Hi all-

I'm new to renting an apt, and I'll be doing this for the first time on an upcoming, last-minute trip. I'd like to get some ideas from you veterans.

I will be renting apartments directly from homeowners, instead of an agency. I don't think (at least I hope not) the owners are out to scam me, but of course, I've read horror stories before. The most recent one I read here was someone who rented an apt in Paris for 1 year and had some "minor damages" to the apt, and the owner charged him several thousand euros for it?

Here are some Qs:
1) When you prepay for the deposit, do you prefer Credit Card or PayPal? Or other preferable methods?
2) What other potential charges should I ask in advance (the charges I was told include cleaning fee). But none (I'm renting 2 apts in 2 cities) mentioned a security deposit.
3) What other questions should I ask?
4) Do you usually just communicate via email? I am wondering if I should give the owners a call to have a direct conversation?

Any other words of wisdom are much welcome!

I haven't rented an apartment overseas, but did rent a house in Santa Fe for three nights directly from the owner. We sent full payment in advance. The house was exactly as advertised. The owner lives across the street and checked us in and showed us where everything was and how everything worked. It was a great experience and affordable. I would do it again.

Hi YK,

I've rented apartments 5 times so far & will rent another 2 apartments for my trip in May/June. All of them have been with owners of the properties. The previous 5 have all been apartments that I found through www.homelidays.com and all of them had multiple testimonials praising the properties and the owners. All of them worked out fine.

1) Out of the 5 previous rentals - In 3 cases, I mailed a check and in all 3 cases the owners just held the check until I had finished with the rental. Evidently, it takes 2 months to clear an American check in France and Italy so they didn't bother to try to cash it, just held it in case of any damages. In one case, I reserved the property just a few days before arriving so I didn't send a deposit. With the 5th case, they didn't require a deposit. I then paid for the apartments in cash when I arrived.

For the 2 upcoming rentals, one requires payment in full a couple weeks before I arrive and will take a check (I didn't think about the 2 month lag time when I mailed him the down payment & the owner lives in England so perhaps it won't take 2 months to clear.) although he also accepts PayPal, the other didn't ask for a deposit.

2) I've only had one place that had a charge for cleaning. I've read that some places have additional charges for heating and cooling but I haven't rented from anyone who did that.

3) I prefer to deal with owners who have testimonials extensively praising them and their properties & usually don't have any questions. One of the upcoming apartments I will be renting from a person I'm taking a tour with so I did have to ask a few questions - e.g. is there air conditioning, internet connection. You probably should make sure that all costs are covered. If you don't already know, you should ask if linens are included. Personally, I only rent apartments that have a washing machine - figure out what you really want in an apartment & ask if it available.

4) Due to the differences in time & languages, I've always stuck to e-mail.

I hope this helps.

thank you so far.

Shanti - you brought up another issue I'm facing. Since we're doing this trip last-minute AND there's 5 of us, I am finding very few apartments that suit our needs AND are still available. As a result, the ones I can choose from have either NO comments or very few comments. (I cross-checked various home rental websites where the owners have placed the same ad, and those also have no comments.)

How do you all feel about renting a place with NO comments?

I would be really nervous about it.

Where and when are you going?

I've had no real problems renting holiday apartments and cottages from both owners and agencies. Sometimes it has been a combo--rented through a web site such as Hoseasons or English Country Cottages but the owners have been close by and helpful.

I've primarily communicated by email, certainly for the last 15 or so years, but I've also phoned owners with specific questions. I've paid deposits with credit cards and PayPal. I've also been asked for damage or key deposits but have never had anything withheld.

Your friend's experience is similar to one I had when I had a long-term let in the UK. The owner's agent and well as someone representing me from my company's relocation firm went over the flat with a fine-tooth comb on both my first day of rental and when I left, four years later. I had to replace a scorched lamp shade and a missing spoon!!! Given the amount of rent paid over that time, I thought it was petty but apparently not uncommon.

We've rented many times from owners mostly on VRBO, and all but one have been great. The one unpleasant exception, in London, turned out to be an agency, not an owner.

It's better to communicate by email so you can print out exactly what's offered.

yk, I think we're "veterans"; we've rented about 20 houses and apartments over the last nine years, mostly in France.

To answer your questions ...

