This condo was listed and managed by the owner’s daughter. All of our contact was with her and references to the “owner” are meant to be Michelle as her agent.
We have been leasing condos in Naples-Bonita Springs for almost 20 years and leased this condo for 3 months in 2022. In all of our rentals, this is the ONLY one that has been problematic. The VRBO listing and the owner failed to disclose that the exterior of the building had been under major renovation for several months and that the work was just starting on our side of the building. The work continued for the full 3 months of our stay with ropes hung from the roof to ground for workmen to go up and down morning to late afternoon, compressors and other loud equipment running throughout the days, work on our balcony which made the balcony completely unusable with the sliding door literally blocked so we couldn’t open it even for air. Work wasn’t completed until just before we left, so we had only a few days to use the balcony.
None of the 3 TVs were functional upon our arrival. No thanks to the owner, I was able to resolve the technical problem on 1 TV, but the others lacked the connection to Summit (never resolved). Roku devices were provided but didn’t make up for the lack of cable. We also had electrical sparking, which was not fully rectified. Problems such as these should have been resolved long before renters showed up.
The posting stated the condo is “Fabulously decorated” and “recently updated”, which it isn’t with the outdated main bathroom, original 1970’s kitchen cabinets and sliding glass doors that leaked air, and much stained and bleached areas on the carpeting. I spent time organizing closets to make them more useful.
Michelle originally promised a partial refund of our payment to make up for all the problems but reneged on that when it came down to doing it. She also states that $500 is a reasonable, common charge for cleaning, but this isn’t true even for large houses.
Michelle will undoubtedly tell you a different story and claim that we were told of the work going on, as she is now claiming to us, but what I have written here is the truth without exaggeration. We would NEVER rent from this owner again.
As you know the buyer must trust VRBO and the owner. In this case that trust was very misplaced.
The owner will not reimburse us. We are clients of VRBO as well, and have been for many years, and would appreciate VRBO forfeiting their fee in payment to us.