Holiday let and bin

[kirstlatta]

Hi guys

After an opinion. We paid a £250 deposit for a holiday let deposit. They are charging us £125 for over full kitchen bin, not emptying the bedroom bins and a bowl of dried leaves the kids left behind(as a present for the next people, which obviously we knew they wouldn't want but kinda thought they would just empty it!) The kitchen bin did have the stuff from the kitchen but their guest book said no need to worry about your bins (we emptied them daily until the last day) but they meant putting them out to be collected when I asked for clarity. No breakages, no stains, just a unemptied kitchen bin, some rubbish in the bedroom bins and some leaves in a bowl. They are charging us £125 for this. It's our first holiday for 3 years as our son has being shielding so can't describe how this has marred it.

If that is genuinely all, then the owners are being arseholes. I manage a large holiday let property and there’s no way we would consider charging for what you describe. Guests usually take the bins out but occasionally they forget or don’t bother and honestly I’ve never given it a second thought. And a bowl of leaves is such a non issue. 10 second job to empty the bowl and give it a quick wash.

I have holiday lets.

What did the terms and conditions say?
Did they provide evidence/photos etc?
What exactly are the charging for - do they mention hours etc...?
Did you book direct with the owner or through an agency?
Do they already hold a good housekeeping bond from you or are they asking you to make a new payment?

This sounds excessive to say the least!

I've never stayed in a holiday let where a deposit has been paid onto of the charge to rent the property.

YANBU this is ridiculous!

Thank you all. I do know realise not emptying the bin was silly, but also that they are charging unreasonably so have emailed back asking for break down in additional costs(it's actually a hotel that runs it so have cleaning staff on site)

I get people saying the leaves were silly but it honestly didn't enter my head they would be an issue.

I am just upset about the cost. Though not broke this was a big deal. My little boy is in a wheelchair, ventilated at night, oxygen dependent, has developmental delay, tube fed etc so just going away was a big deal. Just feel this is a kick in the teeth and hate the fact they think I was messy.

Sorry for the typos!

I wouldn’t have emptied the bins either OP, i don’t think it’s ‘standard’ to do so. I only do what is specifically asked (so if asked to strip beds I will but not otherwise), the price for cleaning is included in what you have paid.

I can see that the leaves would have been mildly annoying for the cleaner and wouldn’t have done that myself but it’s hardly worth £120! It’s an eye roll and move on situation at worst.

Definitely complain and don’t think too much on it- the problem is them not you.

Of course that's a completely ridiculous charge. They are just trying it on. Emptying the bins takes about about 5 mins max.

That definitely sounds excessive. We do always put the bins into the wheelie bin before we leave but it sounds like the instructions were ambiguous.

Reading the instructions back now (assuming they were in an email), do they still sound ambiguous? If so, email the owner to say so. I would also mention the fact that you have a disabled child and had to spend the leaving time packing his medical equipment (with details) and checking it was all there.

You could bring up considering the small claims court and ask who was charging £125 to take some bins out?

Hi - I wouldn’t have emptied the bins and you assumed you didn’t need to do it due to duff info from them.
I would call up and I would let them know about your disabled child - it is really callous of them to fine you rather than charge the cost of an extra half hour’s cleaning. This will affect your family’s standard of living at a really difficult time. I’m so sorry your holiday has ended on a sour note.
If they won’t give the money back leave an honest review any and everywhere you see the place advertised.

@scoobydoo1971

I run holiday lets. We don't have a deposit system. The state some of the chalets are left in...you could write a book, absolutely disgusting. I wouldn't have fined you for small matters like a bin or leaves. I have dealt with chalets containing drugs left everywhere, flooded bathrooms, big holes in floor boards and worktops from a fire, dog waste all over the carpets, a week of soiled nappies stored in the immersion tank cupboard, used tampons dumped everywhere, urinated beds and sofas...it is a tough gig being a holiday let landlord. I would demand pictures, and then ask your credit card to charge back the deposit. Leave bad reviews everywhere,.

Yuuuck! Can you not introduce a deposit system? £120 for some bins is ludicrous but not for the things that you've mentioned!

Just writing to commiserate OP. We stayed at an Air BnB where the owner keep sending me abusive messages saying we were his worst guests ever. It was mad. We weren't actually shown or told to empty the bins (DH figured it out himself with help of a local cafe worker). All we left were the last few bits from breakfast in the kitchen bin and the other offense was an eyelash in the sink. It was mad and it really left a sour taste in my mouth over the holiday.

Like you we normally would have emptied it ourselves but the apartment was up 3 flights of very steep stairs, we had suitcases and buggies and other bits plus the main bin (which we weren't shown) wasnt easy to get all our luggage to.

I really wouldn't be leaving bad reviews everywhere like one PP suggested. I own a holiday let and bad reviews everywhere would literally destroy my business.
I expect bins to be emptied but wouldn't charge £125 for it. Have you looked if this is mentioned in your contract? If its not then definitely speak to them about it and try to come to a compromise, but if it's in the contract then you've no choice really.

