"Highly Irregular" Security Deposit Policy?

[linda que linda]

Unfortunately, in Mexico it is not uncommon that a renter shows up with many more people than he/she represented in the original request. This has happened to several friends, one who let her 2 bdrm condo out to a family of 4 and the following morning found 6 additional people had joined the party! We ask for a security deposit and have never had a complaint about doing so, nor have we been surprised with extra bodies.

[Mouse]

Yes, as in all walks of life it is dangerous to make sweeping statements and of course DD's suit some markets more than others.
Middle-class renters are not necessarily the same as a large group of 20 somethings letting their hair down.

Each to their own...and as I've said before if you take a DD it doesn't make you a bad 'owner' just as not taking one doesn't make you a good owner.

Mousie
x

[paolo]

Surely the contract is there to protect the guests too?

Yes, but if a security deposit is retained, and the renter does not agree, what can he do if, for example, the rental was in a different country? It is not worth the expense of taking legal action abroad for a relatively small sum.