Should you let friends holiday in your property?

So you hire a car on your visit to Spain, pay for excess cover, think if you have a very small damage problem, some one bumping your wing when parked for instance .......a four inch by one inch indent. Now here is the rub, no excess cover will cover this.... You are charged 35e a day for having the repair done, five days quoted to be charged to your credit card! Now as this car came with two other small dents, that's 3x5, x 35e, nice money eh, one days work in the body shop. Read your small print it's all there! Time this scam was put to bed.

May have to come to decision on renting out my apartment for friends holidays, I use the friends terms loosely! Friend, we will call him Bob, asked if he could take his daughter over for a short break to get over splitting from her boyfriend. What a nice dad I thought. Nice and simple, 5 nights, so quoted a reduction, and armed him with all the info on the place. Get a text that they had arrived at 8 am Saturday, funny was sure they were going Friday, so asked how come they got there so early on a UK flight from Gatwick. Ahhh, simple answere, they stayed in Alicante Friday night, and were going to stay in the city the night before they came home, so as we had agreed he could pay me when he returned the keys, it would be just three nights accommodation. Fine I thought. Then ask me if I am naturally suspicious after my last experience, I emailed a neighbour, just to see when he saw anyone in my place, he lives opposite. Well quell surprise, he arrived Friday and left late evening weds. Now I calculate that as 5 nights. The daughter by description , was certainly not his daughter, unless she is 50 plus and a rather large blonde, not 23 slim and brunette. I need to choose my friends a bit better, or have mug tattooed across my forehead! So do I confront him, or put it down to being naive ......again!

Having bought our lovely apartment two years ago near Guardemar del Segura and shown it off to friends and raved about the unspoilt (mainly) area, we were asked by a friend if he could go there with a friend for a week as he didn't have a lot of money and hadn't had a holiday in 3 years. The heart strings were being tugged already, and I thought I could try to keep any costs down that I could, after all he hadn't had a holiday for 3 years. Let's call him Justin for the sake of a name. The rate I came up with would cover any utility bills, and also after some research on holiday letting sites be somewhat cheaper, by at least £100 pounds, on condition he gave the place a good going over and left ship shape. So far, so good, Justin over the moon with the rate, even commenting that an apartment in our very own community w a lot more expensive and our furniture etc was so much nicer compared to the standard in the others, he had done his homework! Had a nice email after he arrived, all was well, he was delighted with everything and he and his partner just adored the area. On the day he should have arrived home, I called him to see if all was ok, funny I got a euro tone on his phone, oh dear I thought, he's left or lost his phone in Spain ! next day the same but no answer to my call or text. This was now day nine of a seven day holiday. The following day I do get a call, with some fantastic story how the bus to the airport broke down, he missed his flight and returned to the apartment and couldn't get a flight back for two days to London from Alicante, even I was surprised, with all the flights available. Didn't think to let me know he was staying two extra nights, but I sympathised a little with his plight. No offer to pay for the extra, but then he had to pay out for new flights so I did feel sorry for him. Now it gets interesting, I happen to be very friendly with a work colleague of his, as I used to work at the same place until recently and Justin was a friend through work. I mentioned how Justin had had a terrible time getting home, this was met with surprise as she said he had booked off to return after a break of 10 days, and had told everyone his plan was to return on the so called rebooked flight schedule! So it transpires he paid me for 7 nights but had a 9 night ! A call to a neighbour in Spain confirmed he did not leave on agreed day. On top of that I have a no smoking rule and this neighbour popped in to check, all ok and the place reeked! Can't wait to get utility bill, probably what I charged him won't cover him no doubt leaving air con on day and night. Lesson learnt, I am yet to confront him with my knowledge, when I have calmed down! Now another friend has asked, and I cannot decide wether it's worth the aggravation for about £80 pounds profit, which I put into our maintenance fund. Any tips for a naive owner much appreciated!

Having bought our lovely apartment two years ago near Guardemar del Segura and shown it off to friends and raved about the unspoilt (mainly) area, we were asked by a friend if he could go there with a friend for a week as he didn't have a lot of money and hadn't had a holiday in 3 years. The heart strings were being tugged already, and I thought I could try to keep any costs down that I could, after all he hadn't had a holiday for 3 years. Let's call him Justin for the sake of a name. The rate I came up with would cover any utility bills, and also after some research on holiday letting sites be somewhat cheaper, by at least £100 pounds, on condition he gave the place a good going over and left ship shape. So far, so good, Justin over the moon with the rate, even commenting that an apartment in our very own community w a lot more expensive and our furniture etc was so much nicer compared to the standard in the others, he had done his homework! Had a nice email after he arrived, all was well, he was delighted with everything and he and his partner just adored the area. On the day he should have arrived home, I called him to see if all was ok, funny I got a euro tone on his phone, oh dear I thought, he's left or lost his phone in Spain ! next day the same but no answer to my call or text. This was now day nine of a seven day holiday. The following day I do get a call, with some fantastic story how the bus to the airport broke down, he missed his flight and returned to the apartment and couldn't get a flight back for two days to London from Alicante, even I was surprised, with all the flights available. Didn't think to let me know he was staying two extra nights, but I sympathised a little with his plight. No offer to pay for the extra, but then he had to pay out for new flights so I did feel sorry for him. Now it gets interesting, I happen to be very friendly with a work colleague of his, as I used to work at the same place until recently and Justin was a friend through work. I mentioned how Justin had had a terrible time getting home, this was met with surprise as she said he had booked off to return after a break of 10 days, and had told everyone his plan was to return on the so called rebooked flight schedule! So it transpires he paid me for 7 nights but had a 9 night ! A call to a neighbour in Spain confirmed he did not leave on agreed day. On top of that I have a no smoking rule and this neighbour popped in to check, all ok and the place reeked! Can't wait to get utility bill, probably what I charged him won't cover him no doubt leaving air con on day and night. Lesson learnt, I am yet to confront him with my knowledge, when I have calmed down! Now another friend has asked, and I cannot decide wether it's worth the aggravation for about £80 pounds profit, which I put into our maintenance fund. Any tips for a naive owner much appreciated!