We arrived at Casa Lucia on
The main issues we had were;
1. No water pressure, resulting in an absence of hot water for 2 days. We were also unable to do any washing up in the kitchen. On the rare occasions when we were provided with some hot water, the shower downstairs was tepid at best.
2. An inherent damp problem in the house - made obvious by walls and ceilings throughout the property being covered in black mould. This resulted in a very unpleasant odour and a highly unhygienic environment to be in with Mould potentially releasing spores
The smell in the property was unbearable we noted that air fresheners had been placed in all the rooms, however this had little effect in masking the unpleasant and damp odour. The cupboards in the kitchen, when opened, released a strong smell of damp and mould. The contents of the cupboards smelling of damp and mould and we had to wash everything before use. The downstairs toilet was particularly bad, with the mould from the ceiling having spread to the back of the door - evident by the presence of small white mould spots all over the door.
We pointed out the damp and mouldy areas to the owners agents who confirmed that they were aware of this problem, however, as the owners had just left the property before we arrived they had not had the time to paint the offending areas.
The property has immense potential, however all these issues made for a very unpleasant environment and meant that during our brief visit we stayed out as much as possible.
3. Sleep was significantly disturbed by the noise of some sort of animal that spent hours running, scratching and chewing something in the ceiling cavity above the double and twin bedrooms on the bottom floor.
4. The en-suite bathroom in the double bedroom has got a plumbing problem resulting in a highly unpleasant odour of rotting cabbage emanating from the shower drain. Anyone would agree that this is not acceptable.
As a result we developed sore throats and so we decided that for reasons of health and hygiene we could no longer stay in the property and we made the decision to leave
We explained all the problems to the local agents Sandy and Dave who were very sympathetic but due to the inherent problems of the property, were unable to offer us any viable solutions.
We wrote to the owner to make her aware of these issues, we all work very hard and had been looking forward to our break very much..
The owner has refused to accept any responsibility or acknowledge that the property has a significant damp problem despite this fact being verified by the agents and us providing photographic evidence of all that we encountered.
As a result of this, we asked the owner for some level of compensation which she has blankly refused to consider.
One of our party is an amateur photographer and has fully documented the issues - I have attached these photos for people to view. When you see them, I am sure that you will be stunned by the extent of the mould problem and hope that you will think twice about booking a holiday at Casa Lucia. One saves long and hard for a holiday and we are hoping to salvage something from this disaster. A full refund would enable us to offer our disappointed children an alternative break away at some point in the future.
If potential renters wish to contact us then feel free to do so.
