This couldn't be one of us?

[Margaret]

Email from a friend in Australia. I am sure it couldn't be one of us but it shows what we are up against, when owners like this exist!

"We’d pre-booked and paid for self-catering accommodation, which we found easily.
And then our troubles began.....
We were given 6 pages of close-typed A4 entitled ‘Terms and Conditions’, aka RULES WHICH MUST BE OBEYED. We quickly fell foul of this document particularly concerning keeping the place clean and tidy.
We were inspected twice a week. The second inspection we failed. There was a mark on the kettle and fridge door shelf. Yes she inspected inside all cupboards as well.... The floor was sticky and the place smelled ‘musty’. We were threatened a charge of $10 a day from then on if we strayed again. We spent each of the next 3 days doing a thorough clean (over an hour each day).
The third inspection (which we watched) we were found to have not cleaned the bath. Unbelievably, SHE had deliberately made the mess herself on the inspection....
She made up a new Rule: we were to be evicted because she didn’t get on with us. We were VERY happy to go as long as we had our money back for the last 5 days. We had another full inspection the morning we went to make sure we deserved the money’s return.
There were other issues as well. She was nuts. It caused us a great deal of stress.
We found a motel which was OK."

[Essar]

What's wrong with it? I'm trying to get to seven pages of rules for next year, ok my wifes a bit fussy, but it keeps her off my back; it's the compulsive disorder you see. She's just joined DNA (national dyslexia association), we're trying to get a name for her illness so we can add it to the cleaning tariff and charge bigger fines for messy guests with sticky floors.......

[la vache!]

I wonder if they get a lot of repeat or recommendation bookings

[CSE]

OH my what a terrible time.. Now this is where you need a review site!

[Jimbo]

The problem with a regular diet of horror stories on forums like LMH is that some owners feel compelled to add ever more restrictive and forbidding clauses to their T+Cs to 'protect' themselves from perceived dangers from rogue guests. Eventually (like in Margaret's post) they go mad. Unless you're trading at the rough house rosie end of the rental business, it's worth remembering that most (maybe all?) of your guests will prove to be honest and decent people who simply require a pleasant holiday in a congenial environment.

[cambalala]

Freeking insane!!!!

[e-richard]

I agree with Jimbo. Horror stories on LMH can make us paranoid.

There are two ways of looking at this:
One day, maybe, perhaps, we will each get that 1 in 100 guest party who are a disaster, and just for that one occasion you need a 22 page set of conditions that you can call upon to fight back with them.

OR

.. it's worth remembering that most (maybe all?) of your guests will prove to be honest and decent people who simply require a pleasant holiday in a congenial environment.

I rather live my life in the latter camp, and if we get one of the former, I'd just absorb it all, then forget it and get on with life.

[Topcat]

Something similar recently happened to friends of mine in a VERY expensive villa in South Africa. The owners would just let themselves in at any time. On the first morning, after long flights from the UK, the owners got them out of bed and told them they shouldn't be lying in bed. She also told them she expected them out of the property by 10am every day and not back before 4pm. They were paying a small fortune for this place as well.

TC

[Windy]

it's worth remembering that most (maybe all?) of your guests will prove to be honest and decent people who simply require a pleasant holiday in a congenial environment...

..

and who won't bother to read the Ts & Cs anyway

Ts & Cs , like all contracts, are there for when things go wrong not for the majority of cases where they go right. It's a pity life can't be arranged on a handshake, but that's the reality.

A story like that does make you wonder why some people go into this business though.

[Wendy@NorthIdaho]

Topcat, I hope your friends didn't "obey" these ridiculous "rules"... what did they do?

Wendy

[Topcat]

Wendy, I think they did to begin with and then gradually eased off a bit. It's quite difficult when someone is actually coming round and chivvying you. Apparently the villa was always beautifully cleaned and tidied for their return, but even so.
The thing is, this was their first time in rented accommodation. Normally they stay in hotels. The reason they mentioned it to me was because they were asking me if this was normal!

TC

[Wendy@NorthIdaho]

What a bad first experience, I can't even imagine bothering my guests with a visit (we live 3 hrs away)... unless they wanted us or our housekeeper to come by because of a problem.

I hope they try vacation rentals again someday, that certainly wasn't "normal" from my experience in staying in different places or what we do... can't imagine anyone here doing that either.

Wendy

[angela59]

The original post is totally in contrast to our experience renting in Ireland last year from Owners Direct. We booked a house which was in rural area in Achill west of Ireland. On arrival in the house got a stale smell of water, house seemed cold inside even though it was July. Opened the fridge to put away food which we brought with us - the fridge had not been cleaned down. I thought I better check the oven to see if that was clean - the grill tray was full of grease and the oven had not been cleaned out. Phoned the owner to say that I had to spend 1 hour cleaning the kitchen worktops over and fridge before I even unpacked - she said she'd refund me E40 for my trouble - I was ok with that. That evening I had a bath, after having bath pulled the plug noticed a bit of debris coming up from plug hole water wasn't going down, I thought I'll leave it, will eventually drain. We went out for about 3 hours came back - water still hadn't drained - my husband tried used plunger to plunge the bath - raw sewage came up through the bath, sinks and toilet. He didn't tell me then because it was 12 middnight. The beds had very cheap mattresses and hard to sleep, woke up the following morning about 8 am not having slept well - he announced we're moving and I said why and he explained about the sewage. We had my 84 year old mother and two kids age 10 and 12. I was out of the bed before you could say "Jack Flash". Went down to my mum's room and I noticed it was very cold - I told her we have to move - "Thank God" she said, "I nearly fell out of the bed 3 times last night the bed was so poor - you could feel the springs eating into your skin." We eventually did find another place after about an hour, had to repack and unload everything. My husband had texted the owners the previous night to say we were leaving, they said they would refund our money but no apology. In fact I had a nasty phonecall from the husband of the lady I booked with and he complained that he had lost a week's rent because of us and that there was major problem - he could have come and sorted out the problem that I created a storm in a tea cup. We did get back our money after a couple of weeks but never again will I use Owners Direct - there are no reviews and I didn't find them very helpful when I told them the fully story. We had a good holiday in another property but it was a holiday from hell to begin with.

Angela59

[Topcat]

I'm sorry you had such a dreadful experience, Angela. But I've rented our property through OD for five years and I'm sure there are plenty of other property owners on there as well who offer a great experience. I wouldn't blame OD. Though equally I can see why you were disappointed and feel a review system would have helped.

TC

[Hells Bells]

Something similar recently happened to friends of mine in a VERY expensive villa in South Africa. The owners would just let themselves in at any time. On the first morning, after long flights from the UK, the owners got them out of bed and told them they shouldn't be lying in bed. She also told them she expected them out of the property by 10am every day and not back before 4pm. They were paying a small fortune for this place as well.

TC

Let me know the villa by PM if you can. I'm looking at expensive villas in South Africa at the moment