Tenancy review for Shaw Path Bromley in Downham, Bromley rented from Private Landlord

Landlord rating: 3

The landlady lives in the house, and she is one of the worst I have had, both as a landlady and as a lodger. She can get nervous just by having other people around, and she especially seems to dislike that you use the kitchen frequently. When she gets nervous or upset, she tends to exaggerate about what bothers her. It feels she can hardly bear living with herself, much less with other people. But that won’t stop her from charging you an arm and a leg to enjoy her company, mind you.

Day one was already concerning, she showed she has a knack for making up things in her head when she gets nervous. Rent payment for the first month must be paid in advance. My tenancy started on a Saturday, so I scheduled the payment for that day assuming it would arrive in the morning. It was my mistake not realizing that bank payments are not processed on weekends, so the money wouldn’t arrive until Monday. That was my fault, fair enough. She agreed to let me in for the weekend, but she didn’t give me the house keys until she received the money on Monday. I can conform with that. But it still bothers me that when I showed the payment as pending in my bank’s official app, she made up that it was not a secure way to pay. She clearly did not understand what I was showing her, but instead of admitting that, she made that up. A landlord who is also your lodger has too much capacity to impose themselves onto you, and talking with them can be sensitive. You really don’t want that person to be someone who makes things up when they don’t understand something, no matter how small the matter is.

She is a cleanliness maniac. She is the kind of person who is paranoid about dirt and bacteria. The kind who cleans things despite not being dirty. I do respect that it’s her house and she wants to keep it clean. And I do agree with cleaning things on the go. But she goes too far. She doesn’t even have a mop for fear of germs and the floor must be cleaned with wet wipes, of which she has loads scattered around the house. She doesn’t have a toilet brush, so leftover poo must be washed by pouring bleach over it. Of which she also hoards plenty. All of that for fear of bacteria. And yet the floor is carpeted.

She makes you clean all the kitchen floor after cooking, even if you haven’t poured any dirt in it. If you missed just a couple of crumbs, she will make you come back and clean them. You also have to dry the whole sink after washing the dishes. One day I missed a few drops of water around it, and she started complaining that the surface would rot, and she would have to buy a new one to replace it and other exaggerations. You also have to dry the whole bathtub and its surroundings every time after you use it. By the way, there is no place to hang the shower sprinkler. You need to hold it all the time while you shower.

One day I came from outside and didn’t clean my boots in the doormat, because they weren’t dirty. They left no trace on the floor. When she saw me, she started lecturing me about that, and saying if I didn’t use the doormat every time, I would have to clean the floor, despite not being dirty. Then, she proceeded to clean the floor herself. Not just around the main door. She cleaned the whole corridor of the first floor, while I was still standing at the door. She cleans the corridor in the same manner every time after she has a visit, despite not having a trace of dirt.

She demands all the rubbish to be taken out when the bags are still half full. One day she started demanding that I take out the organic waste, making up that it was half full and that I had to do it because I cook often so I‘m the one who uses it more. Which was untrue. I cooked more often than the other lodgers, but there is extremely little that I throw out every time. That day there was just some onion and garlic peels I had placed there before, and little else. The bin content barely rose over the bottom, and it hardly smelled because it was all dry matter, let alone at that moment that they were very recently put there. It took me a while talking to her to agree that I took the bin out when we had originally agreed, and at least later, she apologized and said she got nervous.

One day I wanted to start cooking before she had finished in the kitchen. There was enough space for me to start, but she didn’t let me, and she got nervous. I let it be and instead, I started washing something else in the sink. She got mad, saying that I would splash water on the tray with food she had next to the sink. Which I wouldn’t. And she looked anxious other times being in the kitchen with me, despite me being aware of her all the time and doing everything to move around and leave her space. She wants people paying a ton for living with her, but she is unable to share any space, to the point of feeling anxiety.

She often has someone come to her house to cut their hair. Those days, she forbids using the kitchen for several hours at lunch time. Never mind all the money you are paying to live there and use that kitchen. She will also get upset if she finds you cooking later than 21:00 or so, because she says the smell of food doesn’t let her sleep. Never mind that you always open the windows, close the door and turn on the extractor when you cook, as she instructs you. She is still bothered by the smell. Of food. From the kitchen.

Also, about kitchen and smells: she will barely give you any space in the kitchen to store your things, forcing you to have almost everything in your bedroom. Never mind that the kitchen is half full of dinner service she barely uses and, like the rest of the house, of useless and corny ornaments. She will give you just a small cupboard. And after you store all your used utensils in your room, she will complain because your room smells and you will see her spraying air freshener regularly.

I told her early in the tenancy I usually turn off the heater in the rooms I rent because I don’t like the heat. Towards the end of the tenancy, I commented I had it closed most of the time, and she got upset and started lecturing me about having to keep them open because the cold could freeze water in the pipes and damage them. That makes sense. But she already knew from the beginning I have it closed most of the time and she didn’t mention any of that.

The end of the tenancy was the worst part, as she kicked me out with only five days of notice. A few days before my fixed term ended, I got angry at night and banged the heater. I had been sleeping badly for two nights already, the heater started making some noises that kept me awake for hours and, desperate, I lost my temper. I admit I reacted badly. I shouldn’t have done that. The heater was right and it took no damage. But the lady scolded me very angrily and the next morning she told me I had to leave the house by the end of the week. I don’t care that she made me leave the house. But having to look for a new place and arrange the move in only five days was very mean, to put it lightly. By the way, the fact that we were lodgers made this legal. The law only says the landlord has to give “reasonable notice”, and apparently, five days falls under that description. She said there was somebody else already coming the following week, but people came to view the room after that, despite it being allegedly already allocated for someone. Sometimes, she gave notice for viewings that happened in the morning just the night before. And apparently, it was my fault that I had to leave. Not for beating the heater or any of the other nagging she did during the rest of the tenancy, no. It was my fault because, obviously, I should have told her I wanted to roll the contract after the fixed term. And since I hadn’t done that, her sensible assumption was that I wanted to leave, despite not giving her any sign of that. The last day, she forbade me to cook because allegedly there was a problem with the stove, so I had to spend the day moving heavy loads of my belongings with the stomach empty. Finally, after kicking me out like that, she didn’t answer phone calls of letting agents who were looking for references.

Property rating: 7

The room is decent sized and the house is, very clean and well maintained. But it does not cost £775 per month. There are also few shops around to buy groceries.

Area rating: 7

No problems except a few animals making noise at night very occasionally.