Ensuring against Fraud - Payment in Full

[steph_goodrum]

There are sites where, if you pay a little extra, you are covered for a refund if you turn up and find that the villa you thought you had booked, doesn't exist or is already occupied. It may be good for the owners of this site to consider such an arrangement as well as the 'proof of ownership' thing.

I'm really interested in the suggestion that we, as renters, could ask to see a copy of a villa owner's rental licence before we commint any money. I've never considered this. Would other villa owners agree that there is no valid scenario where owners would refuse this request?

We are covered under a group license with our mc so it would not identify our property particularly and as it is on the wall in the villa is not readily accesible. I would happily provide any relevant proof to anybody who wanted to confirm the home belonged to us and did exist but it would have to be omething I could access readily.
There aremany scams which could also affect us Homeowners which if e provide some seemingly innocent information can be used for, which I won;'t go into in public but which can be very cotly to remedy so we have to be aware that we may also be scammed by a person pretending to want to rent.

[canarypam]

We like to talk to our guests on the phone as it is a two way thing. Guests may be concerned that the villa doesn't exist etc. but we are
also entrusting guests to look after our investment so by telephoning them we build up a relationship and both parties feel happier
about the experience.

Pamela

[E. Cosgrove]

We could only ever show a copy of our license as the original is hanging in our villa.
I would have no qualms about producing a copy though.

[Snapper]

I was thinking of a copy Liz when I posted the idea earlier in the thread, or to be more precise a scan of the license to make it easier to email to any guest wanting to see it.

I'm sure that not every owner has a scan of their license readily available, but this is something that their management company could put right in a matter of hours ... or at least as soon as the current guests depart if the only copy of the license is the one in the villa.

To owners I would say ... if guests were looking to book but they made it a condition that they wanted to see your rental license first ... would you be able to arrange that?

And to guests I would say ... ask to see a copy of the rental license, and don't book with any owner who won't provide it.

[syrup]

We could only ever show a copy of our license as the original is hanging in our villa.
I would have no qualms about producing a copy though.

When I first started looking for a Villa and got a quote they gave me the details of their management company and also a copy of their liscence number. I went to
https://www.myfloridalicense.com/wl11.asp?mode=0&SID=
put in the liscence number and all their details came up.

You could do this and any prospective renters would have satisfaction if they had any doubts.

[msmiff]

We are more than willing to provide a copy of the "umbrella" licence held by our management company on our behalf.
However, as it only notates a NUMBER of properties - NOT individually specified - we doubt it would allay any prospective rentor's suspicions !!!
Steve, please be aware that many, many villa owners have the same licence arrangement with their respective management companies....
Although completely, correctly & legally licenced we do not hold an individually identifiable document.......

[Snapper]

Martin/Sue - I wouldn't see that as a problem at all. You could give a prospective guest a copy of your umbrella license. If the guest wanted to do a complete check they could then phone your management company to check that your property was included on that license. IMHO, that's a pretty decent check as the only thing it wouldn't catch would be a dishonest owner being managed by a dishonest management company.

Remember that the question raised on this thread by a prospective guest was: What can we do to protect ourselves?

I still maintain that everything I've said above is an excellent answer to this question.

[syrup]

I not sure if I made it clear but when I dowloaded the details it was for that specific villa.

As everyone has said if normal precautions are taken there shouldn't be a problem. There not many things in this world that you can have before you pay for it.