mouldy ice box, thx 2let2 xoxox

m8 am living in a shithole, was put in a shit situation in the first year and had to just choose people to live with this year. I’ve essentially moved in with strangers who refused to come back to Cardiff after April last year, so I don’t know anything about them. I got shafted with the smallest box room as I was the last tenant to move in, and we had no agreed way to designate rooms (my mistake).


I live a lot further away than them to Cardiff and so can’t afford to be going home a lot, and I work in Cardiff as well as study. I’m often in the house alone, the house is small, and being given the smallest room is bad for my mental health. The room I was given is covered in mould and I continually have to spray mould remover and have my window open (which only makes my room freezing). My curtains are covered in mould as well. I have had 4 chest infections since moving in, once it developed into bronchitis. I understand that mould is a tenant problem to solve, but I have contacted 2let2 multiple times to replace my curtains and put a dehumidifier into the room. They argued there was no use in a dehumidifier and the curtains weren’t that bad… the curtains are meant to be a white fabric on the inside, but are a murky grey colour, with patches of black from the mould.

For my mental and physical health, I’m now having to move out and find another house. 2let2 in my opinion are bad, I would never go with them again

Rent: £365
Deposit Returned?: Still living at the hole in question

The only thing over the Horizon is an NDA!

We luckily didn’t end up living in a horizons house because of all the red flags we had with the tenancy agreement, but still thought it was worth giving a review. To start with the agreement was FULL of spelling mistakes, they wanted us to sign a non-disclosure agreement when seems extremely problematic, they mentioned specifically that they refuse to cover certain damages like rats and fence breaking and telling us our initial deposit was part of the rent and then not refunding us when we didn’t sign the agreement.

[If your landlord or agency trying to get you to sign a non-disclosure agreement, I’d STRONGLY recommend reaching out to ACORN Cardiff for support!]


They were also really condescending to us especially once we told them it was our first time house hunting, and responded to our questions really indirectly. When our guarantors checked over the agreement they managed to point out problems with almost every point and when we pointed out some of these issues to horizon they told us it was straightforward and transparent and they weren’t going to change it and just generally seemed dodgy and rude x

Is Dondi too good to be true? Yes.

House was in great condition and Dondi seemed lovely for most of the tenancy. She even asked us to review her here halfway through the year, but I decided to wait until the tenancy was complete to see what she was really like.

Sure enough, her true colours came out as the tenancy was coming to a close. The deposit was extensively overcharged without evidence with plenty of high costs for basic wear and tear that shouldn’t have been charged for in the first place.

The whole situation led to mental and emotional stress between the tenants, all thanks to her greed and unprofessional handling of the tenancy.

I am fortunately leaving Cardiff now, but I would not recommend signing with her to my worst enemy. Hope you enjoy the review you requested Dondi x

Rent: £360
Deposit Returned?: No

Did you know Condor allows parties during lockdown? Well, at least at the property below.

I have rented a room for the academic year 2020-2021. The misfortune of being under lockdown conditions triggered a series of events that should have never happened, especially with the current legislation. The house was constantly on completely mess and chaos, it was constantly reported to the location manager who never did anything to prevail it. The police was actively involved, yet the management never did anything to ensure the health and well-being of all tenants on the location.

I have moved way before the tenancy contract termination yet paid full amount of money and no deposit was returned. I wish no one should go through the same traumatic experience, as it prevailed me for completing my studies and put me in a hardship that I’m still struggling to overcome. Constant parties, dirt and bullying is something that no one wants to go through, especially in the pandemic situation, with no other place to live in, no family nor friends close to get support from. At the end of the day, the business is for people, and when it takes just the advantage and no offering anything in return is condemnable.

Rent: £400
Deposit Returned?: No

We can’t Stein Peter!

Non-essential building work continued throughout the first month of our tenancy, and we agreed that we would pay 3/4 rent, originally suggested half rent. Both bathrooms are cramped, using the toilet means sitting at an awkward angle or with your leg jammed under the sink. Mould in the walls was painted over and we weren’t told about it. It’s evident their trying to rent a 3 bedroom house to 6 people.

Rent: 315

Deposit Returned?: Still living at the hole in question

Matthew won’t leave you on the Todd!

We lived at one of Matthew Todd’s properties last year and he was an incredible landlord. The house was in really good condition and whenever we had issues he would come and fix it usually that day. A genuine and honest guy who loves a chat and is a great landlord. He doesn’t have that many properties in student land but if you are lucky enough to get one then I am very jealous!

Rent: £340

Deposit Returned?: Yes

Damp Horizon 2: Electric Boogaloo

Horizon
To sum the whole experience up in 5 bullet points:

  • Extremely rude/unprofessional
  • Mold mold mold + filthy when moved in
  • No heating in lounge/kitchen (-2 at one point)
  • illegal entry of staff + handymen (broken property) and viewings without notice
  • Weren’t allowed to enter the property when tenancy started. Ongoing ‘maintenance’ which they didn’t do but was set out in tenancy agreement.

Rent: £325

Deposit Returned? Didn’t have one

Sorry, that spider wasn’t paying rent so you have to cover it

We’ve had an update from the poor folks who were having to live with Kingstons mould, poison, flooding and mice house!

Just a follow up from my last submission regarding the deposit.
They tried to take over £100 from each of our deposits (there was 6 of us) for completely unjustified reasons such as stains on mattress and cracks in bathroom tiles (which were there when we moved in and luckily had proof of). They sent us an inventory with ridiculous arguments such as the kitchen wasn’t clean as there was a spider in the sink.

We managed to dispute their claims and ended up getting the majority of the deposit back but not all of it as they claimed they ‘couldn’t reduce the cleaning charge’ implying there was always going to be a cleaning charge regardless of it we had cleaned the property. Surely this should have been in the contract or they should have given us the option to hire our own cleaners which would have cost us less. They are such scammers and try their best to take advantage of students but we were lucky as we took pictures of every room when we moved in. If you sign with them TAKE PICTURES OF EVERY ITEM IN EVERY ROOM. It’s the only way you’ll get the majority of your deposit back from them, and don’t be afraid to dispute everything they say.

Rent: £310

Deposit Returned?: Partially

Top City Living with Dondi

Lived in one of Dondi’s flats in the centre of Cardiff. The flat had everything that was need and was up to date and modern. It was in a great location – only 5 minute walk into the city centre. If we ever had any maintenance issues with the flat, Dondi would send someone round/visit herself as soon as possible which was great. She was a very fair landlord and was always contactable.

Rent: £650
Deposit Returned?: Yes