[Anonymous]

Had an email enquiry. Forwarded all the details including web address etc. I always speak to prospective tenants for mutual benefit. In my conversation it transpired that she was a lawyer and an estate agent ( What a cocktail, talk about conflict of interest)

The conditions on my web page stated that all booking must be paid 100% if the booking dates were less than two months before arrival. On the phone she agreed to it..

When I sent her an invoice she went quite. A reminder was sent in 48 hours. She than said she would like to view the property ( She lived in Madrid ) & would pay 30% if she likes the property and the balance on arrival. I than told her that she had read the terms & conditions & our business model does not allow viewing etc and if she wishes to view before hand she should check into a hotel.

At this point I sent her a email & requested her to forward me a proof of payment in the next 24 hours or I will cancell her reservation. Around twelve hours later I got a very nasty email saying that as I threathened to cancel her reservation this means that I & her will not get on well.

I did remind her that I was only renting a flat for a few days to her & not marrying her.

It should not surprise forum users that my subtle hint of marrying her was not responded by her. Ohhhhhhhhhhh wellllllllllllllllllll

This may seam to a story. It reflects in many ways how the Spanish think or their mind works.

[Anonymous]

You are going to find difficult people everywhere and really do not think that it is a nationality issue. I have had calls from Spanish, German and English renters that wish to carry out a viewing. To be honest I generally do not have a problem in organizing the appointment and even though I cannot always attend, I generally arrange it at our convenience with someone that I trust in order to open the house for the future renter. In either case I generally do not allow any visits or “special terms” to be negotiated until a deposit is paid in advance and you are right to ask for one, if not why bother making an online booking?

The amount of requests to view a holiday property has risen due to the raised awareness of renters after reading horror stories of the property not existing on arrival and the person that is due to meet them has run off with their money. Its a chore that we could do without but if you have a key holder and the renter is happy to be flexible with meeting times there really is not reason to decline a quick viewing. lets face it, it does not happen very often and if you are seen to be making an effort to attend their requests it may turn out to be a “rental marriage made in heaven”. Some renters have been victims of fraud so that is why we get distrustful inquiries and requests.

It is a shame that you have had a bad experience with this lady as many of a short term Spanish renters are the best renters we have. The reason being is that a large percentage repeat the following year.

Don´t let this bad experience affect your judgement for future rentals.

Good luck!

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