15 Charminster Court, Lovelace Gardens

We didn’t have hot water for the best part of two years.

The water heater was broken on the first day we arrived at the flat. After many months, someone got it working, but it broke again. We endured two entire winters with no hot water.

Despite the issue, my wife and I were initially very patient as our landlord kept telling us that she was very sick. However, by the second year—approaching our second winter without hot water (showering with a bucket)—we began to lose patience. Numerous plumbers came to inspect the water heater, all saying the same thing: The setup was illegal and one of the worst they had ever seen. No one was willing to start work on it until it was brought up to regulation. Apparently, there were numerous issues, but the worst was the drainage pipe. Instead of connecting to a proper water outlet, it ran into a garden hose and emptied into a water bottle in the same room as the water heater.

The landlord was warned about these issues but ignored us for two weeks. Upon returning from holiday, my wife tried to run some water, and the drainage pipe leaked for four hours. Water flooded our bedroom. I attempted to contact the landlord but didn’t hear from her until the afternoon. I sent her videos of the flooding, but she told me she didn’t want to watch them. She sent out one final plumber—the sixth person at this point—who confirmed the same issues as the previous ones. They attempted to contact the landlord multiple times, but she ignored their calls. I know this because I called the agency myself.

The landlord was furious with me for reaching out to them for an update. In the end, she told me she wasn’t going to fix it and at least allowed us to leave the property early.

She was incredibly rude, impossible to deal with, and very difficult to get hold of. She showed zero empathy for the two winters we endured without hot water.

What’s worse, I later met the previous tenant of the flat, who told me she also had no hot water for the entire year she lived there.

If you are reading this and considering renting 15 Charmister Court in Surbiton, I’m telling you—avoid this place at all costs. She was a landlord from hell.

We didn’t have hot water for the best part of two years.

The water heater was broken on the first day we arrived at the flat. After many months, someone got it working, but it broke again. We endured two entire winters with no hot water.

Despite the issue, my wife and I were initially very patient as our landlord kept telling us that she was very sick. However, by the second year—approaching our second winter without hot water (showering with a bucket)—we began to lose patience. Numerous plumbers came to inspect the water heater, all saying the same thing: The setup was illegal and one of the worst they had ever seen. No one was willing to start work on it until it was brought up to regulation. Apparently, there were numerous issues, but the worst was the drainage pipe. Instead of connecting to a proper water outlet, it ran into a garden hose and emptied into a water bottle in the same room as the water heater.

The landlord was warned about these issues but ignored us for two weeks. Upon returning from holiday, my wife tried to run some water, and the drainage pipe leaked for four hours. Water flooded our bedroom. I attempted to contact the landlord but didn’t hear from her until the afternoon. I sent her videos of the flooding, but she told me she didn’t want to watch them. She sent out one final plumber—the sixth person at this point—who confirmed the same issues as the previous ones. They attempted to contact the landlord multiple times, but she ignored their calls. I know this because I called the agency myself.

The landlord was furious with me for reaching out to them for an update. In the end, she told me she wasn’t going to fix it and at least allowed us to leave the property early.

She was incredibly rude, impossible to deal with, and very difficult to get hold of. She showed zero empathy for the two winters we endured without hot water.

What’s worse, I later met the previous tenant of the flat, who told me she also had no hot water for the entire year she lived there.

If you are reading this and considering renting 15 Charmister Court in Surbiton, I’m telling you—avoid this place at all costs. She was a landlord from hell.