Paying for a villa

Captain Slow IRL

Hi all,
I'm renting a villa out with the missus in sept of this year, we got in contact with the owner through ownersdirect.co.uk. The guy renting it out has told me to transfer money straight to his bank account - this seems to be the norm with all the accomodations on this site. Is it a safe form of payment? Or could I suggest better to him?
Thanks

jor el

It is safe, in the way that you'll send it and he'll get it. Nobody can intercept or steal it. It's not safe in the way that if the villa doesn't exist, you'll never get your money back.

Credit card offers protection, but it's doubtful that a private individual has credit card processing capabilities.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

smelltheglove

My sister in law rents her villa through this site along with other friends of ours. I know it is a reputable site and they receive many bookings from it. My sister in law actually takes a deposit also in case of damages which is refunded afterwards if all is ok so bear in mind this may happen also.

dudara

Check with the site to see if they are bonded or have any form of insurance protection in place.

CurlieSue

I recently booked an appartment with them and paid the owner by bank draft which was posted to a UK address, so I had a look on the website there to see what the story is. here is the link, you should maybe register your trip. i just did.

http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/using.htm

axer

CurlieSue wrote: »

I recently booked an appartment with them and paid the owner by bank draft which was posted to a UK address, so I had a look on the website there to see what the story is. here is the link, you should maybe register your trip. i just did.

http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/using.htm

Wow thats pretty good, seems to be free to register too.

numanuma

Also check out holidayrentals.co.uk

They also have the guarantee as long as you register. I found more listings on this site.

Scottie99

CurlieSue wrote: »

I recently booked an appartment with them and paid the owner by bank draft which was posted to a UK address, so I had a look on the website there to see what the story is. here is the link, you should maybe register your trip. i just did.

http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/using.htm

Thanks for that. I previously booked through this site and now I've registered.

There was an issue recently with one of these websites (I'll try and find further details) where people were putting up pics of villas, renting them out, taking the money, and it turned out they never owned the villa to begin with but they're gone with your money.

be careful in other words.

I'll do some digging to find more info on this.

numanuma

Thats why they have this registration insurance. Its free to get. The company will screen properties to make sure they are real.

Captain Slow IRL

Thanks for all the replies.
In the end, I found the registration page on the site and registered - the important thing is to register it before you make any form of payment, which I was able to manage before the bank closed!