This is a lovely country house, though the furniture is a bit worn. The property comes with a pool, which is cleaned by a staff member every week, so you can relax without worrying about anything until the owner shows up two days before the end of the contract. You may want to extend the contract, but be prepared for the owner to claim that you've consumed excessive electricity, water, and gas:
Electricity: The owner calculates the meter readings for two months as if it were only one.
Water: During my stay, there were only 17 days without recorded data. The owner assumes I was using 6 cubic meters of water per day, even though the rest of the time (when there are recorded readings), I used a maximum of 2.2 cubic meters of water per day, including automated lawn irrigation (which, by my estimation, is about 0.8 cubic meters per day).
Gas: The house is equipped with gas cylinders delivered by the owner's staff. It's impossible to verify the amount of gas in these cylinders, as there are no receipts or confirmation of the owner's claimed volume.
Without providing any evidence, the owner will start demanding a bribe outside of Flatio. If you suggest checking the meters and calculating expenses, the owner will refuse and claim that he knows better.
In the end, on the last day of the lease, you'll have the choice of either paying a bribe equal to half the rent (900 euros) or looking for a new place to stay with your suitcase and child. If you mention that the contract includes utilities within 15% of the rent, you'll be told that the owner also includes maintenance of the property, such as staff and so on, in the utility bills.
After two days of negotiations about the situation, I concluded that there was no overuse of utilities on my part. I offered to pay 50% of the cost of the specialist who checked the gas system, as the owner suspected my gas cylinder consumption (whether they were filled to 100% is unknown).
If anyone intends to visit this place, there are several things you must do: Have an alternative place to live to avoid my situation, ALWAYS take photos of the meters and ask the agent to include these details in the contract, buy gas at gas stations and record your consumption daily.
Electricity: The owner calculates the meter readings for two months as if it were only one.
Water: During my stay, there were only 17 days without recorded data. The owner assumes I was using 6 cubic meters of water per day, even though the rest of the time (when there are recorded readings), I used a maximum of 2.2 cubic meters of water per day, including automated lawn irrigation (which, by my estimation, is about 0.8 cubic meters per day).
Gas: The house is equipped with gas cylinders delivered by the owner's staff. It's impossible to verify the amount of gas in these cylinders, as there are no receipts or confirmation of the owner's claimed volume.
Without providing any evidence, the owner will start demanding a bribe outside of Flatio. If you suggest checking the meters and calculating expenses, the owner will refuse and claim that he knows better.
In the end, on the last day of the lease, you'll have the choice of either paying a bribe equal to half the rent (900 euros) or looking for a new place to stay with your suitcase and child. If you mention that the contract includes utilities within 15% of the rent, you'll be told that the owner also includes maintenance of the property, such as staff and so on, in the utility bills.
After two days of negotiations about the situation, I concluded that there was no overuse of utilities on my part. I offered to pay 50% of the cost of the specialist who checked the gas system, as the owner suspected my gas cylinder consumption (whether they were filled to 100% is unknown).
If anyone intends to visit this place, there are several things you must do: Have an alternative place to live to avoid my situation, ALWAYS take photos of the meters and ask the agent to include these details in the contract, buy gas at gas stations and record your consumption daily.
