Renting apt in Spain: upfront bank draft or 20% deposit & bal on arrival?

Gulliver1 said:

Hi all,

I contacted an apartment owner through DAFT.ie who was advertising his apartment to rent in Spain.

He wants me to send him a bank draft in the post to his address in Ireland (he is Irish). He will arrange to have someone meet me at the apartment in Spain with the keys upon my arrival.

Is this normal practice or am I being conned?

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Yes, it is normal practice to ask for deposit but you could send a personal cheque which would be more secure. however with electronic transfer you could transfer to his Irish bank(you will have details). With holiday rentals you have automatic insurance against fraud.
If he is advertising with them he is authentic as it doesn't come cheap!

molljo1 said:

If he is advertising with them he is authentic as it doesn't come cheap!

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article4356367.ece

You can never be sure, however there is a guarantee in place provided you register your rental.

We used to advertise our holiday home on some UK websites. We stopped advertising there because (believe it or not) we were too successful. I never intended to make a major profit, I just wanted to cover some expenses e.g community fees, water charges, electricity charges, refuse amounts, public lighting etc (normal taxes foreign holiday home owners incur).

There are scam merchants out there. It amazes me how gullible some people are e.g the report on The Times (above). But, you can take some precautions deal with genuine people, preferably Irish (not being racist here), know where the holiday home owner lives, works, deal with owner only, not representatives.

Be aware that bargain might be too good to be true. Ask questions from the owner, location, walking distance to beach, supermarket etc, accessibility etc.