Hi LBD,

We've rented out our apartment for several years through lettings websites (although not actually through Owners Direct) and are still amazed at the fact that people will send cheques to us when they don't know us from Adam! I think in your situation, if you are unsure, it would be a good idea to telephone the owners of the villa. Have a list of questions ready and just have a chat, and if anything makes you at all suspicious then just don't rent that particular property.

One good idea might be to ask whether you could have the email address or phone number of someone who had rented the villa from them before, so that you could contact them for a kind of reference. If they aren't prepared to give you someone's personal details, they might offer to email a previous guest and ask them to contact you.

Bear in mind that you will have the address of the person you are renting from because you will need this to send the cheque.

I think I would just say that I understand your concerns but I hope that by speaking to the owner of the villa your mind will be set at rest.

Good luck and I hope you will have a lovely holiday in the Algarve!

I totally agree with Roseweb. We have done the same thing over the past 4 yrs or so renting our Algarvian villa out through various websites .Ring the owner personally & also ask for the email addresses of previous rental guests for a reference if you feel unsure. Good luck with your rental and have a wonderful holiday on the Algarve. Cheers Jayjan

I found a villa and am just about to book with an agent on Holiday-rental.co.uk, are people saying that these sites arn't 100% safe??

No, just doing our best to answer the particular concerns of someone who hasn't rented from a private owner before. These websites are quite strict on advertisers, and if a renter complained to the administrators about an owner or their advert, they would come down hard on that person and probably delete their property from the site. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone coming unstuck with a private owner booking, but these forums are always full of complaints about tour operators. So please don't be put off renting the villa you've found, and if you're at all worried just contact the renter by phone.

I agree with Jayjan and Roseweb. Although I don't own property, I regularly rent an apartment from these websites and have always found them to be of a high standard and great value.....much better than a package holiday, especially if you can get a "no frills" flight!!!!
The owners uaually send you a receipt back straight away by e-mail as soon as they receive your deposit.
Remember, they have got to trust you too to look after their property and to pay them in total, so that they do not lose out on their rental for that period.
Go ahead and enjoy
Pat

A good thing about Owners Direct (and some other sites) is that at the bottom of each property page the date the owner joined the site is clearly displayed.

If the date is quite a while ago you can be pretty certain that there have been no problems with this particular owner or their advert would have been removed.

I'm not saying you should be suspicious of a new advertiser but an established one may help to calm anxious newbies!

We have rented several times from sites such as owners direct and apart from one of the apartments not being quite as described have had no problems.

I am, however, dubious of apartments where the only contact number is a mobile one - whilst most of my dealings with the owners are by email I do like to know that there is a landline number.

I also tend to look for those owners who either live in the UK or if abroad then ones that have a UK bank account. Sending money abroad by bankers draft etc. is a costly business.

Pippa

I was also thinking of the same thing, thanks for bringing it up. I am also wary and have been in touch with an owner about a possible rental. I have their email address and they do live in the UK but it still scares me that I am sending a lot of money to a complete stranger.

I have been using Paypal for various things, I wonder if owners could join up to something like that, I don't know what the cost would be to them, it wouldn't bother me to pay that little bit extra knowing that my money is as secure as it can be.

Can anyone give us any thoughts on this.

Thanks

Gail

I have a villa (in Spain) that I rent out and advertise on Owners Direct and a couple of others so i can offer a view from the 'other side'.

when I looked into accepting Paypal I didn't think it would be cost effective for me. Basically the price you pay per transaction is determined by the value of the sales you put through the account/

As I only have the one house I would be paying the top amount all the time. I forget the exact amounts but I think it would work out at around £20+ per transaction and bearing in mind there are usually 2 transactions per booking (deposit & balance) I thought it was alot to pay.

I do know that some owners do accept paypal but they generally ask the guests to pay the costs.

So what do you as customers think.? Would you be prepared to pay the extra? I must admit I rarely get asked if I accept cards at all so i never thought it was an issue.

On another note I always speak to my guests and usually, but not always before they actually part with any money I've had a couple of long conversations with them. remember I have to also trust them. they are are going to be styiong in my home.

To be honest although it does sound scary from either side it doesn't feel that way in practice and so far i've never had a problem (touch wood!!).

Thanks for that, its nice to get two different sides, I am just a bit wary as I feel that I have no comeback if something goes wrong.

Thanks again

Gail

Hi Gail i just thought i would let you know i was feeling exactly the same the first time we rented a private villa but we have been to about 6 now with no problems at all we have even rebooked the same villa in Turkey for next June , personally i would not post a deposit outside of the UK , we have been surprised at how friendly and helpfull these owners are and the people we have rented off have even advised us who to fly with and that has saved us hundreds of pounds on flights you hopefully will have the same results as we have had and will be thinking twice about using travel agents with package holiday ever again so good luck

I can understand that Gail, there is a risk to both parties, no doubt about it. But the flip side is that generally you can get much more detailed information and be much more confident that you are getting value for money, no under occupancy charges etc!

I would advise contacting a few owners, speaking to them if at all possible and getting as much information as possible. On a more general note when I was renting private villas & apartments myself, before I bought my own, I always found that the properties that were used alot by the owners themselves, tended to better maintained and equipped than the ones that were used purely for rentals.

Now I have my own which I do use alot and I can say that i never visit without adding or replacing something and very rarely is it something that a guest has pointed out to me so I can see why!!

Trust your instincts, if the owners don't seem very open or aren't willing to fully answer all your questions to set your mind at rest, then move on to someone who will as there are verybfew properties out there that are truly unique!

I just wish I had something to offer you in the Algarve - I only popped in here for a nosey!!

I can understand that Gail, there is a risk to both parties, no doubt about it. But the flip side is that generally you can get much more detailed information and be much more confident that you are getting value for money, no under occupancy charges etc!

I would advise contacting a few owners, speaking to them if at all possible and getting as much information as possible. On a more general note when I was renting private villas & apartments myself, before I bought my own, I always found that the properties that were used alot by the owners themselves, tended to better maintained and equipped than the ones that were used purely for rentals.

Now I have my own which I do use alot and I can say that i never visit without adding or replacing something and very rarely is it something that a guest has pointed out to me so I can see why!!

Trust your instincts, if the owners don't seem very open or aren't willing to fully answer all your questions to set your mind at rest, then move on to someone who will as there are verybfew properties out there that are truly unique!

I just wish I had something to offer you in the Algarve - I only popped in here for a nosey!!

I'm just about to send a cheque of in the next few days for a deposit for a private villa, only thing is its to some sort of workplace building will a floor number, does this sound right?

Mark, questions I'd ask myself are

Have you actually spoken to the owner?
Was the villa advertised on a reputable listing site?
Does everything else feel ok?

If you'd like me to look at the advert details, just PM me the info and I'll tell you what I think but of course it would be just an opinion - I'd say trust your instincts!

With regard to mobile only phone numbers, many places here in Spain don't have landlines for a variety of reasons, so many people do only have mobiles.

As an owner of rental property I would be quite happy for guests to ask me plenty of questions about the property and I would be happy to contact previous guests to ask them to provide references. I wouldn't however give out email addresses without permission from the guests. Another thing you can do to be sure a property exists is to ask to see a copy of a utility bill.

As has been said, if someone has advertised for a while on any of the larger listing sites, they are likely to be genuine as these sites would take complaints very seriously.

We started renting not so long ago, In Septmber 2005, it has been the best service we have used, welcome pack fantastic and overall they looked after you brilliantly, like the others have said I would just get as much information as possible, if you are still not happy try somewhere else, there is plenty of websites where you can get fantastic villas.