# Renting a villa



## Yolly (Jan 18, 2010)

Hi All,

Just wondered if anyone would mind answering the following:

- Is it common practice for an agent to ask for an agency fee when renting you a villa (half a month's rent?)

-Is it common practice to be asked to pay a month's rent as a deposit and a months rent in advance?

- Who is responsible for paying for pool and garden maintenance when renting a villa? The tenant or the owner?

Many thanks for your help.
Much appreciated

Yolly


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Yes to the first two and its negotiable to the last one!!!! LOL

Jo xxx


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## Leper (May 12, 2010)

1. It is not unusual to ask for an agency fee although you would be stupid to pay it.
2. Depending on how long you want to rent a deposit of one month's rental would not be unusual.
3. Payment of one month's rental in advance is not unusual either.
4. Pool and Garden maintenance (in my experience) is the responsibility of the owner of the property. The outside electricity fees, community fees, Refuse fees are also the responsobility of the owner.
Bear in mind the following also:-
The owner is taking a chance on you also. He does not know that you will not mistreat the place. He doesn't know if you will steal anything from the accommodation. He doesnt know that you will not sublet for a higher rent.

Before you pay anything find out if 'internal' electricity usage and water usage is your liability. If there is a gas cooker, is the replacing of used gas cylinder yours?

You have many questions to ask. I hope my reply is a fair one to both parties.



Yolly said:


> Hi All,
> 
> Just wondered if anyone would mind answering the following:
> 
> ...


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Leper said:


> 1. It is not unusual to ask for an agency fee although you would be stupid to pay it.


The agency/finders fee is pretty normal with the agents around here (usually half or even one months rental), altho one or two take a percentage of the rent from the owners, but thats usually loaded onto the rent anyway???????

Jo xxx


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## JimmyTait (Sep 13, 2009)

We are coming over in October and shall be bearing in mind that it is a renter's market at the moment and shall be negociating prices, terms and conditions mostly in our favour where possible and if they do not like it we shall walk away, at the end of the day there are so many similar properties out there trying to find tenants they would be mad to leave it empty over some minor detail like half a months rent or who pays for the pool cleaning! I have heard that if it s local landlord they will not negociate and will leave it empty whereas a desperate Brit will bite your hand off. Harsh to take advantage of someone elses desperation but these are tough times for everyone, me included


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Theres also the "other side of the coin" Alot of landlords have been caught out by some unscrupulous Brits, who have moved in, not paid rent for the duration, and then up and leave with most of the fixtures and fitting, leaving the property in a disgusting mess. Therefore the best deals can be done by offering a few months rental upfront!!! 

But IME the Spanish landlords are far more likely to not accept a huge reduction in the rent and would sooner sit on an empty property than to reduce the price. I've seen and heard of that happening alot

Jo xxx


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

jojo said:


> Theres also the "other side of the coin" Alot of landlords have been caught out by some unscrupulous Brits, who have moved in, not paid rent for the duration, and then up and leave with most of the fixtures and fitting, leaving the property in a disgusting mess. Therefore the best deals can be done by offering a few months rental upfront!!!
> 
> But IME the Spanish landlords are far more likely to not accept a huge reduction in the rent and would sooner sit on an empty property than to reduce the price. I've seen and heard of that happening alot
> 
> Jo xxx


The first paragraph is very true. It's amazing how some people leave places. My dil lets her house short-term to friends and work colleagues and I check on the place when they've left. I've been greeted with vile smells from unflushed loos (I won't go into details, you can imagine) and a dishwasher full of unwashed plates and dishes crusted with food. And these are 'respectable' City types.....

The second paragraph....there certainly are plenty of empty villas round here so it may well be true. We told our landlord who is Austrian that we would only stay if he decreased the rent by 500 euros a month. He countered with 250 euros, we said no and he agreed to 500. But.....we pay six months rent in advance as we find it more convenient. 
As for pool and garden maintenance...that's a sore point with me at the moment. Included in our rent is 300 euros a month for the services of a pool maintenance/gardener/general handyman. For this he will - in theory -be available 24/7 to do anything required around the house. He has looked after it for years.
He has turned up whenever anything out of the ordinary needs doing and is very pleasant and affable, totally trustworthy, but it's the mundane things he doesn't do that irritate me. I asked him yesterday to use the motor machine thingy to cut the lawns as we have guests but he hasn't turned up. 
We joke that he is the highest paid maintenance man in Spain as we see him for about three hours a month - if we're lucky.
In winter he has practically nothing to do..


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## Leper (May 12, 2010)

Jimmy Tait is right the market is now balanced in favour of the renter (customer). There are unscrupulous holiday home owners out there along with unscrupulous holiday home renting people i.e people who charge as much as possible and those who will pay as little as possible.

The difficulty is in fair balance all of the time. Fortunately, common sense reigns most of the time. I am in the rental busness for 6 years and am a little more successful than some of my neighbours. I like to think this is because of my fairness in all my dealings.

In the recent past I came across two retired UK couples who were being screwed by their respective landlords for extra rental because of cancelled flights due to the Iceland volcano. And this was after 6 months off season rental for each couple.

Each couple is returning to Spain for another 6 months next October. Guess from whom they are not renting?


