Guests have disappeared

From the moment they step through the door your bookings become guests, and their experiences determine whether they ever come back.
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wallypott
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Guests have disappeared

Post by wallypott »

What do I do?

We have a 6 bedroom beach house in France and we had a nice long term let for 2 months - which should have finished on Easter day. The cleaner went round today to say that there are still 25 boxes stacked in the garage, plus a large locked chest freezer.

It was always a slightly off situation. They paid 25% up front in cash - and I had to chase hard for the rest but it was paid by bank transfer. They live in Guernsey and fly over to the local air field which is 3 kms away they said that they had brought a car over, although I've never seen it.

It was a very last minute booking and they never filled in the booking form despite my chasing them. And I'm afraid I rather gave up having got the money.

I have left 2 phone messages, a text and an email, but zero response. I've said that we have a new booking starting Saturday and that we need to get in the house by Friday to clean, and that their stuff needs to be gone by then.

I can find the guy on LinkedIn etc - and there is no scandal linked to him, but that doesn't really solve my issue!

Thanks for any advice.

(Apologies for my 2 year absence on the forum - my new business is all consuming!!)
Hells Bells
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Post by Hells Bells »

Welcome back, we are always here when anyone needs us.
Hells Bells
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Post by Hells Bells »

Can you not just do the cleaning in the rest of the house without disturbing their stuff in the garge as a temporary measure. If they do not respond soon then you need to look at other options. I hope they aren't in the locked freezer.
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wallypott
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Post by wallypott »

Thanks Helen, to be honest I haven't been giving the gîtes my all of late and they are just about washing their faces.
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wallypott
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Post by wallypott »

I also can't help but wonder what is in the freezer - i think you'd need to do some slicing and dicing to get a whole adult in there.
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

Welcome back Wallypott; that did make me laugh in a slightly hysterical manner! :wink:

It all sounds very iffy, but if they can't be contacted then clearly they have their own issues to solve that are more pressing than retrieving their possessions. As Helen has said if you can clear the stuff so that it's out the way, I'm sure there will be a legal path as to what to do with abandoned possessions.

PS I would get the freezer broken into pronto, that sounds so suspicious!
Last edited by Nemo on Tue Apr 07, 2015 8:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Joanna
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Post by Joanna »

Have they left any personal belongings in the house? And will the next guests be expecting to have use of the garage? Can the boxes be arranged so that there is still room for a car?

If you have to move the boxes to make room for the next guests then I suggest that you tell the outgoing guests that their stuff is going into storage and they will be able to collect the key from you. The storage will cost x per day/week plus your costs for moving the boxes, van hire and admin.

If you don't have to clear the boxes then just let the guests know that new guests are arriving on Friday and if they don't collect before then you can't be responsible for their belongings.

I would have thought that they wouldn't want strangers poking around in their stuff and would do something about it.

Unless - they don't want that stuff anymore. Is it possible they've been clearing a family house in the area ready for selling? We've just found a load of rubbish including curtains and a door mat that must have been left by the guests who stayed a few weeks ago whilst clearing out their mother's house and settling her into a care home. Have you checked to see what's in the boxes?
Jo

Joint owner of Baker's Cottage in Chester & Chandler's Cottage in Sidmouth
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Normandie
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Re: Guests have disappeared

Post by Normandie »

wallypott wrote:(Apologies for my 2 year absence on the forum - my new business is all consuming!!)
And very profitable, I hope.

Have nothing to suggest at all relating to the guests that hasn't been said. Perhaps they've had a family emergency and normal life has gone by the board. More likely they've just gone away for Easter, I suppose. :wink:

Is the house itself empty (of their stuff) and have they still got the keys?
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wallypott
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Post by wallypott »

Thanks Nemo and Joanna. We don't actually have another booking for a few weeks as I am going away on Saturday for 10 days and am in desperate need of a break, so in reality it's actually fine, but clearly they have the keys, and we can't really change the locks if we want them to get their blooming stuff.

I had a quick look in the top box a few weeks ago when I nipped in to sneak some of the fancy dress stuff out for my kids school mardi gras parade. They said they were only using it at weekends, so I was careful to make sure that I wasn't disturbing anyone when I went. It seemed ok, nothing seemed to have disappeared for the house but I was only downstairs.

The top box seemed to have those freezable shapes you but in drinks, so I assumed they were planning a party, but in view of the number of boxes it looks more like they are party planners!

If they won't respond to any communication what can I do? I can eventually remove it all and store it at home in the barn, but in far from ideal conditions. Or better still drop it all at the tip. I definitely dont have a large enough vehicle to do it in one trip.

Legally do I have to store it?
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wallypott
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Post by wallypott »

Hi Normandie
No profit in the business yet sadly, but lots of good food 8) so not a total loss!

Yes they have the keys, but I don't think there is much personal stuff in the house - but as yet I haven't had a chance to have a good nose through it.
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Post by Joanna »

If their booking has ended then they don't have any rights to enter the property. Can you change the locks to the house whilst leaving the garage accessible? Or is there anywhere else you could leave their stuff that they could access without getting into the house?

And we really need to know what's in that freezer. The speculation is driving us crazy.
Jo

Joint owner of Baker's Cottage in Chester & Chandler's Cottage in Sidmouth
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wallypott
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Post by wallypott »

Joanna does that mean the locked freezer is now mine to crack open as I want?
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Post by Joanna »

Sorry - missed the bit about storing it in your barn. How about telling them by email and phone that if they haven't collected by a certain date you're going to store it for them at a rate of x/day (check what the going rate for storage is so it's realistic). And for a maximum number of days/weeks. Include a cost for the number of car journeys or van hire too.

Mention that as you don't have dedicated storage facilities the freezer will have to be turned off and you can't guarantee that the boxes will stay dry.

I would have thought that as long as the costs and timescales are reasonable there won't be a problem if they don't collect and you then dump their stuff.

I'm guessing that there's no damage deposit to hold onto until it's sorted?
Jo

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wallypott
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Post by wallypott »

Yes sadly no damage deposit.
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Post by Joanna »

Crossed posts! I don't know about the legal side of breaking into the freezer. But then would they know it was you? It could have been the next guests...
Jo

Joint owner of Baker's Cottage in Chester & Chandler's Cottage in Sidmouth
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