booked apartment for holiday - owner has now sold it

melb

hi there - as above what is the situation if you book an apartment and then you can't stay there as it is being sold and the new owners apparently want to stay there themselves (sale not completed yet as far as can make out). We got the rental at a good price - not by knocking them down but booking at the price they said. now we have to find accommodation for 4 nights in august in popular area of spain and all that is left is expensive and also very few want to take a booking of 4 nights at the peak of the season. how do we stand? we have only paid a small deposit which they will return but we booked our flights on the basis of this accommodation after a booking of 5 nights in another apartment.

Bob_the_Saver

Sorry, but afraid best thing is to just find an alternative, be a bit
crowded with the new owners and not worth the hassle to chase
the sellers.

One of those things, just go and kick the c@t - realistically what can you do?

PS. If you PM me their address I'll send a mate around!

headpin

If they are UK based then you could Sue for the difference in cost of finding reasonable and alternative accommodation. If they are based abroad, then probably not worth the bother.

Of course if over £100 paid on CC then you can chase the card issuer if the original owners do not stump up the difference.

jackieblack

melb wrote: »

how do we stand? we have only paid a small deposit which they will return but we booked our flights on the basis of this accommodation after a booking of 5 nights in another apartment.

Unless your contract with the apartment owners specifies what would happen in the event they sell then you've no recourse.
Unfortunately, this is one of the risks when DIYing a holiday.

mcfisco

Best bet may be to try and increase the 5 night stay at the other place if a 4 night booking is difficult.
There's no point getting worked up and stressed about the situation, the chances of changing it are slim, try to make the best of the situation as it is and enjoy your holiday.

melb

thanks for all replies. Our first accommodation was only available for 5 nights so cannot extend there. I made sure the 2 lots of accommodation were available and reserved them before booking flights. this made for a very cheap holiday. I think I will ask them to pay the difference between what I would have been paying them and what I will now have to pay for similar accommodation elsewhere. After all they will have the proceeds of the sale from which to contribute.

jackieblack

You can ask........ but they're not obliged to acquiesce to your request.

melb

don't we have a contract with them? We haven't signed anything - only paid the deposit. Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased for them that they've sold in this current climate and they won't want to jeopardise their sale but I would have chosen different flight dates and not left myself with 4 nights without accommodation if I hadn't already reserved this place.

mcfisco

melb wrote: »

don't we have a contract with them?

Probably, but how are you going to realistically enforce it?

Obviously_the_best

What dates and area do you need accommodation for?

melb

thanks all have managed to get somewhere. Not that much more than original booking so that's a relief