21, 94 Landressy Place

Constantin was my live-in landlord, and I had such a bad experience that I stopped opting for live-in landlord rental arrangements. He was initially very affable and friendly, but things started going south after I disagreed with him on paying for repairs without invoices and an increased security deposit mid-agreement. Any disagreement we had was handled immaturely by him. He would flip out if I disagreed with him on anything, which made living with him very stressful.

On consulting with him (of which I have email records), I spent £342 and got the wall and carpet portions I had accidentally damaged repaired. I wrote to him to schedule an inspection of the room after the repair work was complete and shared invoices with him as well. But he did not respond to the call for inspection.

I also found him very inflexible regarding house rules, some of which, he changed arbitrarily during the tenancy. He imposed a curfew of 9 PM, which was so unreasonable that it restricted my entry into and exit from the flat. Besides, he did not share heating controls with me for two days after I moved in and revoked them a day before I moved out. All the decisions he made were extremely one-sided and one-dimensional with no room for discussion. Overall, these experiences made my stay feel more restrictive than collaborative and far from pleasant.

Eventually, when I moved out within less than two months of moving in, he deducted £241.86 from my security deposit refund for issues in the flat that were not caused by my occupancy. The deduction was a fallout of the relationship breakdown, and I had to pay a heavy financial cost. I would advise lodgers and tenants to pay attention to how prospective landlords react when you disagree with them or raise legitimate concerns.

The room I rented was extremely small, with no space to even place a small clothes drying rack, and the flat had no tumble dryer. The only space for a clothes drying rack was in the living room, which Constantin was very reluctant to share with me. He had an entire desk with his PC and printer set-up and a personal chest of drawers. All I asked space for in the shared living room was a clothes drying rack occasionally, yet he begrudged that.