice fire risk) the electrician removed the dangerous fitting and told us to keep it in case the landlord didn't accept what we said, the next time the 'handyman' that the landlord sent was there he took the melted fitting and said nothing more about it. To make this house worse evidence of rats was present but when I phoned they did not believe what I was saying. It took until I found a large dead rat under the sink before they believed me. Damp in every corner of the house, always had an odd smell, large patches of black mould around window frames and my bedroom ceiling which came back no matter how many times it was removed.

Area rating: 5

Co-op at the top of the street, 10min walk from QUB, 20min walk from city centre, fairly quiet area most of the time.