A truly awful rental property
Review Submitted: March 23, 2008
Date of Stay: February 2007
We feel compelled to retrospectively review this property since the owners description is so unlike the reality.
Where to begin? La Capilla is very poorly constructed; the doors leak and do not shut properly. In heavy rain, which is common during the winter months, the house is a quagmire of mud and debris, and water leaks across the floor under the doors. We used all of our towels to block the water. The property had no proper rear retaining wall, a major fault, so during heavy rain the mud and debris, rocks and even large boulders, fall down against the property. We were deluged in mud and water during our summer/winter stay, which covered gas bottles at the rear of the property, and ruined the patio and the swimming pool, which were also damaged in the rock fall. The patio area was badly subsided, and large cracks were visible, and could be seen to be getting larger. The house was near impossible to clean properly as mud would always be present.
The kitchen appliances were so poor as virtually unusable. Microwave was broken; fridge was replaced. The sink was inadequate and would not drain properly, and the tap was broken. The shower fittings were poor and kept falling off the wall when in use. The roof leaked and water streamed down the walls, entering electrical fittings and causing frequent power cuts/trips, as well as soaking work surfaces.
The outside water deposit constantly leaked and overflowed - the owners told us the importance of saving water and yet allowed hundreds of gallons to be wasted. The problem could not be fixed. Access to the pump was via a steep and dangerous path with no proper path. The owners were reluctant to do anything about this, and constantly having to turn the water on and off because of the pump problems was very inconvenient, especially at night. The owner reluctantly put some stones down to make a "path".
The house had no working TV when we arrived; the aerial was left on the ground, unattached. Some plugs in the house burned when appliances were used.
Full photo/video evidence of all these issues can be provided on request - you really couldn't make it up, and the owners attitude, whilst at first helpful, quickly became the opposite. Upon leaving the owners kept all of our refundable deposit, even after paying for some breakages, and would not meet to discuss any remaining issues. Without doubt our worst experience of Spain was our stay here. We could not get a reply out of the owners; perhaps HR can?
Owner's Response: We as owners would like to point out that these long term rental guests, rented our house from September 2006 until Febuary 2007. They were offered a very cheap long term rental price. Long term rentals do not have the same service providedas holiday lets. The pool, must be cleaned by the renter unlike short term rentals. Without being rude, there guests were not suited to country living, and from our opinion wanted, a live in maintanence crew. They would not change light bulbs, sweep patios, keep the house clean or clean the pool. The pool went green and had to be refilled twice at our cost.
There was a very heavy storm where most of Andalucia were affected. People lost roofs and roads were flooded. There was mud coming down with the rain onto the patio, but this was cleaned by ourselves as soon as the rain had stopped. The roof leak was dealt with also at this time and has never leaked since.SINCE THEN A WALL HAS BEEN BUILT TO PREVENT THIS AND HAS IT HAS NEVER HAPPENED AGAIN.
The guests rented another local house prior to ours and complained also. These guests were offered on several occasions money back for remaining months, as we happy for them to leave. They declined.
The microwave did work and still does. The fridge has not replaced . The oven was brand new. I think whatever we had in the property would not have been right.
I am not going to go on any further about the items mentioned as most are totally untrue,but I will say, yes we did keep the security deposit as this had to cover 6
months Electricity bill which they were aware was to be deducted from the deposit once the meter was read. The house was so dirty and there were broken items, well in excess of the amount kept. One item alone, which was the bathoom mirror with lights along with the Electricity bill came to the security deposit. We ended up out of pocket.
We have had two very sucessful years with no complaints what so ever. All I can say is you cannot please them all.
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Helpful votes: 3/9
