Well, my first month in the Cottage Rental business is over. I have not posted for a bit. The site maintenance caused my iPad to not reload DB. I thought I was done here. But anyway…
I learned a lot in the past month. Some of it good, some of it not so good.
Last minute people are some of the worst! The family moving out today (hopefully) refused to obey any rules. Such as: Keep your dog on leash. Clean up after your dog. No tents allowed. No extra people.
When I realized they had moved in extra people (Fri morning) - I informed them that this was against policy as was putting up a tent. They told me I was harassing them. That the cottage was "THEIRS" until Monday. They phoned me and hung up on me. Sent long harassing texts. My friend (handyman) was working on site that day and told me their dog was running freely and he was cleaning up after it. They were SO confrontational (& I am not) that I had to call the Police. The Police felt I had every right to evict but that the kids seem to really be loving the place. So I backed down. (ugh). I hate to wreck kids' vacations. I have no communicated with them since. My friend on site said they were loud even with Police and that it would not have been a good situation to walk into. And I had new renters moving in that evening to the other 2 cottages. Now - it will be interesting to see how they leave it. Last week we had another nasty group. I arrived to prepare another cottage and their 3 dogs were running loose. I told them it was not ok and they all got in my face! One guy was big and burly and multi tattooed (no offence - just painting the pic). They finally calmed down and apologized but I believe they influenced the current renters as there was a 2 day overlap. They also left the cottage disgusting. They had the "How to leave the cottage" paper out on the table. (Housekeeping cottages are usually swept at the least, dishes put away etc). This group had linens & bedding from me which is not the norm. Littered floor with towels. Bedding rumpled up - even a vibrator left in the bed! 3 bags of garbage inside the cottage. Food in the frig. Dirty dishes in the sink. Recycle not taken out. And although the agreement states no pets on furniture - the brand new sofa bed (and other chairs) were absolutely covered with pet hair.
So - I'm sure I will get more of the same today. I do not clean the cottages myself but I will be paying the cleaning girl more.
I trust people. I usually LIKE people. Not this week.
So - I will be drafting an air tight rental contract for everyone to sign and taking damage and cleaning deposits. I knew all about doing this but with so much to get this project off the ground - it was overlooked.
The good news is that in one month I made more $ than I had expected for the entire season. So that helps.
But I am counting down the minutes until these idiots are gone. I thought my problems would be with wild partiers. Not families with dogs. But I was wrong!
I am half suspecting they wouldn't even leave today if it weren't for school starting tomm. Thank God for small mercies. Tomm I'm back there with a crew and we are doing more work. They are really shaping up so nicely.
