The Villa we rented on this trip charged "gas and electric based on consumption". I do not have a problem with that but I am a little unsettled on the amount and the way it was done and would love to get some feedback from some of you that either live there or have paid this way before. In the past at another Villa rental the owner took us to the meter when we arrived and filled in the readings and had us initial them. Then when we were checking out we filled them in together again. He also showed us a past bill showing the per kw charges. At this villa when he read what we had used he actually ended up not even charging us saying we hardly used anything. We even heated a hot tub and used the heat. He was probably just being generous.

This time when we went to check out at our Villa on the CT the owner just randomly wrote on a piece of paper $46 E ($73.00 USD) for Gas
61 E ( $97.00 USD) Electric

We were there a week and never heated or ran the air conditioning in the house.We were gone all day everyday and were really good about turning off the lights. I know utilities are higher in Italy but that seems a bit high to me. Also, the house had an upstairs unit with it that the owners daughter occupied and was there all day and night studying. I have to wonder if we were paying for her utilities too?
He also charged 30E (48.00USD) a person exit cleaning( that's a first!). That amounted to $565.00 USD! Now, I certainly do not mind paying the housekeeper to clean when we leave but I am sure he did not pay her that amount! I just feel like he is skimming extra money anyway he can and as much as I loved the Villa it left me with a really bad feeling. He also made us pay him for her cooking for us. I wonder how much of that she actually got of that too?? In the past we have always paid the cook directly.

Linda

Did you have all the fees spelled out in the rental agreement? 30E per person for cleaing sopunds excessvie to me.

I myself have never rented a villa. But even some apartment rentals want to charge you for the utilities, charge you for an exit cleaning fee. if you don't look at this stuff carefully, that bargain apartment can end up costing you more than one where the rent is more but all that stuff is included.

I don't think anybody can give you a solid answer.

My 60 day electric bill is averaging 30 Euros. Now I'm on a resident rate which is lower then the rental is likely being charged but not that much less.

OTOH I've no idea what the you had running. Gas stove I guess? Gas hotwater? I'm having trouble figuring out how it's possible to hit either of those numbers but that doesn't mean you didn't.

Best I can do.

I just received a 107 euro bill for 60 days (98 euros + VAT and taxes). I have a first home account, so somewhat cheaper than non-first-homes, but a very expensive electric boiler that I keep on almost all the time, plus several electric appliances. Frankly, I do not understand how you can get to 61 euros in a week. Also 46 euros for gas are on a high side, unless you have a gas powered heating system. I would ask to see the meter readings and the bills. Of course you have a receipt for what you have paid, do you?

As for the cleaning, it sounds expensive but not impossibly so.

The only receipt I have is the hand written one he gave me. I cannot think how in the world we could use 46.00E of gas when the only thing we used Gas for was the stove. We did not heat the house nor was it used to heat the hot water. We found that out when the morning we left there was a storm that knocked out our power and we had no hot water to take showers.

This is our fourth Villa rental in Italy, and many more in other places. The 30E a person was in the contract.. but I missed it. It wasn't on the financial page where all the expenses were listed. Of all the places we have rented that is the first time we have run into that. We left the house in very good order.The woman who cooked was also the woman who cleaned. We paid her 13.00E an hr to cook. Even if she spent 8hrs.cleaning( highly unlikely, the house was in very good order) that would be 104E not 360.00E! I think the owner just pads everything ( her cooking, utilities, cleaning, etc), and the dishonesty of that is what bothers me.Live and learn...

I am sorry to hear about this experience in Levanto and am very curious where you stayed?!

As a property manager in Liguria/CT area, I can tell you it is common practice to charge for heat in the cool months, but not in high season as the cost is so minimal. Heat in the cool months costs about about 11 Euros per day so the 46 Euros doesn't sound that high, just ridiculous that he would charge you for it.

The final cleaning fee is astronomical and IMO should have been included in the cost of the rental.

But if all these items were stated clearly in your contract with the agency, then there is unfortunately very little you can do about it. But the agency should be made aware of your frustration and of course do write a review - and let the agency know that as well!

P.S. And yes, he is pocketing a large chunk of the 13 Euros/hour for the cook!

Where did you stay?? I certainly don't want to make the same mistake and stay at the same place. Thanks

quote:

It wasn't on the financial page where all the expenses were listed. Of all the places we have rented that is the first time we have run into that. We left the house in very good order.

This all sounds outrageous to me, but unfortunately it is very difficult to sue someone in another country when you are treated unfairly. One the landlord has your money, it is really hard to get it back no matter how unfairly you get treated.

What you need to do now is tell us who rented to you, and to write a rental Review for Slow travel and anywhere else that will take the review. I would even put the part in there about being duped into this 30E/person/day charge by having it on a different page than the rest of the financial details.

