Florida Villa Security deposit not returned

fluffyblonde_2

Hi I'm new to this forum, and was just wondering if any of you would have any advice regarding this situation. Apologies in advance as this will probably be quite long.

My family went on a trip to Florida last year staying at a villa booked directly with the owner we paid the rental amount plus a security deposit of £300 paid by cheque which was to be returned after the holiday. Had a great holiday but after not receiving our cheque back a month on and no contact from the owner we sent an email to ask if there was any problem, we received no reply. After 2 weeks of trying to contact him we finally managed to get a hold of the owner by phone and he informed us that we would not get our deposit back as the carpet was damaged the wardrobe of one of the bedrooms, we told him that was something we were not aware of but could he send us some pictures of the damage or receipts for the replacement carpet as we felt £300 was pretty expensive to recarpet a walk-in wardrobe. The owner couldn't provide us with any evidence but offered us £100 back 'full and final' which we have declined.

We have been trying to negotiate with him now for 9 months with no conclusion to this, so we feel we have no choice but to proceed to small claims court. Has anyone had any experience of a similar situation? Our other problem is we are in Scotland and the villa owner is in England would it be a Scottish or English court we would go through?

Thanks in for reading this and I would really appreciate any feedback.

pompeyrich

Cant offer much help really but i am beginning to wonder if this is a growing trend. I have rented villas and apartments in Europe and Florida, we always leave the properties clean and tidy, strip the beds and put the sheets and towels in or near the washing machine.

This year, the owner of the Florida Villa, claimed we had lost or stolen a sheet from the master bedroom and deducted £30 from our deposit. It did upset and annoy us, that they could act as judge and jury and just take the money but how can you prove anything? In the small print of our booking T&Cs it stated that the "agents decision is final".

Maybe the owners are not making as much money as they used to with the weal dollar and this is their way of topping up their income.

Hope someone can advise you more and it would be good to hear if we have both been unlucky or if this is becoming more common.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Orchidvilla_2

Hi as a villa owner if i had damage in the villa i would be contacted by my managment company who would e-mail me a copy of the damage so i could then make contact with the guest and sort this out.
I have sufferd theft of small items overlooked by the cleaners who have photographs of each room and on exit of the guest will clean room and put back anything moved so the room is as the photograph and if anything is damaged or missing they report this to my MC who will intern contact me.
Minor marks are tollerated along with wear and tear on linen, we have had towels ruined by makeup or bleach and sheets ruined likewise. I have had a guest break a vase and then replaced it with a simular one and e-mialed me before they left about this, accidents happen and we did not withold her deposit as she was so open about this and had the courtesy to replace the item.

I do not agree with the actions of the owners in either of these posts and think that fluffyblond should sue the owner for moneyback also contact the website admin where she found the villa origionaly and advise them of this owners actions, they wont like this negativity about one of there advertisers.

Must admit these instances are minor, i run a villa owners website and reports of damage are very minor.

richardw

You claim in the court where the defendant lives/is registered.