Rental Liability???

[Lynne M]

Sorry if this was asked earlier on the thread, and I missed it...

If I were to put a statement in the rental contract to the effect that the renter is responsible for all damage or charges to the unit, would that make it any more likely that I could recover damages in small claims court?

I may find myself needing to rent out some points in the near future, and this is the one thing that really concerns me about renting...that someone will trash the villa and I'll end up with a nasty bill from DVC.

 

[Dean]

Sorry if this was asked earlier on the thread, and I missed it...

If I were to put a statement in the rental contract to the effect that the renter is responsible for all damage or charges to the unit, would that make it any more likely that I could recover damages in small claims court?

I may find myself needing to rent out some points in the near future, and this is the one thing that really concerns me about renting...that someone will trash the villa and I'll end up with a nasty bill from DVC.

I doubt it'd help much but it wouldn't hurt. I believe some of them that have been shared have that wording in it already. IMO this is an extremely small risk and other than renting to a group of college or high school kids or similar, not likely to be an issue.

 

[tor]

Sorry if this was asked earlier on the thread, and I missed it...

If I were to put a statement in the rental contract to the effect that the renter is responsible for all damage or charges to the unit, would that make it any more likely that I could recover damages in small claims court?

I may find myself needing to rent out some points in the near future, and this is the one thing that really concerns me about renting...that someone will trash the villa and I'll end up with a nasty bill from DVC.

If I felt that someone I was thinking of renting to might do these things I think I would find another renter

 

[Lynne M]

If I felt that someone I was thinking of renting to might do these things I think I would find another renter

The problem is, if you're renting to a stranger, you have absolutely no way of knowing if they would do something like that.

 

[Lynne M]

I doubt it'd help much but it wouldn't hurt. I believe some of them that have been shared have that wording in it already. IMO this is an extremely small risk and other than renting to a group of college or high school kids or similar, not likely to be an issue.

Thanks Dean, that's reassuring. This is just a sore spot for me because I once had to rent out my co-op apartment after getting transferred to another state, and the very sweet young woman that my agent thought would be a great tenant, turned out to have a violent drug addict for a boyfriend. Did thousands of dollars worth of damage to the apartment, which of course I wasn't able to recover.

I agree, the risk with a DVC rental is probably very, very small.

 

[tubtruck]

Yes I imagine that it is a very small risk, though larger than the risk of someone getting ripped off and not getting what they paid for when renting points from a member, something that people who want a high quality accomodation for less money are always coming on to the boards and asking.

 

[Dean]

Yes I imagine that it is a very small risk, though larger than the risk of someone getting ripped off and not getting what they paid for when renting points from a member, something that people who want a high quality accomodation for less money are always coming on to the boards and asking.

Are you saying you think the risk of a member getting stuck with a bill from damages or the like is higher than the risk to a renter getting ripped off? If that's what you're saying I'd take great issue with that, maybe I just read it wrong. I'd guess the risk difference is a thousand times greater or more to the person renting than the member getting stuck with these type of issues. There are other risks to the member in renting though most can be controlled. These include the renter not paying, checks bouncing, borrowing points that get unused or unrented, not having enough time in the use year to make alternate plans if something does happen. I think most of these issues can be controlled by a few simple techniques. Make sure all are clear on the terms. Ask for deposit with final payment far enough in advance to give options. Try to deal mostly with current use year points and mostly in the first half of the use year.

 

[JimMIA]

There are other risks to the member in renting though most can be controlled. These include the renter not paying, checks bouncing, borrowing points that get unused or unrented, not having enough time in the use year to make alternate plans if something does happen. I think most of these issues can be controlled by a few simple techniques. Make sure all are clear on the terms. Ask for deposit with final payment far enough in advance to give options. Try to deal mostly with current use year points and mostly in the first half of the use year.

After watching some of these debates for a while, I'm almost disappointed sometimes when someone who knows what they're talking about offers sensible advice. Ah...but here it is.

The REAL risks in renting -- for the DVC owner -- are not those mentioned in the OP, or the subsequent posts. Dean has correctly outlined the real greatest sources of risks to us. As that great American philosopher Pogo would say, "We have met the enemy...and he is us!"

By far, the biggest renting difficulties I've seen for owners have been snafu's they created by not understanding their own accounts, and the effect of various possibilities on their own account.

 

[Dean]

After watching some of these debates for a while, I'm almost disappointed sometimes when someone who knows what they're talking about offers sensible advice. Ah...but here it is.

The REAL risks in renting -- for the DVC owner -- are not those mentioned in the OP, or the subsequent posts. Dean has correctly outlined the real greatest sources of risks to us. As that great American philosopher Pogo would say, "We have met the enemy...and he is us!"

By far, the biggest renting difficulties I've seen for owners have been snafu's they created by not understanding their own accounts, and the effect of various possibilities on their own account.

Sorry to disappoint you, LOL. As a physician I sometimes get calls at home. You can bet that almost 100% of the inappropriate ones (many are appropriate and OK and I'm in the book) are from 3 groups of people. These are my wife's friends who are not my patients, fellow employees and those few patients who feel like they own you. Likewise, most issues I've had when I rented were to other members including a member of this board who FORMALLY agreed to a rental then backed out after points were borrowed. Lesson learned and now I don't borrow unless I have cash in hand or occasionally when it's only a few points I have have the entire use year to use them.

 

[WDWDad]

My concern now becomes that as we have educated ourselves about a potential liability have we shown some cockroach where the crack in the wall is.....