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> The first paragraph is very true. It's amazing how some people leave places. My dil lets her house short-term to friends and work colleagues and I check on the place when they've left. I've been greeted with vile smells from unflushed loos (I won't go into details, you can imagine) and a dishwasher full of unwashed plates and dishes crusted with food. And these are 'respectable' City types.....
> 
> The second paragraph....there certainly are plenty of empty villas round here so it may well be true. We told our landlord who is Austrian that we would only stay if he decreased the rent by 500 euros a month. He countered with 250 euros, we said no and he agreed to 500. But.....we pay six months rent in advance as we find it more convenient.
> As for pool and garden maintenance...that's a sore point with me at the moment. Included in our rent is 300 euros a month for the services of a pool maintenance/gardener/general handyman. For this he will - in theory -be available 24/7 to do anything required around the house. He has looked after it for years.
> ...


300 euros a month!
That seems like a lot, doesn't it?


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Pesky Wesky said:


> 300 euros a month!
> That seems like a lot, doesn't it?



I thought that and I had a previous landlady who tried to charge me 300€ for a gardener/pool man, but I refused to pay it and did it all myself and quite frankly it took me at the very most 2 hours a week - including mowing the lawn!

But for some I guess its nice to have the peace of mind and reassurance!!

Jo xxx


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

jojo said:


> I thought that and I had a previous landlady who tried to charge me 300€ for a gardener/pool man, but I refused to pay it and did it all myself and quite frankly it took me at the very most 2 hours a week - including mowing the lawn!
> 
> But for some I guess its nice to have the peace of mind and reassurance!!
> 
> Jo xxx


I used to pay €60 a month for a pool man, but he would be out at least once a week in the summer, and twice a month in the winter


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

jojo said:


> I thought that and I had a previous landlady who tried to charge me 300€ for a gardener/pool man, but I refused to pay it and did it all myself and quite frankly it took me at the very most 2 hours a week - including mowing the lawn!
> 
> But for some I guess its nice to have the peace of mind and reassurance!!
> 
> Jo xxx


Oh I agree, I woudn't want to have to fiddle about with it myself, but 300€ seems abusive to me.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Oh I agree, I woudn't want to have to fiddle about with it myself, but 300€ seems abusive to me.



Especially when you consider that wages are supposed to be a lot lower in Spain. I have a gardener in the UK and he does everything, mowing, weeding, pruning, tidying... of course we dont have a pool, its a fairly average sized garden and we pay him 120 pounds a month. He spends roughly a couple of hours a week there during the summer and in the winter, he pops in for an hour or so a month. Mind you, I think he quite likes to see my two daughters who live there and very often spends the afternoon there having a beer and a chat 

Jo xxx


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## JimmyTait (Sep 13, 2009)

300 Euro a month OMG. I know what I am doing in my leave periods from offshore then! Part time job for me  Gardening and cleaning pools, easy. Even better, beers and chatting with someones offspring at the same time, bonus.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Pesky Wesky said:


> 300 euros a month!
> That seems like a lot, doesn't it?


Yes.....but I'm feeling less peeved today as he has just turned up to mow the lawns and offered without being asked to drive to the A7 near Torremolinos to help my dil who had a car problem driving back from the airport.
He has looked after this house for ten years and our landlord won't allow anyone else to take over.
The peace of mind aspect is worth a lot, though as when the dishwasher went wrong he got it fixed and he was really annoyed that we waited until Monday to call him when we suddenly had no hot water on a Saturday night.
I alternate between feelings of annoyance and being pleased!!
And if we had to find somebody else to look after the garden and pool, we'd have to sort out our own problems with household things or wait days and maybe weeks for the landlord to sort things out for us..
And I don't feel so dissatisfied now we pay 500 euros les in rent as our rent includes the 300 euros so we're actually paying a very good rent for this area for house and man together.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> Yes.....but I'm feeling less peeved today as he has just turned up to mow the lawns and offered without being asked to drive to the A7 near Torremolinos to help my dil who had a car problem driving back from the airport.
> He has looked after this house for ten years and our landlord won't allow anyone else to take over.
> The peace of mind aspect is worth a lot, though as when the dishwasher went wrong he got it fixed and he was really annoyed that we waited until Monday to call him when we suddenly had no hot water on a Saturday night.
> I alternate between feelings of annoyance and being pleased!!
> ...


So, it sounds like 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. *And* you can call him at any time about anything in the house which is good. Most of all, you're happy with the arrangement


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## deskofmarlene (May 15, 2010)

*villa*

We're owner of properties and have a nice villa to rent (we are not real estate agents but owners). Don't hesitate to contact me if interested.
Best regards




Yolly said:


> Hi All,
> 
> Just wondered if anyone would mind answering the following:
> 
> ...


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Pesky Wesky said:


> So, it sounds like 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. *And* you can call him at any time about anything in the house which is good. Most of all, you're happy with the arrangement


Yes, that's about it. I'm often on the verge of ringing him and telling him he's an idle swine and not worth 30 euros let alone 300 and then my OH counsels restraint and five minutes later he turns up all happy and helpful.
Today he appeared and has mown about one-fifth of the lawn. We came back from walking OLA to find he had disappeared, mower and all.
Probably for siesta...
Ah well....a partially mown lawn is the least of the world's woes, methinks
Nada pasa.....


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## deskofmarlene (May 15, 2010)

Yolly said:


> Hi All,
> 
> Just wondered if anyone would mind answering the following:
> 
> ...



- Is it common practice for an agent to ask for an agency fee when renting you a villa (half a month's rent?). YES IT IS

-Is it common practice to be asked to pay a month's rent as a deposit and a months rent in advance?. YES ABSOLUTELY

- Who is responsible for paying for pool and garden maintenance when renting a villa? The tenant or the owner? depends on the agreement between both parties


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