QUESTIONS FROM RENTERS

1. Can I do my own clean at the end of the rental period?
2. Will you hold a property whilst I look around for cheap summer flights?
3. Do I need a baby seat or booster seat in a car for a 4 year old?
4. Why is the end of rental cleaning cost shown separately? Shouldn't it be included in the rent?
5. Why do we have to pay in cash euro's?
6. You don't offer a "welcome" pack?
7. Can I stay for 1 or 2 nights?
8. We notice that you do not take a booking deposit on many bookings?
9. You have a policy of minimum booking of 7 nights if a UK Bank Holiday is involved?
10. Can I get into the property on the morning that I arrive?
11. What about my cases with the policy of "vacate by 12 noon and into property after 4 pm?"
12. Can I leave the property late on my departure day?
13. What bedding and towels do you provide for a booking?
14. Do you recommend that we have travel insurance?
15. I know that it is difficult to say but what is the weather like in September/ October time?
16. How do I know that my rental deposit is going to a proper company or the right person?
17. Can I have a mid holiday clean?
18. Is the end-of-rental clean obligatory?
19. Can we pay our euro deposit from France by cheque to your house?
20. Can you send a contract in the post?
21. Why do you not accept credit cards?
22. Are swimming pools usable all year round?
23. What is I.V.A. (tax)?
24. Can we pay a booking deposit for "peace of mind"?

1. Can I do my own clean at the end of the rental period?

No. The rental cost and clean cost is the same whether it is 1 night or 1 month or 1 person or up to a maximum of 6 people (where it is stated that it sleeps 6). Although the washing machine loads for more people may be greater, the cleaner still has the same costs to travel to the house, still uses the same amount of cleaning materials, still spends about the same amount of time, etc. Our weekly rentals costs, and cleaning costs, are competitive. That is one of the reasons why our repeat booking rate is so high.

It would not be fair on the owner to hold a property in case the booking did not go ahead so we always operate on the policy of first come, first served.  Unfortunately, flight prices during school holidays are rarely cheap and usually go up as the plane fills up. You can always check the calendars of all our properties at the appropriate time as they are updated daily.

It seems doubtful that a baby seat would be needed for the 4 year old unless he/she was quite short. We understand that the Spanish requirements for private cars are:
- Babies under 9 kg must use a rear facing baby seat in the rear of the car.
- Infants under 18 kg must use a forward facing baby seat in the rear of the car.
- Children under 1.5 metres tall OR under 30 kg must use an adult seat belt with a booster seat.
- Children older than 11 years, irrespective of height or weight, do not need to use a booster seat.
Perhaps they should use the devices (if any) that they use in your home country.
Licensed Public service vehicles (taxis/coaches) are exempt from child seat and booster seat regulations, the reason being it would be impossible for a public service vehicle to carry all the suitable seats or equipment for the wide variation of child sizes.
Rental companies do not have to supply child seats or boosters - it is up to the hirer to either hire or buy seats suitable for their child if they are planning on carrying children or infants.

We show it as an extra cost at the end of a rental period. Why?
Say you have a cost of 500 euro per week including cleaning (i.e. 450 rent plus 50 for the clean as an example). If you get a booking for one week, that’s OK. If you get a booking for 3 weeks, the client pays 1500 euro. However, he is effectively paying for 3 cleans and only getting 1 clean.
If he had paid 450 euro per week x 3 plus 50 euro, he would have paid only 1400 euro, not 1500 euro.
By showing the weekly cost as 450 euro (plus a separate clean), it is a lower cost when compared to others.

We are operating in a euro zone country, will only accept payment in cash euros as our owners require the payment to be made into their Spanish bank account promptly to cover bills, etc, on the rental property. We are unable to accept full or balance payment in Personal Cheques, Travellers Cheques or Credit Cards or currencies other than euros. It takes about 30 days for a cheque to clear via the central clearing banks in Madrid and further charges are made by the Spanish bank which we would have to ask you to pay.
We provide a conversion facility per property on the website for the convenience of clients who require to know an equivalent cost in pounds sterling, dollars, etc, at the time of the booking, but not necessarily at the time of payment (due to currency fluctuations). You can get euro currency in the UK at the Post Office, in many travel agents (including Thomas Cook), or at the airport. 
In Spain, not many banks accept Travellers Cheques due to forgeries and therefore it is best to bring euros in cash for initial purchases and payments. UK bank and credit cards can be used in cash machines to obtain currency but are not always working! 
For the latest UK/Euro exchange rate, try the UK Post Office website for HOLIDAY money exchange rate (as opposed to the higher Business exchange rate) - http://www.postoffice.co.uk. Click on Travel then Foreign Currency then Exchange Rates then Foreign Currency Notes then Select a currency and how much you wish to exchange. If the link above takes you to a Royal Mail website, click on Post Office Customer Services.
Or try the Money Saving Expert at this link - http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/

