@Rob11790 A couple of thoughts:
I looked at one of the hosts listings and she seems to have a moderate cancellation policy so you could book, ask your question, and then cancel if not happy. Just make sure you don't have two bookings at the same time or you won't get fully refunded. It's a medium risk approach but you would think the host would understand.
Alternatively find somewhere else. I can recommend Radbourne in Derbyshire - OK we don't have quite the same cachet as York but we do have a 13th century church just the other side of our garden hedge and we are way way cheaper than York LOL. And I have just checked that we do have a contact host button!