rental agreement
Search around, this has been discussed in other threads. I don't bother with rental agreements, relying instead on documenting what we agree on via email. I also pay and receive payments via Paypal. Paypal is unlikely to act on a conflict, rentals are services so the buyer and seller protection doesn't apply. But nearly everyone using paypal pays with credit card. Most rentals are made less than two months in advance, so your credit card purchase can allow you to dispute the charge if you do not receive the rental you pay for. In some cases your credit card will protect you up to a year after the charge.
A number of people have disagreed with me on the other threads, arguing the rental agreement gives you legal protection. This is true. But I fear people rely on a false security as a result. Imagine you live in Oregon and your customer lives in Arizona. Customer pays by check two weeks before checkin with the signed rental agreement. Just after checkin you learn the check bounced, then customer trashed the unit and the credit card they provided to the resort doesn't have a limit high enough to cover ask the damage. This is an unlikely event, but what are you going to do, if the lost rent is $1,500 and the remaining damage is $1,000? If you travel to Arizona and use small claims you will spend a good portion of the $2,500 on travel expenses which you can't recover in small claims. If you go to Superior Court you're probably going to hire a lawyer. However, your legal bill will probably exceed $5,000 and maybe $10,000 IF a lawyer agrees to take your case (most will say the case its too small), and there's the chance the judge will not award you legal fee compensation OR WORSE, your customer agrees to pay the $2,500 after you spent $4,000 on your lawyer but before you get to court. Guess what? No mater what your rental contact says, your lawyer will probably refuse to continue with legal action.
I the rolls are reversed and the unit is not available to you when you arrive, are you really going to spend the time and money to get $1,500 back when you have the same obstacles? You might say yes on this forum but when push comes to shove and you actually have to spend money to recover money from a person in another state, you'll probably have a change of heart.
Using a rental escrow company is the safest way to go. It costs more and when my customers ask for it I agree as long as they pay for it since I'm satisfied with Paypal/CreditCard payments. But since the owner doesn't get the money until checkin our checkout them the customer has assurances they get the unit, and the owner rests assured they are receiving valid payment. There are still risks for both parties, but the customer definitely gets their money back if they don't get the unit and the owner definitely has less payment risk.
But I'll stick with credit card payments and agreements via email.
Beck
I use a standard rental agreement. It protects buyer and seller. My resort requires a credit card upon check in to cover incidentals and damage. Agreements are binding contracts that leave nothing to imagination. I don't use paypal because of their fees. Payment due 2 weeks ahead of stay which I deposit the same day electronically. If it bounces then no stay!
Gary W.