We don’t offer welcome packs because we have had problems in the past with what different people want, i.e. brown or white bread, butter or margarine or spread, full fat milk or semi skimmed or skimmed, etc. It’s often a problem finding the time to actually do the food shopping as well and then keeping it fresh and cold. When we are busy with our many properties, we are working all hours and and often don't have time to do our own shopping!! You could stop at a garage/24 hour shop on the way in from the airport (or the Motorway Services just after leaving Alicante airport if coming that route) and then you can get exactly what they want. There are also 24 hour shops in most areas such as in La Florida (behind Waldemars / Mosquito bar), Flamenca Beach Commercial, La Zenia roundabout, Cabo Roig roundabout. If you want home country branded items, its best to bring them with you if you can as although many items are available here, they would be more expensive.
For the inbound journey, many people bring some tea bags, coffee in a plastic sealer bag, sugar sachets, so that they only need to get some water (although we do drink the tap water ourselves in tea and coffee) and a carton of milk in your checked-in suitcase (or bring dried milk sachets / Coffee Mate) to use overnight until they go to the supermarket in the morning. This is what we do when we go on holiday.

To make it worthwhile for the owner, the minimum cost is for 3 nights between June and September inclusive or 4 nights between October and May inclusive (prorata basis of a week) whether all nights are used or not. This is subject to property owners agreement as it may affect getting a longer booking before or after required dates.
If you do not use all nights paid for, this does allow you to have a late departure or early arrival if required provided that we are notified at the time of booking. The end of rental cleaning and laundry charge is also applicable irrespective of the number of nights that you stay.
But see Item 9 if your required dates include a United Kingdom Bank Holiday (i.e. Christmas, New Year, Easter, Spring Holiday, etc). However, if it less than 2 weeks until that UK Bank Holiday, we will accept a booking for the minimum period as above dependent on the month.

With many bookings, mainly out of the peak summer season, we accept payment in full in cash euros on arrival (no deposit required), particularly if you have stayed with us before. Some owners require a deposit. We operate on trust with people booking with us like that to:
(a) keep our operating costs to a minimum regards handling deposits in different currencies, thereby offering competitive rental rates of quality accommodation.
(b) to provide minimum inconvenience to people making bookings with us (no booking deposit, no refundable damage deposit, etc).
We do accept that the occasional booking will not happen due to ill health, accident, etc, but we assume that once a person has committed to costs for a flight, that they will arrive, and pay for, the accommodation booked with us. We would be disappointed to receive a short notice cancellation with an unjustifiable reason and would keep that persons details on file for future enquiries from them. If we have sufficient notice, we may be able to get a late booking for the owner so that they do not lose all their rental income.
Sometimes we ask for a deposit to determine the renters sincerity as some people can be "time wasters".
If you prefer to pay a booking deposit for your own peace-of-mind, and because you may not want to carry a large mount of cash to hand over on arrival, you can do so. We would provide you with the necessary details for payment by UK cheque to a UK address or, if you have euro currency in your own country, by euro bank transfer to our Spanish bank account.

Yes, due to parents being fined for keeping their children out of school during term time in the UK, bookings now are more frequent during school holiday periods instead of spread more throughout the year. Owners want to maximise these school holiday and Bank Holiday periods for rental income and although we have persuaded them not to increase their rental prices during school holiday periods (unlike the airlines!), they do not want short breaks at low cost if it includes a bank holiday because they know that they can get at least a weeks booking.
So, unfortunately, we have the policy of a minimum booking period of 7 nights if it includes a UK Bank Holiday (i.e. Christmas, New Year, Easter, Spring Holiday, etc). However, if it less than 2 weeks until that UK Bank Holiday, we will accept a booking for minimum 3 nights between June and September inclusive or minimum 4 nights between October and May inclusive.

