In over 10 years of renting, I have found that the only people who insist on going around the property with me before they leave are those who have caused damage - & if I find the damage in their presence, they deny it. It is impossible to know if all the electrical equipment works before it has been used, so I never commit myself to a statement of satisfaction before at least a few days. By then, the washing & dishwashing machines & all the other plumbing will have been used, and any serious problem will have been reported by the following guests. I never go around the property with the departing visitor: if they ask me to, I say that I presume that if something had been broken then they would have reported it to me. If pressed (bad sign), I explain that a cursory examination of 10 minutes wouldn't necessarily show everything anyway.
I've probably already told you about the group we had last year who broke the door of the oven: they included a professor of medecine, a QC, a publisher...... and the ones I spoke to denied that it had been them. I had no alternative but to retain their full security deposit: this is the only time I have had to do this.
If you don't ask for a sec deposit you are being unprofessional (unless, of course, you know the people): unlike a hotel (which will debit your credit card), you have no redress if your visitors damage your property.
In another post Brooke suggested that anyone cancelling a sec dep cheque would have charges to pay: unless banks have changed their practices, this is not the case in the UK. (In France, it would be illegal to cancel a cheque in the absence of theft or loss.)
Thomas, do you wait until a month before arrival for payment of just the sec dep or of the rent itself? If the latter, you are exposing yourself to late cancellations and unfilled weeks. The normal practice with UK owners is to require payment of the rent 6 - 8 weeks before arrival. Don't dread asking for the sec dep: everyone asks for this & you can always explain that it is essentially a psychological ploy, which makes people more careful when they are staying in your property.
worse than I thought!
Thomas,
Just a small point:
Recently I reminded someone it was time to send the final payment and they said their circumstances had changed and they wouldn't be coming after all. They hadn't thought to tell me and I was glad of the 6 weeks I had to re-book.
Just a small point:
I think you are leaving yourself open to disappointment if you only ask for the balance one month ahead. If someone does cancel a month ahead you are limiting your chances of finding a replacement. I would go for 6 or 8 weeks ahead, as these are accepted norms.But I do insist when I take payment (a month before arrival)
Recently I reminded someone it was time to send the final payment and they said their circumstances had changed and they wouldn't be coming after all. They hadn't thought to tell me and I was glad of the 6 weeks I had to re-book.
Paolo
Lay My Hat
Lay My Hat
Hi Folks, thanks for your advice - I am changing my practice immediately! I am not trying to shift the blame, but my decision to go for 25% to secure balance and balance a month before I copied from a few websites. But I shall change..... fortunately - touch wood - I have not yet had a problem along these lines. But I dont want to be in the situation Paolo or Alexia describes. Again thanks - good of you all to point that out.
The issue of the security deposit and how effective it is has always worried me. After I signed off last nite I could not stop thinking about Tansy's experience. I remebered someone (who has a Gite in Bayeaux area) telling me you can never always tell who is going to be good or bad - this was in response to my saying no to cheap deals on the basis cheap deals attract the wrong sort of people. I was told of how people who one would think better of would rip the place off. So just what Alexia added.
So if, as we all seem to agree, there is no real point in doing a final inspection before the guests depart, how do we handle the return of the deposit? I take cash as a security deposit, mainly because for me a UK (most but not all my guests are from UK) cheque would be difficult - they could cancel it long before I could get it cashed. Alexia, how do you handle this? Do you send it back to them three days later?
I feel, based on my limited experience, there is little point in taking a security deposit unless I am going to check the place out before it is returned to them - and by check it out I mean an effective check not a 15 minutes, last-minute inspection. IF I take the money, and then when they leave I ask if anything is wrong and they say no and I give the money back (as I do), surely I am asking for trouble???? Sooner or later I am going to come across a rotten apple. But I am sure people will not be happy if I retain their deposit (even if I find someway of returning it to them - leave that bit aside for now). I say I am sure, but I am not sure - I worry they will not be happy about it. Tough, is the response I get back from my partner!
Oh what a minefield - but as ever am grateful for the discussion and advice!
