Private villa hire in Spain- how not to get ripped off?

[Tansie]

We are looking at a villa through a site called spain-holiday

Is there any way a UK person can check that the deal is bona fide, like a tax registration number we need to look for, a postal address etc?

TIA

We have rented villas and apartments privately a number of times.

I tend to prefer to rent from a UK based person if possible, I like to see a website that has reviews i.e. owners direct, tripadvisor or holiday lettings. I also google the property address to make sure nothing negative comes up.

I usually google the UK address for the owner and check they are on the voters roll - which I'm not sure proves very much, but there you go.

Ultimately you could be unlucky, but more likely you won't be.

We have used sites such as holiday lettings or owners direct and never had a problem in 15 years but I guess you do take a bit of a risk.

I also try and use a UK based person so that I can then google them and the property. I check out google earth to see that the property does exist!
I also try and book with someone who has been advertising on the site for a few years and have reviews which date back if possible (although of course reviews could be made up).

Here is what one of the sites I use advise about booking safely:
www.homeaway.co.uk/info/travel-tips/security?Holidaymakers

also take a look at flipkey on the tripadvisor site. I have booked houses and flats through the flipkey site (individual owners) in Japan, HK, NZ and Bali and never had a problem.