If there is no booking leaving on that day, or late on the previous day, we are normally flexible enough to allow this for minimum inconvenience to yourselves. However, when it is not possible, our policy is:
"Please note that when there is a same-day changeover between 2 rental parties, we operate the policy of "vacate by 12 noon and into property after 4 pm".
This obviously affects both parties but it is standard practice with tour operators, hotels, places such as Butlins and Haven Holidays, etc. Although it may not take 4 hours to clean the property, we may have other work that day and we always have the 4 hour "window" for flexibility. If the clean is finished before 16.00, and we have a mobile number for the you, we MAY be able to allow you into the property earlier, provided that we can do the key handover earlier. We won't know the work schedule until about a week before the date, and even that can change with late bookings. Also, until we actually get into the place to do the clean, we won't know the extent of the clean and therefore the length of time to do it.

If you have a hire car, it is no problem. You just store them in the boot and ensure that they are not on view. We do allow the cases to be stored in the property when the clean is done.
If you have to vacate the property early, you will need to take your cases with you. If your flight is not until late, you will either have to keep them with you until your taxi arrives at the collection point (perhaps by the pool) or depart to the airport earlier than necessary. If you do not want this inconvenience, the alternative is to book the property an extra night at additional cost AT THE TIME OF BOOKING to ensure that you can have a late departure. We may be able to arrange to collect your cases from you at the required vacate time and store them in either our vehicle or our house and then deliver them back to you at the property location at a time that suits you for the return trip to the airport. There would be an additional charge of 20 euro for this service and it is only applicable between the hours of 08.00 am and 23.00pm.
If you arrive early, you will need to keep your cases with you until the property is available. You will not be allowed to deposit your cases in the property until the clean is complete. If we have a mobile number for you and we are available to do the key handover earlier than scheduled, then you MAY be able to get into the property earlier. If you do not want this inconvenience, the alternative is to book the property for an extra night at additional cost before AT THE TIME OF BOOKING to ensure that you can have an early arrival. We may be able to arrange to collect your cases from you outside the property and store them in either our vehicle or our house and then deliver them back to you at the property at the time that you are able to enter the property after the clean. There would be an additional charge of 20 euro for this service and it is only applicable between the hours of 08.00 am and 23.00pm.

12. Can I leave the property late on my departure day?

On your planned departure day, we come to the house at a preagreed time to collect the keys and you depart.
If we get another booking coming in on the same day, or early the next day, we operate the policy of "vacate by 12 noon and into property after 4 pm" as per our booking conditions.
If we don't have another booking, you are welcome to stay until later in the day. However, if we suddenly get a late booking, we would contact you to ask you to leave by 12 noon.

For a booking up to 3 weeks, we provide one set of bedding per bed and one bath towel and one hand towel per person. All properties have a washing machine and a movable airer or washing line for drying. Most of the year it is possible to wash bedding early in the morning, dry it during the day and iron it late afternoon (if required) before remaking the beds. Some people bring a spare set of sheets of their own from home and take them back for washing.
If there is only a couple in a 2 bedroom property, any spare beds can also be used if necessary whilst the other washing is drying. This isn't a problem to us as we often find that any spare beds still need changing because people put cases on top of the clean sheets, use the room for changing, sometimes have a lie-down, etc. This generally marks the top sheet if nothing else.
For a 3 week booking or longer, we provide two sets of bedding per bed and two bath towels and two hand towels per person. The cleaning/laundry cost increases by 50% to cover not only the extra laundry but also because we invariably find that people tend to cook more in the property and, unfortunately sometimes, allow a much greater accumulation of dirt and dust around the place "because they are on holiday".
Beach/pool towels are not provided; you need to bring your own or buy locally if you have weight restrictions (perhaps buy at the market). Also if you require more bath and hand towels.

We recommend that you be covered by travel insurance whenever you go overseas from your home country for flights, luggage in transit, airport transfers, etc. Although the rental owner will have buildings and contents insurance for the property and its possessions, your personal possessions need to be covered by your own travel insurance.

September, early October is normally quite good. Our parents come out around that time as the weather is usually still quite warm and we are still having early evening barbeques as the nights draw in. No heating is needed. Might get some rainy days as its the "change of seasons" but often only during the night. Swimming pools are too cold for locals by mid September but holiday maker children are often in them until mid October. Heated pool are not usually switched on until November 1st and that is only to take the chill off - not truly heated. There are not so many people around (only a few children) but not many places shut. A few restaurants may shut in December, mainly around Christmas, as ex-pats go back to the UK  some of the Spanish restaurants shut for several months. 