A sad aside: I was called in by someone in the commune this morning to help with translating a contract (for email/internet work from home) in English by an American company looking for people in France. The vaguest of contracts - no inclination of the nature of the work or what it supposedly sold. But one sentence worried me - in order to work for them you had to open a bank account, accept money (into this bank account- in your name of course), and then transfer it to somewhere else!!! Dodgy or what. Going to the company website produced untold misery with all sorts of viruses.
The issue of the security deposit and how effective it is has always worried me. After I signed off last nite I could not stop thinking about Tansy's experience. I remebered someone (who has a Gite in Bayeaux area) telling me you can never always tell who is going to be good or bad - this was in response to my saying no to cheap deals on the basis cheap deals attract the wrong sort of people. I was told of how people who one would think better of would rip the place off. So just what Alexia added.
So if, as we all seem to agree, there is no real point in doing a final inspection before the guests depart, how do we handle the return of the deposit? I take cash as a security deposit, mainly because for me a UK (most but not all my guests are from UK) cheque would be difficult - they could cancel it long before I could get it cashed. Alexia, how do you handle this? Do you send it back to them three days later?
I feel, based on my limited experience, there is little point in taking a security deposit unless I am going to check the place out before it is returned to them - and by check it out I mean an effective check not a 15 minutes, last-minute inspection. IF I take the money, and then when they leave I ask if anything is wrong and they say no and I give the money back (as I do), surely I am asking for trouble???? Sooner or later I am going to come across a rotten apple. But I am sure people will not be happy if I retain their deposit (even if I find someway of returning it to them - leave that bit aside for now). I say I am sure, but I am not sure - I worry they will not be happy about it. Tough, is the response I get back from my partner!
Oh what a minefield - but as ever am grateful for the discussion and advice!
A sad aside: I was called in by someone in the commune this morning to help with translating a contract (for email/internet work from home) in English by an American company looking for people in France. The vaguest of contracts - no inclination of the nature of the work or what it supposedly sold. But one sentence worried me - in order to work for them you had to open a bank account, accept money (into this bank account- in your name of course), and then transfer it to somewhere else!!! Dodgy or what. Going to the company website produced untold misery with all sorts of viruses.
Ah, so it's only U.S. banks that charge you $10-20 for cancelling a check? How nice.alexia s. wrote:In another post Brooke suggested that anyone cancelling a sec dep cheque would have charges to pay: unless banks have changed their practices, this is not the case in the UK.
Just adds to my general love of banking fees!Since we live off-site, we have to rely on our housekeeper (and later tenants) to let us know about damages. We are not that happy with our housekeeper right now, and are changing to a new one starting in August -- this is partly because she doesn't communicate a lot of things to us. So we may have had a hellish tenant and never known about it!
Brooke
Thomas said" So if, as we all seem to agree, there is no real point in doing a final inspection before the guests depart, how do we handle the return of the deposit? I take cash as a security deposit, "
I ask for the security deposit at the same time as the balance, ie 8 weeks before the holiday.I repay the cheque within 2 weeks of them vacating the property! Easy peasy!
www.thepetitmanoir
I ask for the security deposit at the same time as the balance, ie 8 weeks before the holiday.I repay the cheque within 2 weeks of them vacating the property! Easy peasy!
www.thepetitmanoir
-
Linda Freese
- Posts: 175
- Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2004 9:00 am
- Location: Costa del Sol
Hi Tansy
I sympathise with you completely, as I have had a deposit cheque cancelled on me too.
There is a thread somewhere regarding what to do regarding ensuring that a cheque won´t bounce or be cancelled. I now take cheques only with a guarantee card which I check on their arrival. Otherwise they pay me in cash for the security deposit, which I return to them after I have inspected the property on their departure.
So far, so good...
Good luck
Linda
I sympathise with you completely, as I have had a deposit cheque cancelled on me too.
There is a thread somewhere regarding what to do regarding ensuring that a cheque won´t bounce or be cancelled. I now take cheques only with a guarantee card which I check on their arrival. Otherwise they pay me in cash for the security deposit, which I return to them after I have inspected the property on their departure.
So far, so good...
Good luck
Linda
I have always done 25% to secure the booking - I do not count it as confirmed and take it off the availability chart until I have the deposit....this is non refundable.
