Landlord to Avoid
Quick Request- I'd really appreciate a quick comment from everyone who reads this post, even just to acknowledge you read it! Just so people have an idea of how many hits this post gets and she can see that we wont take this lying down and people ARE aware of her!When we first moved into our new flat I mentioned here the problems we were having with getting our deposit back from our previous landlady.She came round the night we moved out and we looked round together, she was happy with everything. The next day she text me a load of bullsh*t lies refusing to give us a penny back.No change, so time to name her!If you are looking to rent in Malta, please beware of Josette Testa. She has a small 2 bedroom flat in Pieta (our old one) and one in Swieqi that I know of, possibly more. Our flat looked lovely when we looked around (although compared to my one in England seen here, anything would have been an improvement!) but soon after moving in we realised it was not as nice as we thought. Bath was tiny, C couldn't even fit and the tap dribbled so took an age to run, plug sockets hanging off the wall, the pots and pans were burnt beyond recognition, door regularly fell off the wardrobe, the walls were grubby, the mattress stained with blood, no bedding and the sofa was rock hard. So a nice finish but you soon notice it's just a sheen and the place is actually quite tatty.She is quite eccentric with bright lipstick and 'out there' outfit choices. She is not really qualified to be a landlady, she doesn't know how to deal with utility bills, if anything breaks you are best just sorting it out yourself otherwise you will be waiting weeks. She gave us an email address to contact her on when we moved in, and it didn't exist, I got a postmaster error every time I mailed.She will be quite nice and friendly throughout, just a bit useless but harmless. But when it comes to moving out she will do/say anything to keep your deposit.So we'll be making sure all our contacts on the island (with this blog and the fact we both work in igaming/software, that's a LOT of bad publicity!) know about her. You Have Been Warned!Disclaimer- as per usual, this post is based on my own personal experience. It's possible that she's been a model landlady for some tenants but we found her quite friendly but useless and she kept our deposit with NO real cause. If she were to realise her mistake and come to an arrangement (as I told her, I'd be happy for her to keep €50 MAXIMUM for a cleaner, although we left the place spotless) then I will certainly update the blog and all contacts. However as it stands, I believe people deserve to know what she is like before signing their life and hard earned money away!