We know that accidents happen, which is why we require guests to purchase property damage protection. This protects you as the renter from having to pay for accidental damages.
Our property manager does a thorough walk through between guests and takes detailed photos. We know what the house looked like when you arrived and when you left. When you check-in please look around and notify us if anything is broken or damaged that you see. We probably already know about it, but sometimes damages aren’t visible, for example you try to use the DVD player and find out it is not working.
If you notice anything broken when you arrive, or if anything breaks during your stay, please report it right away. Accidents happen, we won’t be mad at you, but we need to know about it so we can replace of fix anything broken or not working as quickly as possible so the next guest can enjoy the house as it is meant to be. If the accidental damage is significant we will file on accidental damage insurance you purchased when booking with Home Away.
Property Damage Protection (PDP) will only pay for damages that are truly accidental. The policy do not pay for damages for example if you have a wild party, nor for theft. The insurance doesn’t cover normal wear and tear, but we don’t expect you to pay for that either.
The policy will also not pay for damages if you break the rental agreement. For instance if you bring a pet that you did not sign a pet agreement for and the pet causes damages, they will not cover those damages and you will be held responsible for them. If you say you are bringing a group of 10 and actually have 15 people present, they will not cover your damages and you will be held responsible for them.
If the insurance company believes that you caused damage on purpose, if you deny doing the damage or if for any other reason they do not pay for the damages, we will have to hold you financially responsible for the damage, as per the rental agreement. It is in your best interest cooperate with the PDP adjustors. This means returning their phone calls and giving them information they request, such as verifying that it was in fact accidental.
We won’t charge you or file on insurance for normal wear and tear or small things like a broken dish or broken glass or a door knob that comes loose. Even something like a simple carpet stain that can be cleaned we will not charge for, unless our cleaning crews have to charge us a significant extra amount for cleaning because it took a long time to get up or it needed multiple tries. Despite the fact that we won’t file for those things it helps us to know in advance when something like that has happened so we can handle it. So please let us know anyway, don’t just leave the house.
We do file on PDP or charge you if someone runs into the screen door and breaks it, if furniture is broken, if windows are broken, if someone knocks over a television and cracks it or if an authorized dog damages the sofa or chews/scratches a door and it must be replaced. We will work to get accidental damage insurance to pay for those things directly so you do not have to pay directly, but we need your cooperation in the process to protect your security deposit. If the insurance company do not cover it you will be held responsible for the damages, as outlined in the rental agreement.
While the claim is being processed we will hold onto your security deposit. If the damages are paid for as part of your claim and there are no unreimbursed damages we will return your security deposit to you after the claim is paid. If they deny the claim then we will withhold your security deposit to pay for the damages and we may have to bill you.
In the case of theft or intentional damage we will use your security deposit to make repairs and replacements or file against you in small claims court if the expenses are greater than the security deposit.
Therefore, notifying us of accidental damage and working with the insurance company to get those claims paid out helps to protect your security deposit.