The balance is due 30 days prior - if they change their minds or something happens they can't come, if I can resell the week I will re-imburse but if I can't the balance is still due.
It's only been once I have someone cancel - her husband got a job offer in the States - but had to take up the position immediately...I knew something was odd because she was so vague about arrival times and about paying the balance...then it came out that he had been in the States for an interview - the job offer was through so they weren't coming on holiday in 3 weeks time...but in fairness they did pay up when I pushed them...
Re deposits - I think I am now going to have to open a Paypal account and take a deposit on a credit card...same way as car rentals,hotels do...is this easiest way? This business of cheques is just a nonsense...they can cancel it ...unless of course it's a stolen credit card of course
The balance is due 30 days prior - if they change their minds or something happens they can't come, if I can resell the week I will re-imburse but if I can't the balance is still due.
It's only been once I have someone cancel - her husband got a job offer in the States - but had to take up the position immediately...I knew something was odd because she was so vague about arrival times and about paying the balance...then it came out that he had been in the States for an interview - the job offer was through so they weren't coming on holiday in 3 weeks time...but in fairness they did pay up when I pushed them...
Re deposits - I think I am now going to have to open a Paypal account and take a deposit on a credit card...same way as car rentals,hotels do...is this easiest way? This business of cheques is just a nonsense...they can cancel it ...unless of course it's a stolen credit card of course
Nearly all of our deposits are by PayPal, and it works brilliantly, especially with the refund option (that refunds the fees as well).
You can link PayPal to your bank account, so that if you wanted to you could bank the deposit well ahead of time, then bring cash to the inspection to return to a client.
But we've never had a problem returning the deposit within two weeks of the client's end of stay, and using PayPal to do so.
You can link PayPal to your bank account, so that if you wanted to you could bank the deposit well ahead of time, then bring cash to the inspection to return to a client.
But we've never had a problem returning the deposit within two weeks of the client's end of stay, and using PayPal to do so.
Brooke
Thomas,
I get visitors to pay by SWIFT, which goes directly into my account, or by bank draft (AKA cashier's draft in the US, I think), where the payment is guaranteed by the issuing bank. I don't, by the way, repay the sec dep because somebody says they have not broken anything: they might not know what a child or another adult has broken.
If they are returning visitors I don't usually ask for a sec dep - I have never been disapointed this way and it is nicer for them.
I get visitors to pay by SWIFT, which goes directly into my account, or by bank draft (AKA cashier's draft in the US, I think), where the payment is guaranteed by the issuing bank. I don't, by the way, repay the sec dep because somebody says they have not broken anything: they might not know what a child or another adult has broken.
If they are returning visitors I don't usually ask for a sec dep - I have never been disapointed this way and it is nicer for them.
Best,
Alexia.
Alexia.
Alexia,
I have always done the same as Tansy and not cashed the security deposit. I have never had any major breakages (glasses, plates etc are part of wear and tear, extra cleaning is annoying not that frequent).
However, looking at your comments, I will start doing so in future, but I wanted to ask a couple of questions - firstly have any guests ever disputed the non refund of their sec deposit and secondly, have you had any repeat visits from any guests who have not had all the deposit returned? Although maybe you wouldn't want them back anyway??
Susan
I have always done the same as Tansy and not cashed the security deposit. I have never had any major breakages (glasses, plates etc are part of wear and tear, extra cleaning is annoying not that frequent).
However, looking at your comments, I will start doing so in future, but I wanted to ask a couple of questions - firstly have any guests ever disputed the non refund of their sec deposit and secondly, have you had any repeat visits from any guests who have not had all the deposit returned? Although maybe you wouldn't want them back anyway??
Susan
I also bank the money. I think people knowing there is chance that they will not get all of it back makes them more careful. I also offer the option to replace locally if they prefer for small breakages. So far I have refunded in full all security deposits. I think most guests know there will be a security deposit and accept it readily. We had one family who were a bit accident prone and broke a few things but I still refunded in full even though they thought I would keep some back. The reason for this is they sent me a cd of photos of the area that now make up a large majority of my website. There were some beautiful photos so more than payment in kind I thought.
Always Learning