Your deposit is going to an account in name of Mr KS and Mrs JV Musselwhite. The rental agency is our own and we have been operating since 2003. Our contact details can be found on our website on the "Contacts" page including our HOME address at this link - http://www.cbspain.com/contactus.html - so we have nothing to hide. We have many happy clients as you will see on our website "Guest Page" - http://www.cbspain.com/guestbook.html. On request, we can give you the email addresses of some previous renters to prove everything is OK. I am sure that they will not have a problem replying to you direct by email if you explain your worries. We get many repeat bookings because people are happy with our service and properties.

We do not offer a mid holiday clean. This is a self catering holiday accommodation. Our cleaners will not enter premises whilst people have their personal belongings there in case any items go missing or get damaged. Cleaning is always done in an empty property and only at the end of the rental period.

We have to arrange the clean which you pay for. All our properties are cleaned to a high standard and are left "ready to go" for a late booking possibility. Different people have different standards regards cleaning and we require a consistently high standard to encourage repeat bookings. If you stayed in a hotel. you would not be allowed to do your own clean to save some money. Many people leave early in the day and it would not be possible to wash, dry and iron the bedding in any case, let alone clean throughout..

We are unable to accept a payment by cheque sent to Spain. It takes about 30 days for a cheque to clear via the central clearing banks in Madrid and further charges are made by the Spanish bank which we would have to ask you to pay. Also, we do not receive post at our house very efficiently due to the poor quality of the postal service in Spain. On our complex, we have many post boxes all in one location. Sometimes the post delivery person puts the envelope in the wrong number box (particularly temporary delivery people in the summer) and, if it is an empty house or only used twice a year for holidays, we may never get the cheque. You then have further costs to stop the cheque and issue a new one. Bank transfer is normally done by our clients in France and has never been a problem.
We are able to accept payment by Western Union transfer but there is an additional 10 euro administration charge as we need to go to the local Correos (Post Office) to collect the money in person.

Email has largely replaced post for this type of business. In the same way that airlines do not post tickets if you book online, we do not post contracts because it would increase our costs which we would have to pass onto you. Our email confirmation acts as the contract. Written contract sent by post can be arranged on request at an additional 20 euro.

We would have to increase our prices to accept payment by credit cards (by around 4%). We like to keep our prices as low as possible. You can either come with cash or use an ATM cash machine at most banks. Beware that cash machines are often empty of money at times in peak tourist season. We are unable to hand over the keys until we have been paid.

DEFINATELY NO!! In communities run by non Spanish people, the swimming pool normally contains water all year round unless it has been drained for maintenance. They are not maintained fully regards chemicals (apart from keeping the water "blue" but you will not be in the water for long!. In communities run by Spanish people, mainly in apartment blocks in town, many swimming pools are emptied at the end of September and not refilled with water again until June. Although brave holiday visitors often use pools as late as October and as early as April, local Spanish people DO NOT!
Heated pools are not usually switched on until November 1st and that is only to take the chill off - not truly heated.

I.V.A is a tax that WE must pay the Spanish Government from the money that we receive on the profit that we make from operating our business as we are a registered business operating legally via a Spanish accountant. In the UK, it is called V.A.T. It is included in our total price to you.
"Rental" companies that do not declare their earnings do not have to charge you I.V.A but they they are not operating legally and you should be wary of booking via such a company as many have a habit of "disappearing" with your advance booking money.

I am surprised with the “no deposit” stated. I was hoping for some security if we do book as a property we recently booked with another company has now been sold!
Its no problem if you want to pay a booking deposit. With many repeat or recommended bookings each year, we know many of the renters personally and either myself or my wife will meet you at the property. If one of our owners says that they are going to put their property up for sale, we immediately take them off our website as we wouldn't want disappointed guests because repeat bookings are important to us. In any case, if one was sold quickly, we still have many other properties to offer instead.
Some people also prefer to pay some or all of the rent before they arrive so that they are not travelling with lots of money.

QUESTIONS FROM OWNERS

101. I'm considering using my property for long lets but less than 1 year. What do you think?
102. I might put my apartment up for sale. Can I still rent it out with you?
103. Will I get a good price for my 2 bedroom apartment if I sell it?
104. Do you work with any property agents to get bookings?
105. Do you do cleaning and key holding without renting out a property?
106. Why don't you provide welcome packs?
107. Can you look after my private pool?
108. What facilities do I need for good renting potential?
109. Do scams and bank fraud attempts occur when renting out?
110. Do you provide a call-out service?
111. A friend of mine is going to use the property for a few days, but only just sleeping there so “she will leave it as she finds it”.
112. You don't take on properties in north Torrevieja now?
113. What happens if a renter is injured in the property?
114. Is it OK to leave a key with a neighbour to have some work done in the property?
115. Is it OK to pay you for extra services on my next trip out?

