cancelled french villa - owner threatening legal action

daveshipway

Hi there,

I wonder if anyone can advise me.

A few months back myself and my wife booked a villa in the south of France for 8 days in the middle of July. We paid 480 euros deposit at the time of booking, with a further 720 euros to pay on arrival. The owner e-mailed my wife a contract which she signed and sent back.

However, sadly this week we have heard that my mum has terminal cancer and has been given about 3 months to live. Obviously we are completely distraught and there is no way we want to go on the trip as we want to spend as much time with my mum as possible.

Anyway we contacted the villa owner yesterday to let him know the situation. We apologised and said that he should keep the 480 euro deposit and thought that he would be fine with that. However he has now come back and said that we owe him the 720 euros and if we don't send it through in the next 48 hours he will be contacting his solicitors.

I have to say I am gobsmacked by his attitude. We explained that we thought that was the whole point in paying a deposit, which we understand we have forfitted, but he is not having any of it. We really don't want to have to pay him the balance - not only is this a very traumatic time for us, but it is also very expensive as we are travelling back and forth between Oxfordshire and Dorset every few days.

Below are extracts of the booking details he sent through at the time of the deposit. I would like to know if this is legally binding and how it works given that he is in France and we are in the UK. n.b. There were no clauses about cancellation in the contract.

Many thanks in advance.

Dave,
Oxford. Uk

LEASE VACANCY
Act No. 89-462 of 6 July 1989
Amended by the Act of 21 July 1994, 13 December 2000
BETWEEN THE UNDERSIGNED
LANDLORD:
<landlords details>
CI REFERRED TO AS
AND TENANT
<our details>
agreed as follows, the landlord renting premises and equipment following
designated, the tenant agrees to the following conditions:
PRODUCT: VILLA HOLIDAY
Furnished and equipped:
<details of villa>

This contract is extended for a period of 8 days beginning on Friday 12
July 2013 A 00 18H and ending Saturday, July 20 At 4:00 p.m..
SPECIAL CONDITIONS
Rents and charges:
The rent is payable before entering the premises to the lessor or his home agent.
The amount of the initial rent is fixed at € 1.200 € (TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND EUROS)
A deposit of 480 euros or 40% of the initial rent was paid by PAYPAL May 10, 2013;
It remains to set the day of arrival the sum of € 720 (SEVEN HUNDRED TWENTY EUROS)
Done at <location of villa> 10 MAI 2013
In two originals, one for each signatory
LANDLORD TENANT

mcfisco

€ 1.200 € (TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND EUROS)

Is that your typo or theirs?

Anyway, travel insurance?

Bob_the_Saver

Very sorry to hear about the reason, but with 3 weeks to go it's too late to re-let so there is no reason for the person you entered into a contract with to lose all that money. Can't you claim on your travel insurance?

As you say, There were no clauses about cancellation in the contract
so it's can't be cancelled. There is no reason a cross border contract cannot be enforced.


So the money is owed. Sorry if it's not what you wanted to hear but the villa owner shouldn't lose this money in peak season. The holiday rental market in France is suffering badly so for this amount they will probably chase it and their costs.

photome

I think you owe the money with it being so close and then claim it back on your travel insurance.

that way neither of you lose out

Delree

Sod the owner, let him take legal action, he will get nowhere, that's what deposits are for and you clearly understand that, shame he doesn't.
You have far bigger things to concentrate on without this cretin.

Funky_Bold_Ribena

mcfisco wrote: »

Is that your typo or theirs?

Anyway, travel insurance?

That's not a typo, that's two hundred plus one thousand euro. Aka €1200

Dunroamin

A claim on your travel insurance is definitely the way to go, that's why you take it out. Your personal problems are of no interest to someone you have a contract with, I'm afraid.

Delree

No, let the owner claim on his insurance.

mcfisco

Funky_Bold_Ribena wrote: »

That's not a typo, that's two hundred plus one thousand euro. Aka €1200

That's a bizarre way to express 'one thousand two hundred' (1,200)

"TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND EUROS" is €200,000

Bob_the_Saver

Delree wrote: »

No, let the owner claim on his insurance.

and let the insurers chase you for the money plus their costs!

Delree

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

and let the insurers chase you for the money plus their costs!

What are they going to do, issue a European Arrest Warrant? Send Interpol to get you, or the CIA to rendition you? Come on be serious, there's sod all this bloke can do so let him waste his money on a fruitless legal bid.