Hi,
I have a city centre rental apartment and don't live on site. Guests left earlier than expected and left the front door open! So anyone with access to the apartment building could have entered the apartment. Some small, low value items are missing. The guests also washed (and shrunk) the bath towels, even though there are spare towels in the apartment. I've never had to deduct any money from a security deposit before, but feel that I should in this case to cover the cost of new towels. Is it worth it, given the risk of a bad review?
Deposit
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- Posts: 294
- Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2011 3:54 pm
Do you have adequate arrival and departure instructions clearly visable in your correspondence emails etc and a laminated copy within the apartment? Is there an alarm to set when the flat is left empty and do they get issued with the code? If these instructions were ignored then they are in breach of your t&c's regarding security, no reasonable person reading a review from careless people would take it seriously. As for the towels, if you have a washing machine the guests are likely to use it, do you have the instructions manual near the machine, or a simple set of laminated info regards wash cycles? Better to call your guests and get some idea of how they react to your questions before you proceed.
'Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside'
If you have very clear instructions that guests must not wash the bath towels (why not? Are they hired?), and you can prove that they did, then you have grounds for recovering part of the cost of the towels less wear and tear, if you think the total is more than you can write off as running expenses.
You can't realistically deduct from the security deposit for anything other than a financial loss, so you can't "fine" your guests for leaving the door open even if it was very clear that they must leave the place secure and it wasn't to be treated like a hotel room! If you can prove that items have have disappeared and are of sufficient value to be worth the effort, you might consider pursuing that - but be prepared for a fight.
Don't let your decisions be influenced by the possibility of irrelevant reviews.
You can't realistically deduct from the security deposit for anything other than a financial loss, so you can't "fine" your guests for leaving the door open even if it was very clear that they must leave the place secure and it wasn't to be treated like a hotel room! If you can prove that items have have disappeared and are of sufficient value to be worth the effort, you might consider pursuing that - but be prepared for a fight.
Don't let your decisions be influenced by the possibility of irrelevant reviews.