From Easter to September, you should only be considering holiday lets at good prices. With a mortgage, that is the time of year when you should be saving to cover the slack winter months. Its one of the reasons why friends and family should be paying towards the costs. Our own apartment was empty for 4 months in the winter but we would rather it was empty than have a long let (but we don’t have a mortgage). Winter rents are lower but bills are higher for electrics, heating, etc. There is the wear and tear on the equipment in the apartment possibly requiring a repaint in the spring, new bedding, new towels, etc.
This winter, we have seen a bedroom shut off for 2 months in a property and it was growing with mould (no common sense some people about ventilation). The owner had to redecorate.
Another time, we saw an old couple sit and watch the TV for 2 months and never picked up a broom or cleaning materials. It took us 4 hours just to clean the kitchen.!!  The owner got billed about a 100 euro for the cleaning.
Another owner (not our of ours fortunately) also had people go leaving electricity and water bills but there was not enough damage deposit money to cover the costs when all the bills came in over a period of months. They even left the keys in the house and did a runner and the owners were unable to trace them. The people even left a different TV and swapped other furniture, presumably with their next long let! The owner also had to replace the sofa and decorate throughout. In the end, it cost them about 2000 euro to get it straight. They obviously didn't’t do a long let again.
I’m sure that there are many people who will respect your property on a long let basis but we will not take the risk, and ours in on the complex that we live on. In our own complex this week, a group of Lithuanians have gone from someone's apartment (not one of ours) after complaints about noise, bicycles by the swimming pool, banging gates, loud music, spitting and numerous other things. We suspect from the comings and goings that there were about 8 people sleeping there at times, not the 4 that it was rented out. This is the second time that this particular owner has had problems and we would have thought that she had learnt her lesson the first time after replacing the sofa, redecorating, etc.
A lot of the time, people will only pay for the winter what equates to a WEEK in the summer. Some owners say bills are extra but as we have said above, any prepayment may not be enough to cover bills, and monitoring bills, or arranging collection, is another problem.
We offered long lets for a short period on our website but decided in the end that it was too risky. We did not want the aggravation of trying to vet or monitor renters or to get involved with complaints from community Presidents, Police visits, complicated rental contracts in Spanish, etc.

If you decide to put in on the market, we would have to stop advertising it straight away. Apart from viewers inconveniencing renters and disturbing their privacy (most resale viewing trips only being a few days and therefore hard to fit in-between bookings), if you suddenly had a buyer, we would personally be letting down people who had booked their holidays, possibly with the inability to move them elsewhere during peak periods. This would affect our excellent reputation, which has taken a long time to build up, some of it being based on recommendations from satisfied renters.

