I am renting an apartment in Paris for a week. I will have to give them a security deposit upon arrival equivalent to a week's rent. The lease refers to a refund if there are no damages in one week. By then we will have left Paris. What is your experience with getting your refund. Do they wire it to your account? Should I ask if they are willing to refund it when I leave and in cash (euros)? Appreciate any insights.

You'll need to ask them. Every owner/agent is different and has their own procedures.

I believe the apartment owner credited my cousin's credit card on the day she and her family departed. I guess they all have different policies.

You obviously need to ask the particular owner what they will do. YOu can ask anything you want, but they might not be willing to refund it to you in cash when you leave. They might, but they might not want to have to be there at one particular time you specify to check it out.

I have only rented a couple, and didn't pay in cash. I rented from an agency, and the first agency gave me an option of purchasing a minor damage insurance policy, which I did, so there was no deposit. The second one took credit cards, and I believe refunded it to my card within one billing cycle.

Hi prr,
As a private owner, I ask for a cash damage deposit on arrival (euros or whatever equivalent)and give it back on departure. But it can be different with an agency. voilà!

bon voyage
corinne

I just received an affirmation by the owner that he would inspect and return our deposit before we leave. Thanks for your suggestions!

On our last rental, they asked for a check in $US (the rent had to be paid in euro cash). Their plan was to inspect the day we left and return our check if there were no damages; I don't know what they would have done had we done 50euro of damage.

It turned out that our return flight necessitated us leaving very early in the morning, so they dropped by the evening before, when we weren't even there, did their inspection and left our check on the table.

Procedures have varied with other rentals, so I would check with the owner or agent, making sure that the arrangements fit your time of departure.

Ask the owner. It could be any one of a lot of different policies. When I rent my French property I ask for about 33% of the rental price as a security deposit, but I don't guarantee to repay it until the phone bill comes in - and the phone bill comes every two months, so that could mean a 6-week wait for a deposit return, depending on when you rent during the billing cycle. Of course, others don't offer phones or make you pay as you go for them, or whatever. It all depends. I used to return the deposit as soon as my property manager had inspected the property, but the NY stock brokers who racked up $800 worth of phone calls in less than a week taught me a valuable lesson about that!

StCirq, do you know that if you have a FT line, you can go to their website and registrer to see your bill almost in direct?
www.francetelecom.com
if you need help...
corinne

Hi StCirq! I can see your point. I hope most renters aren't that unscrupulous. I expect things to go smoothly. My communication with the owner has been satisfactory.