"Highly Irregular" Security Deposit Policy?

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Maurmc
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"Highly Irregular" Security Deposit Policy?

Post by Maurmc »

Our security deposit policy states:
€100 security deposit on booking, refunded on your return home (subject to satisfactory property inspection & return of keys).

We have this on listing sites and email contact when enquiries are made.

Our current (and rather difficult) guest has described this as "highly irregular". I am highly annoyed :evil: (he hasn't paid it, by the way, but that's a whole different story...)

Just wondering are we unusual?
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Ju
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Post by Ju »

I think it is unusal to pay the seurity deposit on booking. After all if you book 6 months in advance the owner would have your money in their bank account for 6 months.

I think 2 weeks before arrival is more usual.
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Maurmc
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Post by Maurmc »

That's a fair point, Ju. However, his issue was with the refund on his return home. He wanted payment on his departure.

My annoyance was with his use of "highly irregular", although I admit to having blurred vision with this guest because of various issues outlined in another post!
If you always do what you've always done then you'll always get what you've always got.

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Marks
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Post by Marks »

I take the security deposit with the balance payment 6 weeks before arrival. It is then refunded by bank transfer within 7 days of the guest's return home, though usually it is done within 24 hours of departure.

I have recently booked an apartment in London and paid a £250 security deposit 4 weeks before arrival and with an apartment I booked last year in Spain I paid a £150 security deposit with the balance payment 8 weeks before arrival.

I don't think it is unusual to pay the security deposit with the balance.
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Mouse
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Post by Mouse »

I don't think it is highly irregular in my experience...I think it's just another crack at trying to undermine you.

Sometimes you have to say to customers 'I'm never going to please you however I would never mislead you' and you haven't.

Guests have their chance before booking to query anything they're unhappy with.

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Maurmc
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Post by Maurmc »

Mouse wrote: Guests have their chance before booking to query anything they're unhappy with.
I said as much in my email reply. I also told him that I had been "flexible and amenable in my dealings with you. In this spirit, I will do as you suggest and will ask (property manager) to do an inventory check on Monday". I refrained from pointing out how dishonest they have been in their dealings with me etc etc... :evil: :wink:
If you always do what you've always done then you'll always get what you've always got.

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kitkat
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Post by kitkat »

Probably too much hassle for most but we now offer 3 different options of paying our Refundable Security Bond which is £200 or €200 (makes it easier)...
1. With the balance (12 wks before)
2. 2 Weeks before arrival.
3. Cash on arrival
Tried and tested different times to ask for payment and this works for us (up till now - nothing's set in stone in this business). Options 1 and 2 have to be paid directly by internet bank transfer (either sterling or euros) but if they opt for option 3 we insist on it being cash (in euros). Whichever way they pay we only refund via internet bank transfer within 7 days but 99% of the time it's within 24 hours. Only ever had 1 instance where a potential client queried the request for a Refundable Security Bond at all. We politely told him that was our policy and diplomatically suggested he finds alternative accommodation if it didn't suit. I remember he even told me he had rental property himself and he never requests it or had ever heard of it... whatever???
Oh and the idea behind the request of 12 wks for balance payment was because we tried it at 6 and 8 weeks but when folks were late payers it caused a lot of stress. This way it removed a lot of stress from myself and the guest if they're late paying. Funnily enough we've never had any one question this.
Do you think you can be in this business too long??? :wink:
la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

Or just don't take a security deposit :idea:
kitkat
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Post by kitkat »

Personally I'd love not to take the deposit and have considered it. I think in the 6 years we've been renting we've only ever retained about £50. Troublesome though it is I'm absolutely convinced that it act's as a detterent so will keep charging it for now.
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Post by Hells Bells »

LV, I think this is easer for you to do is you are on site, and can confront the guest regarding any damage. But sometimes it is not always possible for managers to be there on departure. For instance, some of my guests need to leave at 6am for a morning flight home. M calls the previous evening instead, so any major damage would be immediately obvious,
but doesn't do the inventory check until around 10am.
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Post by harcourtv57 »

Sorry you are having this hassle Maurmc - we do the same as Marks. Occasionally we have guests asking for the deposit back before they leave but we explain its not possible - we do now take it as a separate amount using Paypal and then refund that way with no charges.

Only once have we had anyone query the SD - in fact they were very rude and refused to book because of it, but my view is that if someone refuses to pay a returnable sum of money as a guarantee, then I don't want them staying in my property!

In our very early (and very green) days, we once gave a guest the SD back in cash without inspecting the property - and then found they had left in in an undescribable state and in fact had stolen a quilt and some pillows!!
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Ju
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Post by Ju »

I agree one week after the end of the holiday is normal.

Like LV we don't take a deposit. The only major piece of damage we have ever had was this winter, we discovered after the guests had left that they had caused 450€ worth of damage.

We contacted them, very politely asking that they pay for the damage, and they did :D .

When we had a SD nobody told us if they had broken glasses or plates, now people let us know how many and offer to pay for them.
Musetta
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Post by Musetta »

nope. note irregular. I take it upon booking for both houses and no one has questioned it.

I say in my paypal money request: "DAMAGE/RESERVATION DEPOSIT- This deposit automatically converts to a security/damage deposit upon arrival. The deposit is not applied toward rent; however, it is fully refundable within 14 days of departure, provided the provisions listed in our "Terms and Conditions" are met. Thank You."

It is what I use to confirm the reservation and secure the booking.
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Post by limousin-cottage »

Some friends of ours had guests wanting to leave extremely early in the morning, and asked if the gite could be checked the evening before, and the security deposit refunded, which they agreed to. It wasn't until after the guests had left and they went to clean that they found a cigarette burn in an expensive sofa. :( Since then, they have always insisted on paying the deposit back after a thorough check has been made. The cigarette burn was in the worst possible spot - and the guests had hidden it with a cushion when our friends checked the gite. I now make a point of closely scrutinising my sofabed every departure!
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Post by la vache! »

I would be pretty annoyed if I had to pay a security deposit at the time of booking. At the time of balance payment, fair enough, but if people book a year in advance I can't see the justification in the owner taking it so early.
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