January 2008
Builders talk openly of ‘real crisis’ . By Nuria Pérez
FIGURES released this week confirm that the housing market in the south of Alicante province is now in crisis. The prices of resale properties fell by more that 15 per cent in some towns during 2007. And according to Antonio Navarro, president of promoters’ association Procosta, sales of new-build homes fell by 70 to 80% in the Vega Baja area in the same period.
He said sales started to drop off in 2006 and have been falling dramatically since October 2007. He said: “The Vega Baja is suffering a real sales crisis.”
In the second-hand property market prices have fallen in nearly all Vega Baja municipalities as well as in San Pedro del Pinatar, Los Alcázares and San Javier on the Mar Menor, according research by the specialised internet site Facilisimo.com. Figures collected by the site operators show that prices in 2007 fell by 16.36% in Orihuela, 8.16% in Torrevieja, 7.85% in Pilar de la Horadada, 12.83% in Los Alcázares, 5.65% in Torre Pacheco, 7.05% in La Manga del Mar Menor and 11.19%in San Pedro del Pinatar. However, prices in Guardamar del Segura showed a slight improvement, rising by 0.19%.
Research shows that resale three-bedroom town houses are available for 151.000 euros in Orihuela Costa.
Procosta president Antonio Navarro blames the current market slump on several factors. He said the rapid increase of property prices in pervious years, the bad image of the Costa Blanca in Europe and the competition of emerging markets in Eastern Europe and Northern Africa have hit sales.
 “Property prices on the coast were really low in 1997,” he told CB News. “They have trebled since then and now they are similar to cities’ property prices.”
And he said that only a few builders are starting new building projects at the moment.
 “The offer will adjust to the demand in the end”, he said. “The Vega Baja has faced a deep building crisis before and the area has enormous potential.”
However he said small businesses related to the building industry will be affected and many employees will have to look for new jobs.  “Only reliable builders with a real commitment to do things right will survive,” he added.
He also said that the facilities and infrastructure needed to provide residents in the area with a decent quality of life must now be built by local, regional and national governments.
Independent Opinion
Many of us have said for a number of years that the crash was coming. You can’t just keep building new houses non stop over an extended period. Many people who buy houses abroad for one reason or another will want to move on, up-grade, down grade etc. This means that the market changes from new to resale.
In order for stability in any type of industry which involves sales, there has to be a period of level trading in order to stimulate and satisfy the markets that develop, including all associated sales and service.
New houses create future resales, resales create future new House sales and so on. Each have to be allowed to work for the other which also stimulates revenue for other associated trades such as estate agents, builders, fitters, etc, and keeps the revenue flowing in the area. By constantly building new houses and, at the same time pricing them very close to a resale price, means the resale market comes to a standstill.
In some ways it may be good if it means that builders in Spain will finally realise they no longer have a captive audience with these new cheaper markets emerging in other European countries and farther away. Maybe, just maybe, these same Spanish builders will finish their developments the way they market them instead of grabbing your deposit and stage payments and then just not living up to their obligations when you make your final payment and giving you what you pay for. For too long they have bitten the hand that feeds them.
In my opinion, it is a lesson they need to lear ! Perhaps now they will actually work for their money!
January 2008
According to figures released today (22nd January 2008) by the Spanish Estate Agents' Commission, around 40,000 Spanish estate agencies - nearly half the total - were forced to close last year, coinciding with a 40% decline in property sales. As a result, it is estimated that around 100,000 estate agents lost their jobs during 2007. With some doom-mongers predicting property prices to fall during 2008, Housing minister, Carmé Chacón, confirmed today that house prices rose less than 5% last year - roughly in line with the IPC official inflation rate, which closed the year at 4.2%.

February 2008 - Spanish Property Market Report 2007/2008
A pretty gloomy but realistic reports from a respected writer. It seems to reflect the current state of the Spanish market. As an Acrobat pdf file - Click here

END OF 2008 - No further comments - its a world wide problem now!!!

We have been approached a number of times but prefer to continue working entirely independently. Although we have only been in operation for 5 years, we are obtaining a satisfactory number of bookings by various means without having to pass on any of our low commission to third parties, which would mean that we would then have to increase our competitively lower-than-average rental prices or take more commission from owners. However, we are quite happy for any property agent to continue to make enquiries and bookings via our website for rentals for their clients with the assurance that they will be using a good quality, clean property. They may also offer to put us in contact with their clients who have bought properties that they wish to rent out.
Where we receive leads from other companies who have clients from abroad for perhaps cosmetic operation reasons, the same applies. Even though we do not give the companies any commission, if their clients are more than happy with our high quality, competitively priced accommodation, punctual and efficient service, etc, compared to mediocre, expensive hotels with no UK TV, no fridge, no kettle, minimal heating, etc, in the room, then everyone is happy and it perhaps means repeat business or recommended business for all of us.

Regards key holding and cleaning services, I’m afraid that we only take on properties on a full rental management basis and also they must be within 30 minutes walk of the beach. However, you will find many ex-pats offering this service; just ensure that they are recommended to you and that they can provide genuine references. There are a lot of “cowboys” doing this (we found out to our own cost when we first came here) so its very important or you could find “visitors” in your property that you are not aware of, and are not being paid for.

We don’t offer welcome packs because we have had problems in the past with what different people want, i.e. brown or white bread, butter or margarine or spread, full fat milk or semi skimmed or skimmed, etc. It’s often a problem finding the time to actually do the food shopping as well and then keeping it fresh and cold. When we are busy with our many properties, we are working all hours and and often don't have time to do our own shopping!! You could stop at a garage/24 hour shop on the way in from the airport (or the Motorway Services just after leaving Alicante airport if coming that route) and then you can get exactly what they want. There are also 24 hour shops in most areas such as in La Florida (behind Waldemars / Mosquito bar), Flamenca Beach Commercial, La Zenia roundabout, Cabo Roig roundabout. If you want home country branded items, its best to bring them with you if you can as although many items are available here, they would be more expensive.
For the inbound journey, many people bring some tea bags, coffee in a plastic sealer bag, sugar sachets, so that they only need to get some water (although we do drink the tap water ourselves in tea and coffee) and a carton of milk in your checked-in suitcase (or bring dried milk sachets / Coffee Mate) to use overnight until they go to the supermarket in the morning. This is what we do when we go on holiday.
The other solution is for the property owner to keep a stock of bottles of water (although we drink the tap water in tea and coffee so its not essential), long life cartons of milk, cartons of orange juice, bottles of wine and beers in the property in a lockup.