1) We used to pay by bank draft and snail mail; we now pay by electronic bank transfer. We have never had a problem with this. My Canadian bank charges about $30 for the service, but they just told me that I can do it for free now that I'm a senior.

2) Additional fees: we always ask whether there are any additional fees. When we first started to do this in 2000, some owners added a fee for cleaning, linens, and electricity. I haven't encountered any of those add-ons in the past several years. Nowadays, it seems to be "all-in," but I would recommend you ask. Security deposits are a different kettle of fish: most owners ask for a deposit of anywhere from €100 to €500, depending on the price of the accommodation and the duration of the rental. We have always been able to negotiate how they handle this. If it is a small amount, we offer to give them cash on arrival and expect the cash back when we leave. If a larger amount, we offer a personal cheque in our funds with the understanding that they will return the cheque uncashed on our departure, or that they will mail it back to us when we get back ... again, no problems so far.

3) Questions ... we ask a number of questions spread out over several e-mails just to get some back-and-forth dialogue with the owners. Some may be as simple as: can you confirm that there is a washer and dryer in the apartment, or can you tell us where we can park our car, or where is the nearest grocery store. The key things, though, is to know who will meet you, and when, who to contact if something goes wrong during the rental (we have only had two problems, one a hot water heater that mysteriously shut itself off and the other a misbehaving front door lock), and what to do with the keys on departure.

4) Communication: yes, generally just by e-mail, but in the early days, we several times asked for a phone number and called.

There is a lot you can do in advance to minimize the risk:

- see if anyone here on Fodor's has rented the place you are considering; look, too, at SlowTrav.

- look around a bit, using searches such as "rental accomodation Uzès [owner's name]"; you'd be surprised what you might find.

- ask the owner for recommendations (I have twice provided recommendations for owners from whom we have rented in the past).

- if you have any misgivings during the negotiations about the behaviour or style of the owner, just pass it up and keep looking. I'm a firm believer in intuition.

Happy travels, yk ... there will be another of your great trip reports after, right??

Anselm

Hello yk

My experience with individual owners has been very good. But then again, the agencies I've worked with haven't been problematic either. In 3 or 4 cases, there have been absolutely no reviews of any kind. Just a leap of faith kind of thing, and truly, with only one exception, they've all been great.

Is the owner going to be available/nearby during your rental period? If so, be sure to know how to phone them. If not, who do you call locally if there is a problem?

How will you get the keys, and will someone show you the workings of the appliances, and do a walk-thru?

I remember once in Florence we were told to push number 10 on the doorbell keypad, then the cleaning lady would open the door for us. Well, there were absolutely NO numbers on the keypad. There were 3 columns of buttons. Do we count down each column, across, what? Ended up going to a hotel next door and they helped make a call to the owner, who then called the cleaning lady. Point: get specific instructions on using doorbell keypads.

Are linens/sheets/towels included?

Sending deposits via PayPal is very easy. Some will take it, some not. Some take just your credit card number, and you pay cash in full upon arrival. The only place that's ever asked for a security deposit was in Paris, and then we just sent him a check written on our bank account here. He never cashed it, just sent it back to us a couple weeks after we left. Once we even sent 150 Euros in cash as we could never get the bank routing numbers right.

Last year in the Loire Valley, we rented a Gite. We knew that we'd have to pay electricity at the end, and it was a little worrisome just how much that would be. Turned out to be like 15 Euros for the week.

One of the things I read that people are so surprised about is the lack of toilet paper when they arrive. I would say on the whole, this is true. Just be sure to put it on your shopping list (and if you arrive late on a Saturday, you may not find a store open until Monday -- so plan ahead!)

So, where are you heading?

Oh, one other thing about payment.

If you're thinking of sending money via Western Union, be sure to check the fees and exchange rate. Extremely expensive.

My wife and I were more than satisfied with our experience renting an apartment in Paris direct from the owner. If we go there again there is no way we will stay in a hotel. We found the VRBO web site gave us all the information we needed and made dealing with the owner ever so easy.

We are heading to Vienna and Budapest. I have googled one of the owners name and that leads me to the same apt listing on multiple apt rental websites - but I could only find 2 short (but positive) reviews among them.

The other owner name is not known, but I think he/she has just started renovating a bunch of apts for rent and just started renting one of them out. No reviews on the several websites that this apt was listed on.

