Spain apartment rent

[Deleted member 7984]

Hi all,

we have an apartment in Spain which we rent out. We recently accepted a booking from a couple who wished to stay for about 6 months from last week.

On the first day we received a phone call saying they were not happy as the apartment was damp and musty. Consequently he is demanding his full £2000; very cheap incidentally given the location, plus he is considering legal advice regarding recouping costs involved in having to relocate at a higher rate and also the costs of flights to England to physically get the extra cash.

We on the other hand are absolutely devastated. We returned from the apartment only last week and can both put our hands to our hearts and say we never noticed any unusual smells, aromas and certainly found no physical evidence of any damp whatsoever. It sounds very objective and impossible for us prove or disprove. The last time they stayed long term it was in a newer apartment with a lift. Ours is older, second floor and does not have a lift. Perhaps the damp complaint was a pretext to leave as we had made all details very, very clear.

We feel it is unfair that we have turned down about 5 bookings worth about £1000 in order to cater for them and now we may have to refund the full £2000 plus costs. He informs us that his daughter is a solicitor and has adviced him to pursue refunds and costs and that we should have insurance against customer complaints.

Can anybody help with any advice. We certainly could not find £2000 for an immediate refund. It could take us months.

Thank you in advance,

Steve and Denise

 

[Hombre]

Did you get them to sign a lease prepared by Gestoria or Abogado? For 6 month period this should have been done if only to regularise the temporary occupation of your spanish property. If so, you may find they are on the hook. Depends on the lease though.

 

[Kernowman]

Even IF it was a bit musty, all these people need to do is open the windows/doors for a couple of hours :| If you were there a week previously and it was fine, then in a climate like Spain there is no way it could have got damp unless it was raining constantly and you had left all the windows open and the roof was leaking.

I think they are trying it on and the bullsh*t about having to fly home for the cash simply stinks of it. I am rather sceptical as well that they have a daughter who is a solicitor, because if they did and indeed they have been hard done by, this is where their demands would now originate from

I would call their bluff and tell them you will refund their £2,000 but they will also face a counter claim of £5,000 for all the bookings you had cancelled to make way for their booking. I trust you still have all the correspondence for the other bookings?

 

[Deleted member 7984]

Hi, the agreement was 23 weeks and 5 days. The only documented agreement is via letters and emails.(utilitity and cleaning bills and expected behaviour within the community) There was not any agreement regarding early termintation from either side other than our usual clause of retaining the £100 deposit in the event of a cancellation within 12 weeks before departure date. They did not view the apartment first and I think the onus should have been on them to check the apartment first. We provided them with full details and pictures. they are also talking about reporting us to the tourist information at Torrevieja.

Incidentally we have documented evidence for 8 weeks bookings (approx £1000) which we had to turn down. These were repeat customers aswell sadly.

Thank you for your posts.

Denise

 

[Kernowman]

If they are thinking about reporting you to the tourist office as well now, then they are typical whiners.

If you have provided pictures and a full description of the apartment (including that it is on the second floor with no lift) then they have effectively bought what you have sold to them.

Unless they have a serious complaint for you to address, I would let things ride for a while before responding.

 

[kulture]

I would not let it ride. Do you have a local agent or third party who can go see. You would be expected to treat all complaints reasonably and not ignore them. If this was a house in England you would pop round and see for yourself and fix any "problem". So you should really arrange for a similar level of service here.

In future, consider your business plan and contracts. Why did you lease for 6 months without a contract to people who have never seen it???? Why turn away regulars and potentially loose them.

 

[Deleted member 7984]

#5 Yes, we furnished them fully with all details including the fact it was 2nd floor without a lift. We told them everything; good and bad. We find it pointless trying to hide anything as I treat ALL transactions as if the customer may invoke a statatuory right after 14 days.

#6 Regarding a third party opinion, we only came back last week and I can assure you we found no problems. We were the last ones in.We have also sent our keyholder who has no need for any bias and she too found no problem.

We were naieve to rent it out for such a long period of time without a legal contract.

It maybe that after day 1 they found the stairs too much. They are beyond retirement age and so maybe this is a pretext to leaving, but if it had been me it would have taken a month to pluck up the courage to tell the owners and the LAST think on my mind would be to demand a full refund plus make legal threats in order to get us to pay them even more

We run an online shop and always take the "customer is always right" stance, no matter how painful. However these are transactions of £10 rather than £2,000.

We took the booking as it was less stress than trying to rent it out through the winter months. A bird in the hand so to speak. We have charged £80 odd per week and it is a beautiful location 2 minutes from the beach with private pool. I dont think I am allowed to post the url.

If it was a change of mind then fine. From the moment we received the call Denise has done everything to cooperate without once voiceing any disapproval even though this is a major financial blow to us wihtout the added fact that we have lost bookings;bookings which are absolutely essential to enable us to pay the mortgage on it.

 

[Partnership Telecom]

Is it possible to get "insurance against customer complaints", would this be an insurance to cover bad service ? Surely such a thing can't exist !!! We used to have an apartment in Spain that we rented out and we only ever had buildings and contents insurance, etc..... Also is her daughter a solicitor in Spain or the UK and where would she be thinking of taking legal action. Just a guess, but I think they may be trying it on. Call their bluff and wait for the letter, if you get one and think they are serious make them an offer you think is reasonable.....

 

[Hombre]

Out of interest, were they aware there was no lift?

 

[Deleted member 7984]

#9 Yes, we always emphasise the fact with ALL prospective customers.