Editor’s note: This article was first published in June 2011. The FACUA warning and the figure of more than 400 complaints in Andalusia date from that summer. Holiday rental platforms and Spanish regulation of tourist rentals have changed considerably since.
Many people will be looking for ways to give their finances a “boost” now that the summer holidays are here. It’s an ideal time for families who own a home on the coast or in the countryside. These days, classified ad sites fill up with all kinds of offers to rent out homes by the week, fortnight or month.
This isn’t a new way of doing business, but with the internet the number of holiday rental ads keeps growing, competition increases and sometimes we come across very eye-catching prices. That’s where FACUA (a Spanish consumer association) warns us about misleading offers and outright scams: a family may find a bargain, but when the time comes to enjoy their holiday, they can end up with no money and no holiday home.
Once we contact an owner, it’s advisable to make sure they really own the property before paying any money in advance. In many cases it’s practically impossible to see the flat or house, given that these deals are usually made from hundreds or thousands of kilometres away, and in other cases the owner can’t show the property because they live abroad or in another province.
Owners usually ask for the money to be paid in advance, either by bank transfer in the landlord’s name or into the account of a courier company, telling the future tenant that the company itself will hand over the keys. In many cases, the courier company has never received any keys and the supposed owner has already withdrawn the money.
That’s why it pays to take some basic precautions:
- Try to get the full details of the person you are going to send the bank transfer to, and avoid paying through intermediary companies.
- Check that the property belongs to the person you are sending the transfer to. You can do this by requesting a nota simple (an information extract on the property) from the civil registry.
This way we’ll avoid falling victim to a scam that has already led to more than 400 complaints in Andalusia alone.
Further reading
- Business ideas to make money from a country property or an old house
- Business ideas related to leisure and tourism
- Small businesses to make money in summer
- 10 business ideas that need no investment
Featured image: Andy Mitchell from Glasgow, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
.jpg){kind=link}