Tenant asked to make video of flat he’s being ‘forced out of’ goes viral with sarcastic house tour
Actor highlights issues including rat infestation and damp walls
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Your support makes all the difference.Finding a house to rent can be a tough endeavour, but being forced to search for one in the midst of a pandemic is bound to cause added stress.
One tenant, who alleged he was “basically being forced out” of his flat, decided to take revenge on his letting agent by producing a sarcastic virtual tour of the property.
In a video posted on Twitter, Sandy Batchelor, a Scottish actor and producer, takes the viewer around his flat in London, pointing out various faults along the way.
He shows off the bins outside the living room window, which he says is “lovely in the summer when it’s hot,” and a bait station “because there’s ants,” as well as wonky shelves, saying: “The boy who put them in must have been drunk when he did it because about a 30-degree angle on them.”
The tour moves to the kitchen, where Mr Batchelor shows off the electric hob and oven, which he says is “complete pish” and a washer and dryer “that’s not really a dryer unless you like your clothes still wet and smelling a bit funny”.
Along the way various signs are spotted, reading: “Don’t rent this flat!”, “You will hate it here!” and “There is a ghost”.
Mr Batchelor also points out an extractor fan in the bathroom, which he says he had to take a video of showing it not working before the landlord would send someone to fix it.
In the garden, described as “an absolute hell hole when we arrived,” he says they will be digging the plants out and taking them leaving “the place looking like the Somme” and says they have had problems with rats.
Mr Batchelor then moves to the bedroom, showing off a damp patch on the wall. He says he emailed the landlord about the problem and they replied “saying to keep the place well ventilated – in f***ing January”.
He then turns the camera to the bedroom mirror, giving the viewer a shot of him in his fiancee’s underwear.
The video, which has been viewed over 5.1 million times, amassed over 275,000 likes and nearly 64,000 retweets.
The Independent has contacted Mr Batchelor for comment.
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