Bright modern new coastal home with inspiring details in Santa Monica

Even though there was close to zero privacy and we really felt more like in an airbnb than a rented apartment, we wanted to enjoy our stay the best way possible and we really felt like we are on friendly terms with the owner after 2 days of our stay. I even got delivered 2 extra pizzas so I gave them to the owner for free. That was a day before everything changed drastically. As I mentioned above and also as few other reviews mention, there is really not much privacy and all I can say all these mentions are 100% true, but the privacy was not the problem. We had the most wonderful 5 days spent in San Francisco and one night in Yosemite and were really looking forward to our stay in Santa Monica. Unfortunately what followed was by far the worst experience I had during my 20+ years travelling

On arrival we been told to always keep a towel rolled on one side of the bathtub otherwise there will be a "problem downstairs" which clearly shows there was damage already. But after 2 days I have been falsely acused of damaging the property with water - same thing mentioned by different traveller in a review posted here in july. The owner said that it's ok and she will not want anything for the "damage". It was that same moment when I noticed she let a cat inside my apartment and I have a strong allergy to cats. I asked if she can take it out because I really can't touch it due to my allergy but I got igonred, the cat managed to touch most of my belongings already before my girlfriend pushed it out of the place. We went out and I got an allergic reaction so I messaged the owner that I will have to check out 3 days earlier and find a new place and if we could sort a partial refund. No reply, instead she reported me to Booking for the supposed damage. So I went back, asked her if she reported me, she said no, so I showed her that Booking notified me, so then she said she reported me because my refund request upset her. I said she could have told me and that she didn't have to report me for something I have not caused. She said she reported me so not only she will not refund me, but she will also take another 500 dollars from my card for "damaging her property" which she really did. I said if she understands that I'm going to write a bad review. That's when it really started. I will never forget the evil expression that came to the owners face, neither will I forget the words that came out of her mouth: "Yeah? I will f**king destroy you, I will ruin your f**king life. I am rich powerful person from Los Angeles. I have lawyers and we will go after you.

We both felt like we were defrauded. Upon arrival we realized that the owner lists two units at this location which was not clearly stated. All the nice pictures you see on the listing are for the bottom full floor unit. What we got starts on photo 35. We rented what was described as "studio" which turned out to be a tiny room attached to the owner's kitchen. We spent so much $$$ on this, it was ridiculous for the price. There was no kitchen, no cooking area, utensils, etc. just a few plates and a tiny fridge. I specifically wanted a place with access to kitchen because we stayed for 10 nights and food is expensive in LA. We could have rented a hotel room for the stay for about $500 less with better amenities. There was zero privacy. Since the room is so close to the owner's kitchen, you can hear everything: how the family cooks, talks, yells (yep, that happened too), washes dishes. I assume they could hear everything we did. One day the owner rushed to our room and started banging on the door as I was just to get on a work call. I opened the door, and without asking she rushed into the bathroom. She thought we caused a leak downstairs although we were very careful with the entire room. Only after inspecting everything she left (and subsequently apologized, but I found this inappropriate). Endless rules. From the first moment on, the owner bombarded us with rules. Do this, don't do that, clean this, leave this here... She reprimanded us several times for not closing the back entry door, although it was her children who left it open. She also wanted a cash $500 deposit or to hold onto one of our driver's licenses. We needed them to drive, so after a bit of negotiation she agreed to waive the requirement. Because we shared the back door with her family we constantly bumped into her and every time there was a new rule to follow. I would not recommend this to anyone, unless you are staying for 2-3 nights.