Two Months in Bandung: The Apartment I Picked for One Reason
TL;DR: I picked a studio at Gateway Pasteur because it was ten minutes from the client office. The distance was the only part of the deal that worked. The first week went on a parking card fight. The paid cleaning skipped the toilet. A new tap started dripping almost every week after the cleaner left. I extended for a second month anyway, because leaving meant paying a second deposit somewhere else. If you rent monthly in Bandung, check the unit properly before you pay, and rent from a vendor with a reputation to lose.
Why I needed a place in Bandung
My current contract needs me on site in Bandung for the first two months. After that I work remote, with visits when a part of the project needs me in the room.
Two months is an awkward length. Too long for a hotel. Too short to sign a normal yearly lease. So I went looking for a monthly rental, the way a lot of people on project work do.
How I looked
I used every channel I could find. Facebook groups, and the agents who message you within minutes of posting there. Three rental apps. I compared what they offered for about a week.
In the end I chose one of the platforms and a studio unit at Gateway Pasteur. One reason decided it. The client office is ten to fifteen minutes away by Grab car.
The rent was fine. The deposit was not small. One month in advance, refunded about 45 days after checkout. I paid it. I told myself the distance was worth it.
Night one
The unit was a typical studio. Clean, at first look. Smaller than the photos. Listing photos are shot to make a studio look like a one bedroom, and this one was no different.
The first night I could not stop itching. My guess is dust in the bedding. I never found out. After a couple of nights it stopped on its own.
I arrived on 9 August 2026. That was the last calm day for a while.
Week one went on a parking card
I brought my own car, so before I booked I asked the platformâs customer service on WhatsApp about monthly parking. They told me it was 200 thousand rupiah a month. Fine.
Then I went to apply. Someone who rented this same unit in 2023 kept the parking card when they left. The building would only issue a new one if I paid another 200 thousand for the card, on top of the monthly fee.
That should have been the platformâs problem. It is their unit, their old tenant, their card. Instead it took almost a week of messages, with the platform acting as if none of this was theirs to fix.
In the end I said this: if I pay 200 thousand for the card, the card is mine. I am not handing it back at checkout. They agreed. I still do not think that is a fair arrangement. It just ended the argument.
The cleaning I paid extra for
I added weekly cleaning to the booking. Four visits a month for 500 thousand rupiah on top of the rent.
The first visit was fine. The second cleaner skipped the toilet. When I asked why, he said he saw I was busy and thought I might want him to leave early. I told him no. I paid for the whole unit. The toilet stayed dirty until the next weekâs visit.
The cleaner was a different person every week. So each one arrived knowing nothing about the unit, and each one was a new surprise.
On 21 September a cleaner tried to skip the toilet again. That is how I found the third leak. More on that below.
A new drip every week
This is the part I still cannot explain.
After one cleaning visit, the bathroom wash basin tap started dripping. The fix from the platformâs side was to close the valve under the basin so the water stops. Not a repair. A shutoff.
After the next visit, the kitchen tap started dripping. I had been using that tap for weeks with no problem. It drips after the cleaner leaves.
Then on 21 September, while the cleaner was trying to skip the toilet, I noticed the bidet spray was leaking too. I did not report it. My honest worry is that if I raise it, the platform will say I broke it and bill me for the repair. So I shut the whole thing off at the valve and I live with it.
Three taps, three closed valves. That is where the unit stands today.
The grease trap and the rule nobody mentioned
Under the kitchen sink there is a grease trap. It smells. I asked the cleaner in the fourth week to check it. He said it was clean.
He also told me something new. Complaints about the unitâs condition are only handled free of charge within two weeks of check in. After that, it is on the tenant.
Nobody said this before I paid. It was not in the messages with customer service. It came from a cleaner, in week four, after the window had already closed.
Why I extended anyway
I am writing this in the second week of my second month. I am still annoyed. And I extended with the same platform, in the same unit.
Two reasons, and the second one is the real one.
- The distance. Ten minutes to the client is worth a lot when you are on site every day.
- The deposit. With the same platform, the deposit carries over into the extension. Any other platform means a new booking and a new deposit, while the first one sits with the old platform for 45 days after I leave. That is two deposits out at the same time.
So the thing that made me want to leave is also the thing that kept me here. I do not think that is an accident. A big deposit and a slow refund make it expensive to walk away, even when you have every reason to.
The good part, to be fair
The location is genuinely good.
- Grab car to the client is about 10 to 11 thousand rupiah a trip.
- Grab food has a lot of options near the building, so delivery fees are low.
- Getting a car at any hour is never a problem.
If the unit had matched the listing and the support had done its job, this would have been an easy two months.
What I would check next time
This is for anyone renting monthly in Bandung, project work or not.
- Turn on every tap before you pay. Basin, kitchen, shower, bidet. Run them for a minute. Look under the sink.
- Ask about the complaint window in writing. How many days, and what counts. Get the answer in the chat, not from a cleaner in week four.
- Ask about parking cards, keys and access cards before booking. If a previous tenant kept one, that cost is the vendorâs, not yours. Get that in writing too.
- Ask who cleans and whether it is the same person each week. A rotating cleaner means nobody is responsible for the unit.
- Read the deposit terms twice. The amount, and the refund period. Then ask yourself whether you can afford two deposits at once if you need to move.
- Rent from a vendor with a reputation to lose. The cheapest listing with the fastest reply is not the same as a vendor who will answer when a tap starts dripping.
Reflection
I picked a place for one reason and let that one reason excuse everything else. The distance was real. So was everything I ignored to get it.
The client is not named. The rental platform is not named either, on purpose. I want my deposit back and the last month finished before I write that part. I will update this post once the refund lands, or does not.