107. Can you look after my private pool?

Swimming pool are very temperamental, particularly in the summer months. No one wants a "green" pool!
Our main business is RENTAL management but we do some property management. With regards to a private pool, you would need to have a contract yourself with a suitable pool maintenance company, have an agreed schedule of work, have an emergency callout agreement and pay them direct. We would only be involved by calling them out if there was a problem with the pool.

A house (as opposed to an apartment), south facing balcony / solarium / garden, easy walking distance of the beach / bars /restaurants / taxi ranks / buses,  UK TV, a swimming pool,  solarium / garden with sunbeds and barbeque, 2 toilets / bathrooms, view overlooking pool, sea view, secure, high wall, locked gates area containing both the property and the pool, secure off-road parking, chairs / sunbeds to use by pool, small plastic chairs/ light folding chairs for the beach, for sleeping 5 or 6 people, air conditioning (hot and cold), in the suburb areas on the south side of Torrevieja (in Orihuela Costa).
If its an apartment: ground floor apartment if with small children or higher floor apartment if with lift for less road noise.
Other luxuries that can also help such as heated pool for winter, dish washer, washer/dryer, coffee maker, etc.
If you have most of these, you have a very good rental potential.

We have recently been subject to a Fraud or Scam from this person:
Name: Reed Huish
Email Address: reed42k@yahoo.co.uk
Home Telephone: 971507843893 (not genuine)
Home Address: 64, Al-Khaleej Rd,Deira, Dubai, U.A.E.

Upon receiving a booking confirmation from this person for a 40 night winter booking worth 1500 euro, we asked for a 300 euro booking deposit as we were not comfortable with the enquiry. He was asked to arrange a bank transfer to our Spanish Bank but instead sent a cheque for over 8000 euro (he said by mistake) from an Irish bank account to our Spanish bank. It showed immediately as a credit in our account. After informing the person that we suspected it was a fraud and that we were cancelling his booking, we stopped communicating with the person despite repeated requests.  However, we did not inform the bank about our suspicions and 2 weeks later, the cheque bounced. However, the bank charge us nearly 150 euro for the bounced cheque!! We went to our bank and explained the fraud situation but they were not really interested as they had our 150 euro which we have never received back. We will obviously be more cautious in future with this type of long term enquiry in bad English from a distant country.
The following  guidelines may help all of us:
The most common type of scam enquiry involves the enquirer offering to pay by cheque a sum greater than the total amount due for the rental period, with a request that you send the excess balance to a third party for a transaction which is unrelated to the rental of the property, such as agents commission fees or to cover travelling expenses. This type of scam is intended to work by exploiting the advertisers' lack of knowledge about the cheque clearance system.
The enquirer sends excess payment and requests that you refund the balance by wire transfer or similar method as soon as you have received the cheque. This scam can work because when you have deposited a cheque into your account, the funds may show in your bank balance before the cheque has actually cleared. However, if the cheque turns out to be fake or there is not enough money in the issuers account to cover the payment, the funds are then withdrawn from your account by your bank. If you have refunded the excess balance on the fake cheque during this time, you will have lost this money as there is no way to retrieve these funds. If you do nothing, like we did, you still lose money because of bounced cheque bank charges, but at least it will not be as much.
Although the best way to avoid being caught by this type of scam is simply to never accept payment for more than the amount due, you cannot prevent them sending a cheque for a larger amount of money which affects bounced cheque charges.
Do not provide your bank details unless you are fully satisfied that the enquiry is genuine.
There are several clues to help you identify this type of scam. In addition to a request for you to forward an excess balance, please be cautious with enquiries that also include the following warning signs:
The enquiry may be written in poor English and/or use an excessively formal tone of voice.
The enquiry may come from an unusual country for a holiday in Spain, i.e. U.A.E, Nigeria, India, etc.
The enquiry may contain excessive circumstantial information about their reasons for wanting to rent the property in an attempt to appear to be a legitimate enquiry. For example they may write something like: 'I am a 30 year old travelling to Spain during July to attend a business conference which has been sponsored by my employer.'
The enquiry may be for an unusually long rental period, often in excess of a month.

