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Summer's Leap Lake Joseph, Muskoka, Ontario, Canada
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We have rented luxury properties around the world and have NEVER encountered a problem like this one. Billed as an executive compound on exclusive Lake Joseph, owner charged us $500 a week above the posted asking price of $7500/week (2008) and would not provide interior photos of the cottage (said his "hard drive" had broken). Good reason: the place was falling apart and had not been upgraded in 30-plus years. Imagine Austen Powers in the Great White North. The septic tank blew up, toilets and cupboards were broken, the outdoor lights did not work for our first week (electrician said the wiring was antiquated), chairs broken, etc. The owner rents the sheets but does not provide second sets nor make arrangements for laundering. He did not service his boathouse between tenants. Nor did he service the advertised hot tub--it was a filthy cesspool. After some investigation on my part, found out that local service companies will no longer deal with the owner as he doesn't pay his bills. We are also not the first tenants to be unhappy with the property. We had the cottage serviced by a local housekeeping company four times while we were there (we paid). Despite this, he refuses to return our $1,000 security deposit. We shall now have to go to small claims court. I took interior photos as evidence should anyone want to see them. Despite the lovely (exterior!) location: STAY AWAY!
Date Added: Sep 29, 2008
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| 8. |
Bad experience
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My family and I think this was the worst cottage we have ever rented, and we have been renting for the last 18 years.
First of all, it was misrepresented on owner's website: the pictures of the place do not reflect the miserable reality of the property: the water of the lake is not fresh, smells like sewage, making it extremely uncomfortable to swim and be around it; the water in the front of the house is covered with weeds, and we had to spend two days clearing lilipads and seeweeds in order to make it possible for our children and grandkids to swim.
The sewage system in the house is worse than some tour bus sewage systems, and those are known to be nasty. We flushed with a pedal, every day we had to spend an hour bringing water from the lake (which also stinks) to flush the toilet properly and to clean the pipe. Even after this daily ritual, by the end of the day, the sewage smell under the house got so overwhelming, that we had to keep most of the windows closed and be content with the smell of the sewage coming from the bathroom.
There is no proper ventillation in the house. This house is advertised as a three bedroom house, however, that really is a white lie on the owner's part. Two of the bedrooms and the living room are separated by dividers that do not reach the ceiling, providing absolutely no privacy for anyone involved.
Garbage is supposed to be delivered to a dump, which is 25 minutes away from the cottage. The only way to get in, is to use the garbage pass, that was provided to us by the owner on the first day. However, on the second week of rental, the owner rented the other house he owns to another family. From that week on, we had to have shared ownership of the pass and constantly had to ask each other to borrow it, which was extremely inconvenient, since most of us were away doing vacation stuff.
When we arrived, we had to wait for two hours for the owners to get the house ready for us.
Date Added: Sep 1, 2011
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