Kerry I disagree that as an owner it's impossible to keep up with how your home is being kept. I wouldn't ring up every renter, but I would often call my house when I knew it was occupied, particularly when I did a private rental to ask the occupier if they were happy with the house and if there was any problems to call me if it wasn't sorted out immediately by the management company. Fortunately that call was never needed as Premier did a pretty good job of keeping on top of things. I don't think any of those people renting the house felt the call to make sure they were happy was an intrusion.
I had rented houses from a number of agents before I bought and IMHO the ones I had from Premier were consistantly at the top of the league for fixtures, fittings and cleanliness. If, as it seems was your case, one gets a company that you're not happy with it's possible to do as you did and change to a solution that worked for you. It's a personal choice as to whether you prefer the more personal service that an attentive "mom and pop" company can offer (but who have to subcontract some services) you or if you believe as I do that a reputable larger company offers better "value" because of their ability to employ their own servicemen for all but the very largest emergencies. IMHO there is no "right or wrong" choice on that one, it's simply which you, as an owner, feel most comfortable with. Both have their good and bad points.
I also had great compliments from my guests, but I went a different route, doesn't mean I'm right and you're wrong, simply that we found different sollutions to the same problem.
AS an afterthought and maybe explanation ,when I talk about a rented villa as proving to be unsuitable, that doesn't only mean one that is dirty, has broken fixtures or just nasty. There are a number of things that could make a house unsuitable for a family that isn't a "fault" nor does it mean anything is wrong with the house. I'm reminded of a time I rented a villa in Portugal, because the house we originally booked was unavailable due to a watermain being installed outside , we were upgraded to an absolutely stunning brand new villa. The only problem was it has a polished marble stairway (very slippery, very hard and quite shapr corners) with no way to block off access and we had an 18 month old toddler. Nice villa, just unsuitable ( she also managed to get her head stuck in the wrought iron gate that was just the right width to get her head in, but a pig to get it back out again
although a bottle of olive oil did the trick 
) . There are three instances ( supply of services, stairs and gate) where no fault of house or owner, but the house is unsuitable. With just a caretaker who has limited access to alternate accomodation ( no matter how well they look after and prepare your home) it may not be easy for someone in your position to provide an alternate choice for your renter. Another possible source could be the access to any pool the house has. It's possible that the access may not be as secure or difficult for the families children as they would like. It rather depends on the age of their kids as to the kids ability to open the door on their own.
There are many other things that can make a house unsuitable for a particular family that only becomes obvious once they are there. A bigger company has more chance of being able to deal with that situation IMHO. Not a critisism of the owners, just a fact of life (as I see it)
I had rented houses from a number of agents before I bought and IMHO the ones I had from Premier were consistantly at the top of the league for fixtures, fittings and cleanliness. If, as it seems was your case, one gets a company that you're not happy with it's possible to do as you did and change to a solution that worked for you. It's a personal choice as to whether you prefer the more personal service that an attentive "mom and pop" company can offer (but who have to subcontract some services) you or if you believe as I do that a reputable larger company offers better "value" because of their ability to employ their own servicemen for all but the very largest emergencies. IMHO there is no "right or wrong" choice on that one, it's simply which you, as an owner, feel most comfortable with. Both have their good and bad points.
I also had great compliments from my guests, but I went a different route, doesn't mean I'm right and you're wrong, simply that we found different sollutions to the same problem.
AS an afterthought and maybe explanation ,when I talk about a rented villa as proving to be unsuitable, that doesn't only mean one that is dirty, has broken fixtures or just nasty. There are a number of things that could make a house unsuitable for a family that isn't a "fault" nor does it mean anything is wrong with the house. I'm reminded of a time I rented a villa in Portugal, because the house we originally booked was unavailable due to a watermain being installed outside , we were upgraded to an absolutely stunning brand new villa. The only problem was it has a polished marble stairway (very slippery, very hard and quite shapr corners) with no way to block off access and we had an 18 month old toddler. Nice villa, just unsuitable ( she also managed to get her head stuck in the wrought iron gate that was just the right width to get her head in, but a pig to get it back out again
although a bottle of olive oil did the trick ) . There are three instances ( supply of services, stairs and gate) where no fault of house or owner, but the house is unsuitable. With just a caretaker who has limited access to alternate accomodation ( no matter how well they look after and prepare your home) it may not be easy for someone in your position to provide an alternate choice for your renter. Another possible source could be the access to any pool the house has. It's possible that the access may not be as secure or difficult for the families children as they would like. It rather depends on the age of their kids as to the kids ability to open the door on their own. There are many other things that can make a house unsuitable for a particular family that only becomes obvious once they are there. A bigger company has more chance of being able to deal with that situation IMHO. Not a critisism of the owners, just a fact of life (as I see it)
