“Everyone has a story,” said Scott Leggat, the president of the North Carolina Vacation Rental Managers Association and the head of the property management division for Outer Beaches Realty on the Outer Banks. “Last year we had a couple at one house who got into a domestic dispute and started tearing pictures off the walls.”
Vacation rental managers say that misbehaving renters represent the minority of guests, and that potential problems can easily be spotted in advance if the landlord asks a few key questions. One concern is the number of people in the group, including the number of children and their ages. Property managers also recommend asking potential customers if they have ever rented a vacation home before. And though email can be an easy way to communicate, a phone conversation allows an owner or manager to get to know the renter better and to glean other information, like what the renter is looking for in a vacation home.
Managers also suggest setting limits on the number of occupants, spelling out whether pets are allowed — and even setting a minimum age requirement for the primary renter. Most rental agencies set the minimum at 25, to help avoid groups on spring break or celebrating graduation.
Even without the age requirement, property managers acknowledge, it is easy to spot such renters. “They give themselves away,” said Marlene Romanowski, the office manager for the Van Dyk Group in Beach Haven Terrace, N.J. “We had one agent who suspected that the house was being rented for a post-prom party. She asked the girl, ‘Are you excited about the party after the prom?’ and the girl exclaimed, ‘Yes!’ “
More than avoiding parties on their property, owners should be concerned about the number of guests in the house. Some towns maintain strict rules on occupancy and require permits for short-term rentals. A house swollen beyond capacity will cause unnecessary wear and tear and can also lead to parking problems if the area is already congested.
“We always find out how many adults and kids are in the group,” said Rob Kincaid, the owner of VacationPalmSprings.com, a rental agency that handles about 150 properties in the desert enclave of Palm Springs, Calif. “And we don’t allow events at the houses. We want to be good neighbors.”
Pets are another issue. While renters often want to bring the family dog on vacation, few homeowners want to risk having it ruin the living room rug or shed fur throughout the house. If a renter surreptitiously brings a dog, Ms. Romanowski’s company is quick to ask that it be taken to a local kennel. “It’s a real problem if subsequent renters have allergies,” she said. “They’ll be suffering.”
The security deposit is an owner’s best protection against damage. The amount of a deposit varies from 10 to 50 percent of the weekly rent. Owners should check with local property management companies to gauge the local rates.
A security deposit is meant to cover any damages to the house, from broken lamps to stained rugs. But keeping any portion of it requires writing the renter to explain why, and providing copies of receipts showing the replacement cost of a broken item or the charge for a carpet cleaning.
Even owners who follow these guidelines can occasionally run into trouble. Having another pair of eyes in the vicinity to keep watch on the house — enlisting a neighbor or even hiring a professional property manager — will help nip any problems in the bud.
Ms. Romanowski’s company gives copies of all the rental rules to each group of renters, but if the agency gets a complaint about excessive noise at a house or is alerted to, say, an overflow of cars at the property, she doesn’t hesitate to take action. “We are over there reading them the riot act,” she said.