France holiday house rental deposit

Jimeji

Travelling to Boulonge Sur Mer for a night with the family, and we found and booked a lovely 3 bedroom holiday home in the town on Booking.com. They are stating they require a 500euro deposit and needs to be cash. Is this normal procedure?

I have asked if I can make the deposit in GBP which they have agreed, but I'm still wary about handing over a large amount of cash. I assume a receipt will be issued?

mr_stripey

booking.com is known to have a lot of fake listings (although there are plenty of legit ones on there too) - have you done your due dilgence to ensure it is a legit listing?

Handing over cash for a deposit seems unsual (at least in my own experience) - usually a credit card hold is used but it may depend on the type of property and owner

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6662108/france-holiday-house-rental-deposit

I think the point is that there is no 'normal procedure', in that any conditions like that are set by the individual property owner - I've certainly had to hand over a wad of Euros on more than one occasion before when renting European properties, but wouldn't say it's the norm as such.

Nebulous2

I haven't booked accommodation in France for years, but it was very common in the past to have to give a security deposit in cash. That was usually 100-200 euros though

Owners were usually scrupulous about returning it, but expected us to self-declare any breakages. There wás often a limited amount of electricity included, so they would go through a performance with a pencil, reading the meter, checking the crockery, and returning the deposit.

I once had an owner who wanted 50 euros in advance. It became so complicated trying to find an inexpensive way to get it to him that I just stuck a bank note in an envelope and posted it.

jimjames

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6662108/france-holiday-house-rental-deposit

How are they expecting you to get the cash deposit to them? Or is this a security deposit when you arrive?

Jimeji

We met them at the house and gave them an envelope of cash. I felt very uneasy about it but had done due dilligence and it all seemed legit. If the worse happened, at least we knew where they lived! But deposit was given back, and everything was OK. Just a pain in the backside having so much cash on us.