Tenancy review for 13 Lower Oldfield Park in Kingsmead, Bath rented from Paul Smirthwaite

“Landlord with a vile attitude, property with structural issues”

13 Lower Oldfield Park, Kingsmead, Bath, BA2 3HL View on map

Overall Tenancy Rating: 2

★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Moved In: 01/07/2022

Rent: £2940

Date reviewed: 30 June 2023

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Landlord review for Paul Smirthwaite, Bath

Landlord rating: 1

1 star is too high a rating- 0 would be more appropriate. The landlord lacks any sign of empathy or understanding towards his tenants. Resultantly, it is incredibly difficult to communicate with him and come to a resolution on anything. For example, the landlord refused to confront the mould issues with the house despite constant requests from us, the tenants, for almost 8 months. He said it was something we had to accept, going as far to say that we were 'healthy young men' and therefore should be able to weather mould in every corner of the residence which ultimately resulted in skin rashes for one tenant.

Furthermore, it appeared that the landlord was only interested in maximising his own personal wealth whilst providing the bare minimum to tenants. He was lacklustre in addressing our concerns although was more than happy to contact us on any issue concerning money. This also resulted in an awful experience when trying to resolve any issue with the house and the landlord would choose the cheapest, and oftentimes least appropriate solution, to overcome an issue. For example, when the sewage poured out of the toilet into the house, expert cleaning companies advised to have professional cleaners to enter the house, remove the carpet and floors that had been covered in faeces and decontaminate the area. With this in mind, the landlord did the absolute opposite. He removed none of the flooring which was covered in sewage and was adamant he had to do it himself rather than having a professional contractor do the job. Consequently, we had to ask him to come back several times to get rid of the sewage smell as the job was not done properly. Developing on the idea of the landlord intending to minimise costs at every corner, he also tried to mislead us when we moved in. He stated that the garden had been tidied a few weeks before we moved in despite the fact that it was overgrown to the point that one could not walk to the front door as the weeds had overtaken the path. After being questioned further, the landlord reluctantly admitted the gardening had not been done and that he would look at it being done.

I could only advise prospective tenants from avoiding this house. For the price of £735/month, other accommodation could be found which is in a better condition with a more understanding and receptive landlord that does not actively ignore and neglect his property.

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Property review for 13 Lower Oldfield Park, Kingsmead, Bath

Property rating: 2

The house is large given that it is for 4 tenants. There are some extra rooms which are not found in other student houses, such as a cloak room and 3 toilets for 4 tenants which are very useful.

HOWEVER, issues with the property are abundant. Firstly, the property has a huge issue with mould. This issue is present in every room of the house. For example, all of the bedrooms had mouldy walls and this even extended to damaging our personal belongings such as suits which were in suit bags, shoes, hats, the list goes on and on. The kitchen was also prone to mould issues that resulted in numerous food articles going mouldy before the 'use by' date, including items such as flour and tea bags which are usually not prone to mould issues. Adding to this, the kitchen also lacked a working extractor fan for the majority of the tenancy due to landlord oversight (more on this in the landlord section).

Secondly, the property is generally in a bad state. There are cracks all over the property, handles are falling off doors, the bathrooms are mouldy in every corner, the grout in the tiles is black, and the garden is an entire other issue. It is horrible and overgrown; furthermore, the landlord does little to resolve this. In fact, in an entire year the landlord had a gardener round twice for a cumulative 4 hours which was not even close to enough given the state of the garden.

Lastly, the house has a bad aroma due to lack of ventilation and dampness. This was only worsened this year when there was an issue with blocked drains to the property due to an issue that the landlord had not resolved properly in the past. As a result, this led to faeces pouring out of the toilet into the downstairs loo, caking the hallway carpet in sewage. The garden was also a victim of this; faeces covered the back door area which caused a rat infestation and flies which are there 'til this day.

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Area review for Kingsmead, Bath

Area rating: 4

The local area is very nice. Situated a 5 minute walk from town, the location is optimal. There are also multiple U2 bus stops which are really useful for travelling to University of Bath campus. The journey doesn't take more than 25 minutes each way. One down side of the area (and the property) is the lack of parking in the surrounding area. The property has no parking and the surrounding streets are all permit parking which makes it very hard to find a parking space.

NOTE: the neighbourhood is undoubtedly higher than a 4 star rating, although giving a higher rating would give this property a better rating which is frankly does not deserve.

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