Renting in London has long been known to be a nightmare. I have been extremely lucky with my time in London because I've always managed to rent from Singaporean friends who own properties here. So, I've never experienced the hell that many have complained about until now.
I was staying at my favourite one-bedroom luxury condo in North Greenwich but the rent of £1900 + bills(around £200) per month was too expensive for me so I decided to find a cheaper alternative. I saw an ad on Short Let London on Facebook with a link to OpenRent. The room (£1250 pcm all inclusive) looked so nice, and it was in a great area, Nottinghill. When I contacted the landlord, he sent me a video of the room and it looked absolutely nothing like the image, but I decided to go have a look myself.
When I went for a viewing on 24th October 2024 at 17 St Andrew's Square, the land-in landlord, Eduardo Cara Diaz showed me around, and told me that there will only be 3 people living in the flat — himself, one other female student, and myself. (Look at the screenshots above which stated 3 tenants as well). He also said that he owns the property but I seriously doubt it. He was very insistent on me putting down a deposit immediately and him giving me the key there and then. I was hesitant and told him I needed time to think about it but I did eventually send him the deposit of £250 via Revolut that night. (I literally went for the viewing at 5.15pm, and he asked me at least 3 times to put down a deposit immediately. Look at how quick he sent me his revolut details after I left. I should have known that his desperation was a red flag. His compound does not allow dogs, and yet he agreed to let Snuffles and I stay - telling us to be discreet while moving in, and to use the small side gate so no one would see us. Snuffles also wasn't allowed to use the lawn cause dogs aren't allowed.
3 days later on move-in day, he texted me to say that I needed to send him £1400 for my 5 weeks stay from 27 October - 1 December) before going over. I sent him the money promptly and moved into his place later that night at 1130pm. When I arrived, he then told me for the very FIRST time that the house is a silent house after 10pm and I was shocked. Because I actually shower at 1-2am everyday after walking my dog. He told me that won’t work and told me to shower in the morning. But I have to shower every night before I go to bed, or I can’t sleep. I have a routine that I follow. He also then told me for the FIRST time that there’s an additional male tenant living upstairs.
I told him that he should have told me all this before, because I wouldn’t have moved in. He then said "I'm sorry, you can leave now, or anytime, I'll give you your money back." So I said okay. He didn’t give me a contract to sign even though he said he drafted one, but I thought that was fine since I was going to move out anyway.
The next couple of days, I went for viewings. And the one night that I got home after 12am, I couldn’t and didn’t shower and ended up not sleeping the entire night. I also forced myself to be home by 9pm everyday for the next 7 days so I can shower before 10pm. I couldn’t walk my dog at night and my entire routine was messed up. This gave me severe anxiety the entire week - I couldn’t sleep, heart was racing non stop, anxiety levels were through the roof. It was so bad that I even refrained from drinking water so I wouldn't go to the toilet as it was noisy.
4 days after I moved in, on 31 October 2024, I told Eduardo that I’m moving out in 4 days time. He said okay, and that he would give me back my money : £1330. He also said he understood my situation because he wouldn't want to stay somewhere where he's unhappy at as well. I thought that was really nice of him. And he casually mentioned that his parents were coming over to stay the next day. The next day, he called me and said he can only give me the money back in December due to bad financials. I then sent him a whatsapp text to ask him to put into writing that he will return me my money. He said "sure" but never did. And he refused to sign a document saying he would return me my money. He insisted on chatting face to face but whenever I asked to chat, he would say he's not available. His parents were staying in his room, but were using the same bathroom as the female student and me(he didn't alert me about this as well). This brings the total number of people living in the house to 6, which is illegal as he doesn't have a HMO licence. I’m thinking that since l’ve vacated, he’s just using the room for
himself since it’s already paid for, or to house his parents since they
were staying in his room. I didn't get to speak to him until 3 November evening, the night before I moved out. I waited for hours for him because I really wanted him to sign at least a document saying that he would return me my money before I moved out.
I didn't manage to get any signed documents from him, and I moved out. It was a solid week of hell living in that place. In the one month that I've moved out, I've been calling and emailing all the relevant authorities and I'm ready to report him to all of them. My lawyer has drafted a letter of demand for me to send to him, and if he doesn't give me my money back in 7 days, I will be reporting him to all the authorities and also thinking of sending a DM to his colleagues and friends to tell them about this.
I did my best to rectify this situation. It’s NOT even my responsbility but I tried to find replacement tenants for him. I found a really nice girl, B, who came to a viewing, and I showed her around. And B was very keen to take up the room — ready to move the next day, so I passed her the key. Eduardo said it was okay for B to transfer the money to me directly(I literally confirmed with him 3 times). I told B that I'm moving to my friend’s, and later on told her about the showering thing which is why I cut my stay short. Eduardo insisted on me giving him B's contact, which I did. B wanted to stay for an extra week from 1 December - 8 December, but the room that I vacated wasn't available. Eduardo told me that his neighbour, Maria, runs an airbnb, so I was speaking with Maria about arranging a viewing for B, but Eduardo said he would be bringing B for the viewing, so I didn't continue the conversation.
B then went to meet Eduardo the next day, and then just completely ghosted me. Eduardo told me B didn't like the airbnb, and it's my fault that the deal fell through because I asked B for the money …???? WHAT THE HELL??? He literally told me it’s okay, and then later said I should not be asking B for the money??? Anyway, I'm not sure if Eduardo lied to B about stuff, since he’s so dishonest. Also, Maria texted me saying that nothing had been arranged and Eduardo NEVER contacted her. What a liar.
I also found another girl, J, who wanted to take the room but her budget was really low, so I told her it's fine, she can pay 1000pcm instead of 1250pcm, since the room is already paid for anyway. When she got in touch with Eduardo, he tried to charge her more than what I had already paid for the room.
I also got my friends to enquire about the room online, and Eduardo said it wasn't available???
So he might have found a replacement tenant and pocketed the extra cash generated from my vacant room, and insist that the room has been vacant, and that he has no money to give back to me.
Also, regarding the room :
the floorboards creaked all the time, my room door can't even be closed properly, shower head pressure was severely weak and water wasn't hot, mattress was so hard and thin you could feel the wire frame underneath, blinds can't be drawn fully, the room gets really noisy due to traffic, corridor light wasn't working(gotta bring my phone as a flashlight whenever I go to the kitchen), and I was told to "close my door slowly" because it creaks so loudly, and to be really quiet after 10pm that I can't even drag a chair on the floor.
I should have just stayed at North Greenwich, I know. I was trying to save £850 but ended up losing £1330 and going through hell. You truly get what you pay for.
I believe in karma, and I can't wait for this lying dishonest man to get what's coming to him.
His details :