A woman says it was the 'most terrifying feeling ever' after her family found a man behind a wall at their rental accommodation booked through Booking.com.
Therese had arranged a property to stay at with her partner and two children while they attended a family birthday party. The house was advertised as not being owner occupied, but Therese says she immediately suspected something wasn't right when they arrived.
The landlord was there with his clothes in the washing machine but said he wouldn't be staying. "I met with the landlord to get a key," Therese told Kieran Cuddihy on RTÉ’s Liveline. "He showed me around the house. He had his clothes in his dryer at the time. I asked, 'Will you be here tonight when I come back?' And he said, 'Oh no, no, I won't be here.'"
Family returns to find washing machine running
The family went to the party and returned to find the washing machine running again and the key in a lockbox outside. Therese asked her partner to check the rooms, and they noticed a strange partition wall in the living room.
"It was a really thin piece of plasterboard with a nail," she said. "My partner went to move it, and it came off. It was darkness behind it and I hear 'hey, hey'. I said, 'Is there somebody behind that wall?' And he said, 'Yes.' I went to get the kids and leave right now."
Landlord denies meeting before
Therese met the landlord after the incident, who claimed to have never met her before. She told him he had traumatised her and her children. "He said, 'Well, my Google reviews don't say that,'" she recalled.
Therese described the experience as like being in a "Netflix documentary." She said, "The blood drained from my face. The kids were frozen. We had to physically move them. It's the most terrifying feeling ever."
Booking.com investigates
Booking.com confirmed a probe has been launched and the listing has been suspended. A spokesperson said: "We take safety and security very seriously. As soon as we were made aware of this incident, we launched an investigation into the property, which is ongoing. The property has been suspended while the investigation is completed."
