Unpleasant owner/Landlord

Corrie Hurter from The Rental Giant was our landlady when my girlfriend and I rented her cottage from February 2025, and unfortunately our experience was extremely unpleasant.

Shortly after moving in, we discovered that her washing machine was connected to the outside plug of the cottage, which runs off the tenant’s prepaid electricity meter. This meant electricity was being used from our meter without us initially being aware of it. When we raised this with her, she claimed she didn’t know about it, even though we were not the first tenants to live there.

Like many people trying to save electricity, we would switch the geyser on and off at the DB board. The geyser eventually stopped working, leaving us without hot water for a long period. It appeared to be quite old, yet we were blamed for the issue because of how we used it and were asked to pay for the element and repairs, which we did not agree with.

The kitchen window of the main house is directly opposite the entrance to the cottage, which often made us feel like we were being watched and that we had very little privacy.

When we decided to move out, we were presented with a long list of so-called “damages,” and a large portion of our deposit was deducted. Many of the items listed were things we did not agree were damages. The cottage itself had several poorly done repairs, and during our stay we actually improved parts of the property by installing additional plug points and resizing doors that previously did not close properly.

She even charged us for our friends supposedly using water to “flush the toilets” and claimed they did their washing at our place, which they didn’t. There is no proof of this, and water was included in our lease. Nowhere did it state that we were not allowed visitors.

The toilet room has no window, and the bathroom also lacks proper ventilation, making it difficult for steam to escape. As a result, black mould developed over time, and we were later charged for this as well.

We are not the first people to have issues with her. There is plenty of evidence online from others who’ve had similar experiences. In our experience, she will find any excuse to withhold your deposit, just as she did with us and many others.