@sparklystar333

we have a holiday let which is 100 miles away, on the few occasions guests haven't put the wheely bin at the end of the road, i have had to drive there to empty the bin involving taking black bags and decanting rubbish into bags and putting them in my car. A 4 hour round trip. It's very hard to find a cleaner where we are and she doesn't drive to transport bin bags. Saying that, I haven't ever charged but it's a real pain.

I'm sure the income from a holiday let more than makes up for it though. What provision do you have in place for guests who are physically unable to drag your bin to the end of the road?

I would go back to them OP and say what you have said here about your DS being disabled. Apologise for not emptying the bins but state that £125 is excessive for such a small matter.

We had a similar incident when leaving a French hire property at half term where despite having paid a hefty cleaning fee, the cleaner was calling me all the names under the sun for not having cleaned the apartment. There was no loss of money involved but it really spoiled some of the enjoyment of the holiday for me to be spoken to and thought of like that and I think that's what's happening here as well.

Poor you. Some people are parasites. My landlord is like that. No morals at all but that’s a whole other thread.
Write as you have suggested and see what they say. I don’t understand why people live their lives getting as much as they can from everyone they can. Good luck

The punishment doesn’t fit the ‘crime’. I’d be giving them an awful review to warn others but unfortunately it looks like you’ll have to chalk it up to experience. The pound signs must have lit up in their eyes when they realised they could enforce their rules. How mean.

That's massively excessive and I'd complain about it for sure.

@ExplodingElephants

The punishment doesn’t fit the ‘crime’. I’d be giving them an awful review to warn others but unfortunately it looks like you’ll have to chalk it up to experience. The pound signs must have lit up in their eyes when they realised they could enforce their rules. How mean.

Exactly. Pure greed. I’m vindictive and if this happened to me I would make sure the landlord lost at least double the amount she wants you to lose. No question.

£125 is far too much. It would take a cleaner all of five minutes to empty the bins.
I would have got rid of the dried leaves before leaving though.

Dear holiday let owner.

Thank you for your communication regarding our deposit. My understanding of the letting agreement is that the fees included an end of stay cleaning. I unfortunately misunderstood the instruction 'do not worry about the bins' to mean that emptying the bins was part of the end of stay cleaning and for that, I apologise, to you and the person who had to carry out these extra tasks.

I was delighted to be able to come away and enjoy a holiday in your beautiful house with my disabled son, after what we all have endured these past two years. I can only imagine what the pandemic has done to you business and the impact of it on you personally.

We were careful with your house and did not break anything that I would have assumed would be covered by the damage deposit. We did not leave the house in a state that would require significant unexpected additional cleaning so I would hope that your cleaning staff would have had sufficient time to carry out the additional task of emptying the bins and the complete error of judgement of me allowing my children to leave the bowl of leaves.

While I understand that you are running a business and additional cleaning hours means additional cost to you, I believe the charge of £125 to be excessive. I believe a charge of £25 is more than fair in this case.

I hope that you also can appreciate that this unexpected charge on top of my holiday is something that I have not budgeted for and that you will refund the deposit less the cleaning charge of £25 as soon as possible.

I hope that the rest of the letting season goes we for you.

Kindest regards..

And if they don't.... write a letter of complaint to all of the platforms they list their property on.. especially any local tourist listings as they are likely to have local residents approving and vetting their listings.

Slightly different, but I run a holiday let and I charge £75 to replace any lost or missing keys. Similar reasons to Sparklystar333 - I have to drive there, identify the lost key, drive to the key cutters, leave it there, then drive back to collect it, and of course pay for it. The whole thing takes about 3 or 4 hours plus the costs of cutting the key. Had someone challenge it in the small claims court once and I won my case as the judge said it was a "reasonable pre-estimate of loss".

£125 for bin emptying does seem quite excessive though.

its a hotel run site? then theyre taking the piss i know you were in a chalet/home but thats ridiculous

Love the letter above. Do that.

I would also be upset by this, OP. I find myself booking fewer privately held holiday homes now, mostly due to this sort of nickel and diming behaviour. My DM was so upset after a negative review she received after she'd paid an eye watering sum for us to visit a beach holiday home. We had done a full clean at the end, and there was only three of us anyway so the most we'd done while in the house was a bit of card playing at the table etc. Emptied bins after cleaning, honestly we spent hours making sure it was perfect, but the owners were genuinely outraged that we'd moved a rug (they had a lovely smooth floor with a small rug on it just inside the front door, DM had tripped over it and we just felt we should move it to the side for the duration) and forgotten to move it back.

So this week we're off for 10 days to the beach, where the apartments are serviced and staff are happy to see us. We will of course also tidy up at the end, but it won't be hours of worrying that we'll lose a deposit or get a bad review. bliss.