The rental market con

Back in 2016 I rented a wonderful 2 bed flat for £695 PCM with a deposit of £695.  It was part furnished with cheap IKEA sofas (no fire regs on them though), a rickety dining table and four chairs and two single beds in the back bedroom.  In the main bedroom I asked them to remove the Ikea bed and mattress there as I brought my own. They got people to remove the bed and then I had to point out that I didn't want the old stained mattress either and why wouldn't they have just removed it? They provided wardrobes, bedside drawers and two chests of drawers.

I put in a new double bed, new corner sofa (well, bought from my pal who had hardy used it), desk and chair, a new bookshelf and new lamps, uplighters and bedside lamps.  I put in a lot of work to that flat.  

Then I had to leave it, three years after I moved in.  I could only take simple things like TV, PC, etc.  I couldn't take my bigger assets and they were left with the owner.  I tried to get them back, but I didn't have anywhere to store them so I lost them and the owner gained them for nothing. 

The owner then let out the flat at a grand a month, mere weeks after it had been £695.  Thanks to the furniture I had put in and the effort I had put in where they left basic stuff.  

The washing machine was tucked under a unit, not facing outwards like in most kitchens, it's tucked under a unit and you have to duck under the counter to get to it.  

The flat is now with a new letting agent and the washing machine is in the same position.  The owner has claimed to have newly refurbished the flat.  They did up the bathroom a few years ago. (Edited - found out they just painted over the old tiles).

The "new" kitchen units are a lie, the cupboards have new doors.  

They have put in a new cooker, the old one was probably ready for scrap anyway and if they could have got past the gas board and left it they would have.

Aside from a coat of paint done by the owners own daughter and not professionally this flat has not been done up and all the furniture assets have been removed which means the previous tenant recked them.  The previous tenant was the owners daughter.  

The owner is now asking £1,200 PCM and a deposit of £1,800 for a completely unfurnished flat.  

It has damp in both bedrooms because they are at the end of the building and the roof needs done and the owner won't agree to work.  

I'm not posting her name.  Not because I'm protecting her but because she is typical of what the rental market is like.  It wouldn't be fair to name her and not the thousands of others who I don't know but who offer properties like this.  

This flat is amazing.  But it's not worth the rent and deposit.  Especially since it doesn't even offer a bedside cabinet.

I forgot about the boiler! The boiler which provided instant heat and water broke and the landlord didn't want the boiler renewed, just fixed - but the engineer that came out said it was fucked and that if the landlord ordered more repairs rather than a fix it meant that the fix was now costing more than a new boiler.  I put that to the agents.  It came back as a new boiler. With the cheapest programmes.  The landlord wanted a fix, if I hadn't pushed for a new boiler who knows what that flat would be running under now and how dangerous it would be...