As long as what you write is true, I wouldn't worry about what anyone else thought.

If you write the review (and I think it is a good idea to do so) and when you write a letter to the agency (and I think that is smart to do also) send copies of these reviews and letter to the owner of the apartment as well) I would also end the rental agency a copy of the review so they know who is going to see it...

I would also check carefully the contract. If cleaning expenses were clearly stated, they are difficult to dispute.

As for power and gas expenses, if they are so high, they should be backed with documents such utility bills and meter readings. I would try writing to the owner and/or the agency asking for a partial refund as the charges were too high according to any standard parameter for a one week stay, stating that if there is no refund you will forward the receipt to guardia di finanza (the tax enforcing police).

As for the receipt, even if handwritten you should check if it is numbered, dated, and has the address and VAT number of the issuer. If not, it could be an irregular receipt and guardia di finanza could be more interested.

Probably you are not willing to really write to guardia di finanza, but if there is anything irregular, this could be enough a threat...

Those utility charges are absurd (studying daughter or not). Expected charges should always be spelled out in advance in a rental contract. I have never heard of cleaning charges calculated per person!

• Write a ST review, and anywhere else you find. Name names, recount your experience honestly.
  
  
• Contact the agency you rented through, if you did not rent direct. Ask for the documents to back up these charges, or a refund. At the very least the agency will be alerted.
  
  
• I would follow itarchivarius' advice and write the Guardia. There are too many honest property rental owners whose reputation doesn't need to be tarnished by an greedy opportunist.
  

How terribly unfortunate. So sorry for you bad luck on this rental...it is so rare.

Gas costs around 0.85 Euro per cubic meter which means you were charged for the consumption of about 54 cubic meters.
If you tell me water WAS NOT heated with gas, there is no way in the world you could have used that much: my stats. tell me that a gas range used daily for cooking three meals uses AT THE MOST 1.5 cubic meter/week

Electricity: without the use of air.con the max usage of an apartment can vary from 20 - 35 Euro/week: a lot depends on the type of appliances the property has.

Final cleaning: it EVENTUALLY has to be charged on a fixed amount per property and not per person (personally i charge for this ONLY if stay is less than full week) and in any case it MUST be indicated on your contract.

Just one question: How big was the Villa?

I'm scandalized by these charges. The utility fees are inflated and the cleaning fees are nothing short of outrageous. The landlord is clearly skimming money from the cook.

I really hope you will post the agency/villa info so everyone else can avoid it. Nan and itarchivarius are right on with advice. Arguing over these charges is a hassle, but I think it's worth it.

I am going to post a review that will include my feelings about the over charging. I am partly to blame for not noticing the $30.00E a person "exit cleaning fee" ahead of time, but still they should be ashamed for charging that much.When I was clicking back and forth comparing Villas I was just looking quickly at how many bedrooms and baths and the rental rate. The disappointing thing is after you added all his "extra charges" that were included in another villa I was looking at but chose not to rent because it was more expensive.. this rental actually cost more! I should have been more savvy at this after all we have always rented a home on vacation.

How big is the villa? Utilities are high...but those seem extreme.

I have a non-resident rate (so, the highest) and I just recieved my Electric bill yesterday...165 Euros for 60 days (most of which, there were guests staying at the house) but, to be fair,...my place is teeny-tiny - only 45 sq meters...it was the highest bill I've gotten, so I'm assumming lights and the water heater were left on all the time (when I'm there, I turn off the water heater if Im going to be out all day) and probably, the washing machinie was used quite a bit (we do not have a dryer). I pay for propane gas separately, so I don't know those costs.

A good waring to alll to read the fine print in any rental agreement and, if possible, choose somewhere that doesn't tack on unexpected "extras" - I've heard simmilar stories about way out-there end-of-stay electricity charges.

We don't like charging extra for final cleaning and utilities, so what the guests see on the prices page is what they have to pay.

However, we have had to raise our prices in Pisa from 450 euros to 500 euros per week because the utilities are killing us.

We paid 2000 euros in bills between January and June, it is ridiculous. We do not even have air conditioning... and in Casina di Rosa we use a gas heater and we provide wood for the fireplace. I have no idea why we are paying so much. But we are... it is dreadful.

We do not charge either, but the day when utilities bill arrive is always a bad one even though we have energy saving lamps, good isolation and whatever can help to save energy.
Luckily, even if we do not charge, most of our guests understand the need to conserve energy also for environmental reasons.

A couple of years ago however, we decided to stay close for the winter because it is not worth to work only for the energy bills. And this is not going to improve!

I agree that you almost assuredly received a "conto salato", that is a "salted" or inflated bill. That said, my experiences in Italy over the years have taught me to be wary and get things specifically settled in advance whenever possible. Also, my opinion that once you lay your money down in Italy if things go south your recourse is very limited.