What a shock and a possible can of worms! I'd just like to ask a few questions to try to clarify things as this may influence the course of action you take.

Firstly, from whom did you rent the villa? Was it the UK owners or a professional company? If it was through a company, does this company belong to any professional organisation?

it is for sale, not only that but is for sale as a holiday home or as a permenent residence.

Has the sale actually gone through?

If you have not yet bought any flights or other ancillary holiday purchases such as insurance, transfers or car hire, I'd suggest holding off until you've got the accommodation problem sorted out ....

As it's impossible to predict what happens in the house purchase market, I think you might be best getting your deposit refunded as soon as possible and seeking alternative accommodation.

The problem is of course how to do so to get your money returned quickly and with the minimum of fuss. My question about whom you paid the deposit to relates to whether you will ultimately have to go to court in the UK or the US if the owner decides not to correspond with you.

First of all, I would contact the owner again with a copy of a bank statement or other financial document to show that the money for the deposit has been taken from your account. (NEVER EVER SEND ORIGINALS AS YOU MIGHT NEED TO PRODUCE THEM IN A COURT OF LAW!) Ask formally for your money back. And send it by registered/recorded mail with proof of reception. State that you require this to be done within a certain time period - say 28 days from the date that the letter was sent - or that you will be taking the matter further.

And that's where I'll need help from other members ... for example the time period might need to be more reasonable, and where to go afterwards eg the small claims court if the amount of the deposit is within the amount of money they will enter a judgement for ... because I don't live in the UK and am not up to speed on UK legal matters.

If you paid by credit card, you might be able to take up the case as being contentious with your credit card company and see if they can refund it.

Also you might think of contacting a solicitor for advice. HT has a link to Simpson Millar Solicitors higher up this part of the forum which might help.

I think you are right to keep a very close eye on what happens and not commit yourself to other expenditure on this holiday which you will not be able to recoop if the accommodation falls through. All the very best of luck, and please keep us informed.

No I haven't bought anything else yet, thank God!!. I paid the villa owners direct, not a management company.

Hi,

If the property does get sold, (which with the current market is no guarantee!), then if the new owners are going to rent it out, then you will have no issues.

But if the new owners are going to live there, then that is where you will have issues - for me the t&cs would be irrelevant & I would want my £300 back ....

I would be asking the vendor what the situation is & what will happen if the property is sold - remember you have a contract with them & I don't see how they can cancel just cause they sell the property??

Mark

As long as your deal was done in the UK, legally the term non-refundable deposit will always be taken to mean that they don't have to refund you if YOU back out of the contract. If they back out they would have to pay back everything, in a properly written contract with a tour operator they may even give you something extra on top if they do this late but in your case that's probably a bit much to hope for.

It is always possible that they have started to advertise for sale in order to get a buyer in place ready for the end of the rental season - there's no point in waiting for it to be empty and then start looking.

If they reply and say they are honouring your booking you don't have a problem - and the non-refundable clause would be valid. If they indicate that they might break your contract given a prompt offer to buy then get your money back whilst you have time to book something else. If they sell to someone who also wants to rent it out you'd need to be certain that the new owner is happy to take on your booking on the same terms and has received your deposit.

Just a thought, was the advert dated in anyway? You are sure it's not an old one?

In some areas of Florida when you sell on a property it cannot be rented out for short term rentals.

Thanks for a bit more information. Was your deposit 'non-refundable'? If so, Steve's advice is sound.

However

I emailed the owner for clarification, and pointed out that that I could hardly rent a villa that was occupied by new owners. So far they haven't got back to me

you don't say how long ago you contacted the owner.

It could be that they are away or are not on-line hence no reply. But to forestall 'ignorance is bliss', I'd suggest you write to them formally reminding them of the problem of ensuring that new owners will honour your booking if the property is sold before your holiday, or confirmation from them that your holiday will go ahead if the property is not sold. This needs to be sent by registered/recorded/signed for service and keep a copy for yourself.

I'm not sure what sort of a time limit you might like to imply for their reply ... but I think that you should set some time limit to be sure that your holiday will go ahead as flight prices may well rise between now and your holiday and there could be problems of availability as well ........

Do you not have a home phone number for the owners.

We rented privately in Orlando last Oct and i made sure i spoke to someone on the end of the phone first. Just to get a feel of what they were like in person.

If you have their name and address you should be able to get hold of their contact number. As has been stated they may be looking to sell after the season has finished. A quick chat on the phone could clear the whole situation up.

How long ago did you contact the owners ? If it was some time ago that would worry me as if they have nothing to hide I would assume they would get back to you and explain what was going on. I'm confused by a few posts saying they may be advertisng now, for sale at the end of the season as I am not sure if Florida really has an end of season in the same way as Europe does, but may be wrong.

I think if the worse comes to the worse and they do sell and you can't go forward with the booking, you should be able to sue in the small claims court, but I would imagine it wouldn't come to that and they would just refund you the £300.

A friend of mine has a real estate agency in Florida - in his words "the market is on its @rse". If the owner wants to sell cheap then it has a chance of selling, if he wants a decent price you'll be OK to book for October 2012 and probably 2013!

Why not phone the owner and perhaps the real estate agency just to see if it is still for sale. Not every website is good at taking down adverts quickly and of course the owner you have booked with might be the new owner.

The trouble is I do not trust the vendors any more, is there anything else they haven't told me? I specifically chose a British owned villa just in case there were problems, I wanted an owner in the same country as me. This can no longer be guarenteed, let alone whether any new owners will actually want to rent the villa out. I do not want to be in the position that with only weeks to go I no longer have a place to stay. Also the sale advert is recent, it was only updated 2 days ago, it has been for sale since Nov 2010, I agreed to their T&Cs after this date. I did sign up to their terms and conditions, but they withheld a vital piece of information from me that would have affected my decision making. Would I have grounds to state that their T&Cs are null and void due to them withholding vital information from me. Thanks TEH.

If they are considering selling ASAP and cancelling your booking then I'd say the T&Cs are void as they wouldn't be honouring them and would appear to have not entered the contract in good faith. But if they say they are aiming to complete the sale after your stay and are just thinking ahead I don't think you'd have grounds to cancel. This is the detail you need answering quickly.

I would try contacting them using an alias or getting a member of the family/friend with different name to do it for you, just to do an enquiry into possible renting from them just to see if they respond iyswim, then you will know they are definately avoiding you and can progress from there, I really hope you get it sorted.

Have you tried phoning the owner? Let us know what's been said.

Is it possible that you've found an old advertisement for the property being for sale and the new owners are the people you have rented the villa off?

I know I've looked up addresses on the internet before and often for sale adverts particularly for property sales seem to float around in cyberspace for ever and a day.....

If all else fails, is the property advertised through a property agent? In which case, you could contact them to find out how long it's been on the market.

I reckon the option of trying to make a reservation but asking a few general questions that require a personal answer rather than using an automated reply form would be a good first start. Make sure you use another name and write from a different email address and a different IP address as a lot of online enquiry forms (and forums ) automatically provide the IP address of the pc user.

Good luck, hope you get it sorted soon.

Shell
Limassol, Cyprus