Disasterous holiday

Clueless1_2

Hello everyone
Just wondering if anyone can offer me any advice. Have just returned from a fairly disasterous holiday, we rented a villa, via an owners rental website but paid by cheque in pounds direct to the owner in UK (villa was in America)

On arrival we found that it was unsafe - our baby could fit through the gaps at the top of the stairs leading to a 5ft drop onto tiled floors, treads were loose etc etc lots of problems, furthermore it hadn't been cleaned - dirty dishes in dishwasher and hairs in the bed that weren't ours (eugh!!).
Owner told me my standards were too high and he hadn't had any complaints before.

Could anyone tell me where I stand, we had to leave and book another villa, didn't even stay one night. Am I covered under sale of goods act or supply of goods and services act? if so, does anyone know what I would need to quote, the owner is not budging on compensation!

Would be really grateful for any advice on this one.

Equaliser123

Clueless1 wrote: »

Hello everyone
Just wondering if anyone can offer me any advice. Have just returned from a fairly disasterous holiday, we rented a villa, via an owners rental website but paid by cheque in pounds direct to the owner in UK (villa was in America)

On arrival we found that it was unsafe - our baby could fit through the gaps at the top of the stairs leading to a 5ft drop onto tiled floors, treads were loose etc etc lots of problems, furthermore it hadn't been cleaned - dirty dishes in dishwasher and hairs in the bed that weren't ours (eugh!!).
Owner told me my standards were too high and he hadn't had any complaints before.

Could anyone tell me where I stand, we had to leave and book another villa, didn't even stay one night. Am I covered under sale of goods act or supply of goods and services act? if so, does anyone know what I would need to quote, the owner is not budging on compensation!

Would be really grateful for any advice on this one.

Where do you stand?

DId you really leave the villa because your baby MIGHT have fallen? Good on you for noticing a potential danger, but I wonder if you are actually using this in furtherance of your claim for compensation.

What are you hoping for?

Clueless1_2

Thanks for coming back to this so quickly - I've probably not explained myself very well judging by both of these comments. I'm not after compensation, just my money back.

The property had not been cleaned properly for several months, I like anyone can stand a certain amount of problems in a rented property but when the bathrooms haven't been cleaned for a long time, the furniture is broken, there are empty glass bottles lying around and it looks like it's been trashed it's going a bit far, the pool area couldn't be used, my 2 year old's feet were black from the floor and the bedding had been thrown into cupboards unwashed!. The owner did suggest getting a cleaner in the next day! but only for an hour or so as he disagreed about the problems there. The property needed a team of cleaners for a couple of days - the managing agent has since advised us that the owner was asked to do a 'deep clean' in the fall but this never happened and that the property wasn't up to scratch. Their cleaner has also been sacked since for not going to clean it at all - hence the unmade beds and dirty dishes.

I would not have moved and booked another villa at an additional cost to us if I hadn't felt it neccessary as there was no guarantee of us getting any money back at the time. As a young family this was a huge expense to us but something we felt that we had to do in order to enjoy our holiday, we spent 2 hours on the phone to the owner who was reluctant to admit that anything was wrong with the property.

The safety issue is secondary but nontheless still an issue which helped us reach the decision of moving.

As stated before - I would just like my money back for something that we booked that wasn't up a standard you would expect.

Oldernotwiser

Did you take photographs to prove what state the property was in?

Clueless1_2

I did - we have quite a few of different problems etc.

If_it_can_go_wrong

Equaliser123 wrote: »

Where do you stand?

DId you really leave the villa because your baby MIGHT have fallen? Good on you for noticing a potential danger, but I wonder if you are actually using this in furtherance of your claim for compensation.

What are you hoping for?

Yes better to wait until your child has fallen and then do something hey? Think about what you are saying and try to be constructive.

Clueless1_2

Can I say on that one - he's just at the point where he's pulling himself up and his whole body fitted through the gaps on the ballustrade of a galleried landing (hence the big drop) furthermore, the ballustrade was held on by one screw - if an adult had leaned on it or fell against it, it would have collapsed!

Foggster

You will probably be asked for more information before someone can help you further.

What were the terms and conditions of the booking? You mention a Letting agent, besides telling you there was a known problem with the property what help have they given you? If they are taking a cut from the deal then surely they must have T&Cs and a duty of care to you?

Clueless1_2

there weren't really any terms other than it asking us to clean linens etc at the end of our stay and we paid a seperate cleaning charge which seems strange.

Our paperwork told us to go to the managing agent (down the road from villa) if there were any problems which we did straight away but we were told that because we paid direct our contract was with the owner and it was nothing to do with them. We asked if they could put us somewhere else whilst it was sorted out but they told us that they couldn't as they would be out of pocket. it since turns out that their cleaner was fired as the villa owner pays them a set amount to give out keys and to clean the property which didn't happen.

Any ideas who I could go to for further advice?

Foggster

How much did you pay? Is it worth looking into the possibility of a small claims court? I would put in writing the key points to the owner and send the photographs to them. I personally think you should keep to the facts as opposed to the "could have happened". Say you will be looking to take it further and give time for the owner to respond.

I am sure someone with more legal knowledge will be able to advise to whether this could be considered in a small claims court.

Equaliser123

If_it_can_go_wrong wrote: »

Yes better to wait until your child has fallen and then do something hey? Think about what you are saying and try to be constructive.

Errrr. Did I say that? No. So don't make yourself look exceptionally daft by creating things.

My point was in relation to the OP who said that he noticed something which sounds easily rectified. I queried whether the OP is trying to justify the decision to move out retrospectively.

Rather than criticise, why not actually post something constructive yourself....?