I'm telling myself (or maybe kidding myself?) that since we are looking at large apts (3BR that can sleep up to 8 people), they aren't as popular as studios and/or 1BR apts - and perhaps that explains why there aren't that many reviews?

In any case, great input from everyone! Thanks and keep them coming!

You're right. Three bedroom apartments aren't that common. However, there were a few for Vienna & Budapest at Homelidays.com with reviews and also a few with reviews at http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk. I don't know your dates so don't which of these are already rented out when you'll need a place.

ttt

Hi yk,

Vienna and Budapest, that sounds wonderful! I only have limited experience renting from owners, once in Paris and once in London (well, once in Florence but I heard about that apartment from another poster on fodors so that's a bit different)

Both times, when I sent my initial email, I not only got a fast response but a very detailed, informative, and professional response. I didn't need to ask any questions about money because everything was spelled out very clearly.

I never got even the slightest whiff of the owners trying to hide or downplay anything potentially negative, like stairs or size or location. The caveats were all laid out from the start, if not in the ad than in the very first email.

The place in Paris I saw on the Slow Travel board, and there were one or two reviews posted. The London flat I found on vrbo and there were several guest comments posted. So I liked the intial ads, but what really made me feel comfortable in both cases was the first email I received from the owners. In both cases I got a good gut feeling and went from there.

All communication to make the booking was done by email.

I paid for the London flat by paypal, a booking deposit and then the balance a couple of weeks before arrival. It worked fine. I did pay a damage deposit as well, and got that back via paypal no problem.

In Paris I sent the owners a cheque for the equivelent amount of the rent in Canadian dollars. They held on to the cheque until the end of my stay- that's when I paid cash in euro and they gave me my cheque back.

swisswhiker: <<If you're thinking of sending money via Western Union, be sure to check the fees and exchange rate. Extremely expensive.>>

It's also the favorite payment method for scammers - DO NOT do it, no matter how plausible an excuse/justification they proffer! Not everyone has a PayPal account (or wants to pay the associated fees) but anyone with enough resources to have an apartment to rent certainly should at least have a bank account to which you can transfe3r funds from bank.

Hi all-

After many web searches and back-and-forth emails, I hope we have finally settled on 2 apartments (one for each city). I just emailed the owners that we will rent them, and awaiting to hear back regarding deposit and payment.

One owner (per website) is going to give me her bank account for money transfer. Sounds like many of YOU have done this before and that's totally okay/safe? And the the rest in cash on arrival I believe.

The other owner (per website) will accept the deposit via CC or Paypal. since I don't have a paypal account, I guess I'll go with CC.

Neither one is asking for a security deposit... the first owner is asking for a 35 euro cleaning fee; while the second owner is asking for 3 euro/day internet connection fee. I think all these sound quite reasonable?

Anything else I'm missing?

just FYI, you do not have to be a PayPal member to make a credit card payment with PayPal - the owner will send you an incoice with a link and you click it, scroll to the bottom and it will have a place for you to pay without joining PayPal

Hi Yk,

I have rented only 3 apartments in Europe but many here in the states as we travel with a large group usually. I have almost always dealt directly with the owner here in the states and have never had an issue. I did find in Europe it was harder to get reviews on apartments that were large enough for our family. I wanted real two bedrooms and then a real three bedroom in Paris. Not an easy feet!

I would set up a Paypal account - you need to have it verified etc in order to send certain dollar amounts and there is a chance that to pay by credit card you need a paypal. I ran into that when we were rented our apartment in Paris over the holidays.

I would also verify the no deposit. We were not informed of a deposit that would be due in cash with our Rome rental but I had read about it on Slowtravel so I asked about it an sure enough they wanted it in cash upon arrival.

The deposit for our Paris apartment was 500 Euros in cash upon arrival as well!

You are a very flexible traveler so even if it doesn't work out - well, just know that it will all just add to the adventure of travel. It sounds good to me though thus far.

Please do share about the apartments when you feel comfortable!

Thanks again. I will double check with the owners regarding a security deposit! I know we need to pay the remainder of the balance on arrival. The deposit is 30% for one apt and 20% for the other.

Both owners offer the "bank transfer" option for the deposit.

I used to have a PayPal account, but I canceled it a few years ago as I didn't use it anymore and the amount of spam.