Should I Send Owner Payment For Villa W/no Contract?? Help!!

[sweetpeakaris]

Hi,

I am looking for a place to rent in Windsor Hills for April 07(Easter Week). Because I have waited so late to book, my options are limited and I didn't receive too many responses from my inquires, we kinda decided upon this vacation a month ago. I have chosen to book with the owner that offered me the best price, she seems very nice, but I always try to be careful when renting since I know there are bad people out there trying to scam. I'm not saying this owner is in no way fraudulant, but i've never booked a villa in this particular manner and I'm not sure if this is common. The owner faxed me a terms and condition form which was pretty much all the rules of renting her property like smoking, pets, lost items, damage deposit, etc. The Terms and Condition form didn't have the actual unit address, my dates, price we agreed upon, etc. It wasn't a rental contract. She told me that after I signed and faxed this paper back to her, she would send me a Paypal link to pay the deposit, then she would need my mailing address to send me a contract. The owners I've rented from in the past have always sent a contract that I sign and email, fax, or mail back with a deposit. My husband says that we shouldn't send anyone money without a contract or some type of agreement with more info on it. He feels that the terms and agreement form should have been attached to a rental agreement, as this was how it has been in the past when we rented from other owners. I know that all owners do things differently, and perhaps this is just the way she does it. Although, I signed and faxed the form back to her, she said she didn't get it, I told her i would refax 2 days ago but I haven't had access to a fax machine yet.

So today she sent me a Paypal money request for the $250 deposit and put in the notes "although I never received the signed Terms and Conditions, I am sending you a link to PayPal so that we can process the reservation fees. By processing the reservation deposit, you are thereby accepting the terms and conditions."

So my big question is, should I go ahead and send payment although I have no actual rental agreement yet? At this point, I am kinda desparate to book a place since Easter is a very busy time and my options are slim, this owner has anwsered all my emails about the property and such, I would hate to have wasted her time. Do some owners send contracts after payment, is this how it works sometimes?

I also wanna add that the Owner said she was holding the unit for me until we processed the paperwork, but we are going to Disney with my Brother and his family, they did an inquiry for a condo also and she responded to them offering them the unit she said she was "Holding" for me. The price she qouted them was higher than what she told me for the same dates. I was visiting my brother on Saturday(the day i faxed her the paper she didn't recieve) and he was showing me the condo's they were deciding on booking and I saw her email to them. This is another reason why my Husband feels uneasy about sending a deposit with no contract.

Thanks in Advance!

 

[5mins2disney]

I'm gonna send you a PM / email on this one...maybe I can help out... I'm a fellow WHR owner and I spend a lot of time on the VRBO owner forums. I would also like to know who it is (maybe I know them), but you are correct, you should receive a rental agreement type of document at the start of the process sent over by the owner.

 

[anna1111]

I had the same question last week for a owner at Windsor Hills, he offered no contract for renting. I only received a invoice through pay pal. I spoke directly to him over the phone.
I also asked for references and contacted them to see if they rented without a rental agreement. I wasn't comfortable renting like this until I spoke to some of the people that rented earlier. We have never rented direct from a owner and I still don't know if this was the right thing to do. I think it depends on how comfortable you are with the owner. I also verified that the owner was truly the owner of the unit thanks to a link someone provided in another post.

 

[5mins2disney]

Since everyone runs their place slightly differently, not everyone does the same thing in terms of how they run their business! We feel this sets us apart from many in the VRBO market with how we run our place / website to be honest, we setout to make it easy to work with us from the beginning. A rental agreement though protects both the owner and the guests, you can check on their prior guest references, check with their MC (management company), check the ownership of the property on the Osceola County government website (www.property-appraiser.org), and more. Another possibility, ask to book their property through their MC, you may pay slightly more, but their MC will definitely have the appropriate paperwork / contracts / etc.

I sent the original poster a PM with most of this information and much more, but you should be looking for this information when you book a property!! More importantly, you should be looking for LOTS of pictures of the place on their website! (They DO have a website, not just a listing on an ad site like vrbo, right!?) Sites like windsorhillsrent.com also have a "verified" stamp on the various ads, which means the website admin personally verified the ownership of the property through checking records such as a real estate tax bill.

Finally, if you're truly uncomfortable, and you shouldn't be if you're developing a good relationship with the owner, pay via a credit card! Visa / etc offer great protection to consumers if fraud or something should occur, which is VERY unlikely. What's more likely is that you would show up and the property would not meet your expectations....how do you avoid this? See above comment about tons of pictures....know what you're getting before you get there! Guest comments, etc...many owners have an "online guestbook" built into their rental calendars...since most of us all use a free calendar service from a website called rentors.org and the online guestbook feature comes with it for free too! The way the guestbook works...if someone leaves you negative feedback...you can enter a response....the ONLY way to clear out a negative response is to "wipe" / reset your entire guestbook and lose everything!!

 

[djpositivek]

It's also my first time renting a Villa and I received a booking form which I completed and sent to them along with full payment via Paypal (we are going in 3 weeks). The only receipt of payment I have gotten are from Paypal and her e-mail saying she has received full payment. I'm not really worried because I've checked that the House exists and is owned by them, spoken to them on the phone and they are very good at responding to my questions.

I found it a bit odd that she didn't have something more official though in terms of a receipt, like something with a receipt number on it.

 

[isla bonita]

Personally I would have liked a rental agreement but I am sure it will be fine.

All homes are run differently as the previous posters have mentioned.

Have a wonderful time and let us all know how cool it was.

 

[anna1111]

Since everyone runs their place slightly differently, not everyone does the same thing in terms of how they run their business! We feel this sets us apart from many in the VRBO market with how we run our place / website to be honest, we setout to make it easy to work with us from the beginning. A rental agreement though protects both the owner and the guests, you can check on their prior guest references, check with their MC (management company), check the ownership of the property on the Osceola County government website (www.property-appraiser.org), and more. Another possibility, ask to book their property through their MC, you may pay slightly more, but their MC will definitely have the appropriate paperwork / contracts / etc.

I sent the original poster a PM with most of this information and much more, but you should be looking for this information when you book a property!! More importantly, you should be looking for LOTS of pictures of the place on their website! (They DO have a website, not just a listing on an ad site like vrbo, right!?) Sites like windsorhillsrent.com also have a "verified" stamp on the various ads, which means the website admin personally verified the ownership of the property through checking records such as a real estate tax bill.

Finally, if you're truly uncomfortable, and you shouldn't be if you're developing a good relationship with the owner, pay via a credit card! Visa / etc offer great protection to consumers if fraud or something should occur, which is VERY unlikely. What's more likely is that you would show up and the property would not meet your expectations....how do you avoid this? See above comment about tons of pictures....know what you're getting before you get there! Guest comments, etc...many owners have an "online guestbook" built into their rental calendars...since most of us all use a free calendar service from a website called rentors.org and the online guestbook feature comes with it for free too! The way the guestbook works...if someone leaves you negative feedback...you can enter a response....the ONLY way to clear out a negative response is to "wipe" / reset your entire guestbook and lose everything!!

Thanks for all the information. Yes they do have a website with alot of pictures and I did find them through windsorhillsrent.com so that along with a couple of references gave me the confidence to book without the agreement.