Deposit FAQs
I hate the fact that I have to put up this page! I much prefer my light-hearted jokes about how we'll refund your deposit barring campfires in the living room, if the house is still standing, etc... Unfortunately, a few inconsiderate spring-breakers have forced us to be more explicit in laying out what is an acceptable amount of normal mess and what borders on wanton disrespect for personal property. For this reason, we've also had to stop our previous policy of simply "holding" the deposit check (i.e. not depositing it in our bank account) and then giving it back to you after your stay (same Spring Breakers decided it'd be a great idea to put a stop payment order on their deposit check and then rob us blind...). Uuugh, I feel so old saying all this--I'm not even thirty yet!
From here on out we're going to have to institute a few new policies. First of all, we'll have to ask all our renters for their ages (or at least, the decade) and the ages of those in their parties. If we find that there's a large group of renters under 25, we feel we must ask them to stay somewhere else. So please excuse the rudeness! But we're just a small family business and many of these units are like second homes to us--we stay there a lot too! Plus, the majority of our renters are families themselves and we'd rather concentrate on those customers.
We do charge $100, $125, or $150 for a cleaning fee, depending on the property. However this is really a standard hotel-type cleaning service that we contract out. They come in and wash the dishes, tidy up the unit, wash the linens and towels, vacuum, etc... They simply don't have the time to radically clean a thoroughly trashed house! So regarding the security deposit, we consider part or all of it forfeit if any of the following takes place:
1) We will keep the deposit if we are blatantly lied to regarding the size or the age of the party visiting our fine properties. For example, teenagers or early twenty-year olds are more than welcome if they are part of a family gathering. But we recently had a group who assured us they were two couples in their thirties but were really 10 college youths under the age of 22. We also reserve the right to contact the police and have them evict renters from our units in these circumstances. Many of our homes have strict zoning policies that do not allow rental groups with more than 3 unrelated members in the party - these groups can (and have been in the past) be evicted immediately.
2) Smoking is NOT ALLOWED in any of our rental properties. We find that most renters do not want a property that smells like cigarette smoke. Plus, my mother is terribly allergic to cigarette smoke and, like I said, we stay in the homes fairly often. We will spend the security deposit steam cleaning the carpets and the furniture if this takes place. Smokers are more than welcome to come, but please step outside.
3) Destruction or theft is, of course, reason for us to keep the security deposit. Pet destruction falls within this realm as well. My family adores animals (I have four cats, myself!) and half of our properties are pet-friendly (the Beach House, Beach and Tennis condo, the Intracoastal house, and the Mountain Home). But we also have to protect the unit for the longer term. If the carpet is stained, the furniture demolished, or the house smells unbearably of wet dog, we'll have to spend the security deposit (and much more in one case that leaps to mind) to steam-clean the carpets and replace furniture.
4) If the unit is completely trashed, even if nothing is technically broken, we'll dip into the security deposit to pay for the extra cleaning. We've only done this once--in the spring breakers situation above!--and it was because there were five trash bags worth of cigarette butts, bottles, papers, beer cans, vomit, and other unmentionables scattered all throughout the yards, the patio, in the pool, and in the house. Obviously, our cleaning service (that must complete the unit in one to two hours and move on to another property) was incapable of handling this tornado of chaos that descended on our beautiful house. Dad and Terry spent almost 48 hours getting the home back to its pre-existing beauty. We'll keep part or all of the deposit if there is trash strewn throughout the property, dishes piled high in the sink, stains or spills on the carpets that require steam cleaning, etc... Also, a little sand in the house is totally expected at the beach, but please don't make sand castles on the floor!
5) We'll use the security deposit to pay for utilities if there is blatant disregard for energy conservation. Obviously, we want you to be as comfortable as possible and we let you set the thermostats however you wish. But we don't think it is at all necessary to turn the air-conditioning down to 50 degrees and open up all the windows and doors for your entire stay (again, recent spring breakers). More importantly, turning down ACs that low is counterproductive as it will inevitably freeze up the unit, causing it to completely shut down for hours at a stretch (until it thaws). Most of our homes have programmable thermostats that do not allow them to be turned down below 72 degrees or above 78 degrees to help combat this problem.
6) Finally, we'll use part or all of the security deposit to pay for extra cleaning crews in the case of a later than 10:00 AM check-out. We really want people to enjoy themselves and stay up to the last minute, but try to understand our point of view. We have eight (soon to be ten) properties and we have to get them all cleaned and prepped in only six hours (10:00 AM to 4:00 PM). If a renter sticks around until 1:00 PM, it adds significant logistical difficulties. Under such circumstances we almost always have to call emergency cleaning crews at the last minute, they charge us an arm and a leg and don't do as good of a job, etc...
7) We hold back $30 if one or both of the keys are missing from the lockbox after check-out. Sorry to be so draconian about this, but our cleaning crews use the keys in the lockboxes to gain entry to the home. So if the keys aren't there, they can't clean on time, putting them behind, we have to drive down and unlock the home, etc... big old mess ^_^. Please lock the homes and leave both sets of keys in the lock box after check-out. Thanks!
8) If you do move the furniture, please put it back where it belongs before leaving the home. This creates all sorts of headaches for Terry and our cleaners, and we do keep part or all of the deposit for the extra labor involved in "resetting" the home.
We try not to require too much of our renters as they're checking out--you are on vacation after all! There are a few errands we ask for, though (most people do all this anyway, but you never know ^_^). Please take with you or throw out any unused food from the refrigerator before your departure. We'd appreciate it if dirty dishes weren't left for us to clean as we only have an hour or two in each property to turn around for the next renters, and just collect garbage laying around the home into the trashcan or trashbags. Also, would you please throw any used towels and bedsheets into a pile on the floor (we appreciate the gesture some people make of making the beds, but sometimes our cleaning crew thinks that the bed wasn't used!). Thanks so much!!
Again, I apologize profusely for having to "go to this place." I think it makes us sound like an impersonal bunch of uptight stinky biddies -- pardon me! I also hope you don't think that we're itching to find a reason to keep your security deposit. We want you to feel perfectly at home in our properties and enjoy yourself! We understand that the whole point to a vacation is to kick back and relax, party hearty, and do things you normally don't get a chance to experience back home. We charge a cleaning fee for a reason, after all. So enjoy yourselves and don't worry about the unmade beds or a little dirt on the floors--we're happy to clean that up so you don't have to! But please do remember that we care about these properties a great deal and want them to last for ourselves and our family for years to come. Whew, glad that's over . . .