If guests have a problem, they can contact us and we can provide free advise on the phone or point them to a page in the house book where we have provided information.
If they require a visit, we do this at the emergency call out costs stated in the house book subject to us being available dependent on other workload, or being able to drive if late evening after perhaps dinner and some drinks - in which case they pay all taxi costs for us.
If the problem concerns some non important item in the apartment, we will arrange repair as and when we can.

111. A friend of mine is going to use the property for a few days, but only just sleeping there so “she will leave it as she finds it” or "my mother is coming and will do the clean when she goes".

We are unable to operate on the principle that "will leave it as she finds it". She may only be sleeping in the house, but by walking through the house, using the bathroom, using the bedroom, cleaning her teeth, making a cup of tea, using the toilet, remaking the bed with clean and ironed linen, etc, she is creating the need for a proper clean.
Our Operations state” “We advertise your property FREE OF CHARGE on our websites provided that we handle the rental management exclusively on your behalf. This means that only ourselves arrange key handover and collections and cleaning and laundry, whether for your bookings (family, friends or others) or our bookings. This is to ensure that our standards are always met and that your property is “ready to go” for the next visitors, whether as a paying booking or friends or family.”
Therefore, when your friend or mother leaves, we will need to arrange a full clean as it is a requirement for providing free advertising and obtaining bookings for you. The cleaning money is to be left in the property. If the money is not left, we will take it from your account.
One of the reasons for insisting on operating the cleaning in this way is that we pay out quite a lot of money each year for advertising elsewhere to help get bookings which bring in money for owners as well as ourselves. We obviously need to recoup the cost (hopefully!) for such advertising.
Other extracts from our Operations which clarifies our cleaning services to provide free advertising:
If the owner does their own clean but our booking is going in next, we will check that the property is “ready to go” and to the required standard and make a small charge for this. If it is not ready, we will prepare it as necessary with the visit and additional costs being shown on the owners account. If, for example, the owner has made beds with un-ironed sheets, or returned un-ironed sheets to the laundry lockup, this will require us to remake the beds and that would constitute a full clean cost.
Your visitors are not able to carry out the end of rental clean. They probably do not want to do this anyway because it means several hours work on the last day of their holiday plus washing, drying (even if it is raining!) and ironing and making beds so that the whole property is “ready to go” to our required standard.

We are not currently taking on any more properties that side of Torrevieja as we find that it is difficult for us to service them properly as we are based in La Florida on the other side of town. When the N332 is very busy with traffic in the summer, we spend too much time stuck in traffic jams which reduces our efficiency. Also with areas around Altos de la Bahia, a car is recommended as its not too easy to get to Playa Los Locos or La Mata beaches on foot and although commercials in that area are increasing, they cannot match southern areas such as the Flamenca Beach Commercial, La Zenia, etc. In that area, we do not get so many enquiries and bookings apart from in peak season.

If a person is injured in the property, the renters can claim off the insurance of the property owner as they would be covered under the Public Liability clause of their buildings insurance. However, for an injury inside the property, the Insurance company could use the non-disclosure clause against the rental owner if they have not informed the insurance company that they rent out the property on a commercial basis, short term (i.e. less than one year). It may make a difference of around 10% on the premium. By stating the property is used on a commercial basis, the owner is not then liable for the possessions of the renter; that it is up to the renter to have their own insurance for personal possessions, typically Travel Insurance for a holiday visit.
If the person is injured in a communal area outside of the property, they would be covered under the Public Liability clause of the Community Building Insurance.

No. We should be the only key holder. We cannot have the risk of strangers walking in whilst people who have paid money for a holiday are staying there, have personal items in the apartment, and may not be in the apartment at the time of the visit, etc, as it would not be acceptable, particularly if any of their personal items went missing because someone was in there whilst they were out. They would think that only we had spare keys so we could be blamed for anything. We would need to move any bookings until the work is complete. We may then require the the front door lock to be changed in case other copies of the keys are in circulation, perhaps because someone holding a key temporarily, particularly a workman, has had more copies made.

We keep around 50 euro in your account with us to cover small emergencies, an extra clean, etc. If we need to do other work, we need to be paid within the same month. If it is the peak season and there are bookings going into the property that results in us collecting rental money, it is no problem. If its the winter and there is insufficient money in the account, with no near future bookings, we would need to receive payment from the owner, either by a UK cheque to a UK address or a transfer into our Spanish bank account. We prefer not to be put in the embarrassing situation whereby we need to insist on the payment but when its quiet for us in the winter, we need some income coming in as running a business means that we are paying out monthly for accountant, advertising, National Insurance, taxes, etc, and we are unable to defer payment by several months.