Advice about private villa rental please.

hillcats

I would appreciate your advice / criticism about a situation I have recently put myself in although I must point out it was unintentional.

Having browsed around the net for a private villa to rent in Orlando I found one that was liked and made contact with the named person on the advert to confirm availability dates etc.

Everything seemed to be going well to the point that dates were agreed and I had posted my deposit off to the named person on the advert, whilst waiting for a confirmation of receipt I was again searching the net and found some sites that mentioned the pitfalls and perils of private renting and that the consumer has no protection IF it was a scam and the villa never actually was, this started me thinking for the worse case situation, arrived and tired and no accommodation is not good and already paid out loads of money etc and then need to find and pay out again.

I noticed it was suggested that the consumer could ask to see a utility bill or maybe have details of previous persons who have rented to make contact to confirm details, so this is what I did.
I certainly never expected the response I got because I had asked the person to provide some confirmation on the villa to make me feel more relaxed about it, I was met with a "don't bother then attitude" .

This is a great shame (I must admit, as the pictures were certainly nice, no arguments there) but was I really SO WRONG to ask for confirmation of ownership / previous users before I parted with the full amount of hire monies to a person I don't know from Adam?

Any suggestions how to confirm a villa / owner as genuine without offending the person the other end?

Thanks.

Lindalou

I usually book through a well known site, such as Holiday Lettings, Owners Direct or Villa Renters.

wooliewoo

We rented a private villa last year but it was owned by some people who lived local. We were given lots of paperwork about the villa and management team responsable for it.
We had no issues at all with the villa but if the people who owned it werent known to us im sure i would of stuck to a villa hire company

hartcjhart

no you were not wrong to try and safeguard your money, and if that is their attitude in reply then best leave alone,

what would they be like if there was a problem at the villa

hillcats

Thanks to all for your replies - much appreciated.

martinthebandit

Sounds to me that you had a lucky escape because there is only one reason I can think of that would stop the villa owners providing you the info you wanted

victor2

You could ask who their management company in Orlando is, assuming you haven't got any other references to it. There must be somebody local to take care of cleaning etc. after guests have been. You should have a local contact number there in case of any problem anyway. Then call the contact in Orlando (you can call the US for 1p a minute) and see what they say. Watch out for the time difference though!

We used to own a villa in Orlando which we rented out. Our local management people were always available in case of problems. If asked we would gladly give details of previous customers who were happy to provide a reference, although you could easily cheat on that if you felt the need to.

hillcats

martinthebandit wrote: »

Sounds to me that you had a lucky escape because there is only one reason I can think of that would stop the villa owners providing you the info you wanted

Indeed, but I just dont know anymore. It doesnt matter anyway as they have declined to accept my booking after an exchange of emails and will be returning my (already stopped) cheque.

victor2 wrote: »

You could ask who their management company in Orlando is, assuming you haven't got any other references to it. There must be somebody local to take care of cleaning etc.

They were not too keen on giving that info either for some reason.

victor2

We used to advertise on http://www.lastminutevillas.net/. Got hundreds of enquiries and very few bookings through it, but from a customer's perspective, it gives you a good idea what is available and at what price.
You can browse without sending an email enquiry off, but be prepared to be inundated with offers if you do!

thumperrabbit

You can also confirm their ownership on the relevant county websites to ensure their taxes are paid to date, assuming you have the address of the villa. You will need to know which county the villa is in, e.g osceola, Polk, Orange etc.

Hope this helps.

mchale

Have a look on laymyhat.com, some advice given there