That was a sweet answer and I applaud you for apologizing.
Apology accepted. I am not like your landlords.
I’ve never, ever charged a guest for anything (whether I had the right or not). It’s hard to ascertain sometimes who exactly caused something to malfunction as sometimes things just don’t break right away. I don’t fix appliances (common here), I just show up with a brand new one. Those are subject to wear and tear.
But expensive kitchen utensils (I bought them for my own home and then found some I liked better and since there were brand-new I put those in the rental place), towels (16 missing towels!), bed sheets, and assorted knickknacks disappear from time to time. Even light bulbs (energy-saving bulbs). It’s not all this lady, it just keep happening.
I don’t get it. These people don’t come from super-poor countries. Heck, they can afford to fly to places. What is the need for this?
I don’t know. I’d simply charge a deposit from now on, and keep anything that is worth more than that bolted down.
What kind of “broken” is the computer? There’s a lot of stuff that can go wrong, and they are all mostly fixable. Is it physically trashed? How did she likely break it?
May I ask why you don’t charge a deposit in the first place?
It sounds like you are on par with a hotel or B&B, and they charge deposits.
The computer is broken as in “doesn’t turn on”. Can it be fixed? Probably, but there isn’t much of a reason why it should have to. It’s only a couple of months old and has only been used by two people including the Church Lady.
I don’t charge a deposit because most customers just wouldn’t pay it. They believe that since they are leaving soon they should not have to.
I will refund today the only pending reservation I have and will take down our listings on the net. I just had it with people. Many of my guests are fine humans, some not so much. Before I become one of those bitter, unfriendly landlords I’ll quit.
I also *invited *my current guest to leave today, after he decided to heap abuse on me because the place is not up to his standards. He wants hotel-level service. I just rent an apartment and cannot provide 24/7 service, which is why it’s cheaper than any hotel in the same area of town. After my experience with computer-dude (old pit thread) I had it.
They do? I’ve never had a hotel or a B&B charge me a deposit. They’ve taken my credit card number and charged me for things I’ve used (minibar, hotel amenities, room service, etc) after the fact, but I’ve never had them take a chunk of money as a damage deposit.
They put a hold on the funds for a certain amount on the credit card. Don’t be surprised to find the card declined at the next place you use it that day, because that reserved amount counts against your limit.
Can you link to the rant on the computer dude?
The story of my sweet KKK guest: I wish God existed so you could go to hell! - The BBQ Pit - Straight Dope Message Board
I’ve never done anything to a computer that caused it not to turn on and I’m really not sure what one could do (short of deliberate tampering) that might cause it. I’ve had one or two that stopped turning on due to a fault. Until you know why it doesn’t turn on, I think you are leaping to an unlikely conclusion in assuming that something your guest did caused it not to turn on.
And while I could believe that, and would never charge a guest for it, taken together with the missing items leads me to believe that she might have been less than careful when using it. The CPU is not where I left it (on top of the desk), I found it on the floor, disconnected. What that has to do with it not working, I don’t know.
It’s gutted. Was it on a cinder block? You likely interrupted her before she could take off with it.
Open the case, take some pictures, and post it online. We might be able to tell you if any internal parts were stolen.
i am not a computer person but could she have stolen your hard drive?
Seriously, Mighty_Girl , you are just way too nice to be a landlord.
Getting out of the business is probably wise. With the number of fucknugget landlords out there it’s shame, but I guess your experience probably shows why at least some of them are fucknuggets.
FYI, in the UK you almost always leave a deposit of one month’s rent as a deposit and in theory this is returned when you leave, less any deductions to cover loss, damage, or cleaning.
In practise, as VCO3 clearly knows only too well, you should work on the assumption that you are never going to see a penny of that deposit again. I have heard this many times from friends and work associates over the years. Agencies seem to be the worst in this respect; my ex-boss had the whole deposit witheld for “carpet cleaning”. Except that the carpets were so manky when she moved in that she had done her best to clean them and then bought new (albeit cheap off-cut) carpets and overlaid them. And left them when she moved out. She improved the place and they still kept a month’s rent!
I knew a mature student who rented a large house with 5 other students. The kitchen table had 5 chairs. They clubbed together and bought a sixth one that was a pretty good match for the other five and left it when they all moved out at the close of the academic year. The landlord (private one this time) deducted GBP75.00 for “chair removal”.
I have some rental property and EVERYTHING is spelled out in writing in the lease along with an inventory of furnishings. We do a walkthrough just before turning over the key with ME, the new TENANT, a THIRD party (usually a neighbor), a newspaper published on that date and a video camera. This tape is copied and I keep one and the tenant gets the other. All parties are aware that this is going to happen before they even fill out an application.
Good tenants appreciate this as it protects both of us and bad tenants (the sane ones anyway) usually back out when they see that the bases are all covered so I rarely let a problem become a problem in the first place.
In the OP’s situation, I would smile and require a security deposit period. “Not staying long? Without a deposit, you won’t stay here at all. That’s our policy! NEXT!”
CedricR.
Cite? I’ve had hotels put a hold on funds for the cost of the hotel room, and I’ve had them take an imprint for more charges, but I’ve never had them put a hold on funds as a damage deposit. And I’ve never had a card declined later in the day because of any deposit, and I’ve done some traveling in my life with very, very maxed out credit cards.
Does experience count? I’ve had it done to me numerous times, and I don’t even travel that much. I haven’t been close enough to maxing out a card for it to make a difference in many years, so it doesn’t bother me.
I suspect that ultra-religious lady found the porn that racist asshole left on the computer. Of course, she doesn’t know about racist asshole and assumes that it’s the landlord’s porn. A normal person might complain, an ultra-religious person might destroy the computer.
This has been discussed on the boards many times, and I leave it up to you to search for the threads.
About 30 years ago I worked with a [del]lady[/del] bitch that bragged about stealing a velux blanket from a small family owned motel she had stayed at that weekend. (Velux blankets had just been introduced at that point)
Anyway about an hour later she came in and said she had gotten a phone call from the owner of the motel who told her that if the blanket was not returned that her credit card would be charged for the cost of the blanket.
She mailed it out that afternoon.
Mighty_Girl you might want to consider such a phone call. If you do call please make sure you include teela brown’s question