Security deposit problems

[alexia s.]

Newcomers to renting might liken to know how other owners handle security deposit problems.
Yesterday we had a group of 3 very young couples leave our property after one week of steady, torrential rain. Just before they left one of them dropped a bottle of red wine on the stairs, leaving red marks on the white walls & white stairs and a pervasive smell of wine everywhere..... as well as broken glass everywhere. This took several hours to treat & we will still have to repaint the walls at the end of the month. I think nobody who comes in September will mind the small marks that are still there but, obviously, this is not good enough long-term.
I could reasonably withold the money necessary to compensate for this (extra cleaning & painting), but I am not going to.
The numbers in occupation were not excessive; the guests themselves were delightful from start to finish; their week was spoiled by daily rain...... and they didn't complain.

In different circumstances, I wouldn't hesitate to charge for this kind of damage - I'm not responsable for other people's accidents - but everything about this group was positive.

[PeeJay]

This for me is one of the beauties of holiday home ownership. The right to be flexible and recognise the quality of the guests.
(or not has the case might be)
I think you have made the right choice and what goe around comes around IMHO.

[enid]

Thanks for pointing out the need to be flexible - after all it's no use us expecting understanding from our guests if we don't return it. I'm sorry they had a week of rain!