• Trouble logging in? Send us a message with your username and/or email address for help.
New posts

Paula

Beach Fanatic
Jan 25, 2005
3,747
442
Michigan but someday in SoWal as well
Thanks, Cork. Hope I never need to use that advice!

Mango, maybe you could write an open "letter to parents" and have newspapers, including the newspapers in the towns where the kids' parents are from (since you saw their info on the Internet) publish it, explaining how dangerous it is and how expensive it is for the parents who lose their deposit. And you could say that the children of a local lawyer, etc., were on spring break and describe the damage that was done and the safety risks. Some parents who are professionals don't realize that their kids could be the problem.

You could post drafts here and we could help edit them! Sounds like a job for the SoWal SWAT team. Where were the families from based on what you found on the Internet?
 

audie

fartblossom
May 15, 2005
10,946
27
these happenings just make me sick, and it gives people who rent the beach houses a bad name in general, even tho my hubby and i would never do anything like this. so sorry it happened, maybe the same type thing will happen to the parents one day with their own home, and they will know how you feel.
 

Mango

SoWal Insider
Apr 7, 2006
9,709
1,360
New York/ Santa Rosa Beach
We realized it could have been worse- a lot worse. Its just things.
Fortunately our damage deposit covered our tooties. I felt bad for my neighbor who took the brunt of it, and fortunate they were able to come down the week when they left to fix things back up.
I've moved on and forgotten about and I think she has too.

Thanks Cork for your experience.
It would have felt really good to lock em out, but figured the possible recourse wasnt worth the effort. They got the picture when we hunted down the Moms down on Monday after their bash.

Here's a good laugh. One of the girls had the nerve to call and ask if we found her black leather jacket. I told her that I think my cleaning lady used it to clean the vomit off the deck :rotfl:

mango
 

Pirate

Beach Fanatic
Jan 2, 2006
331
29
I would write a letter to the mother and give a break down of your expenses and losses and ask nicely for the additional funds including a deck re-stain. Hopefully she really does want to teach her child some responsibilty and will make this happen for you.

I wouldn't count on getting the money but it would make me feel like I did something. I have been in a similar situation more than once and a lawsuit will definitely cost you more than you recoup. Unless you really want to prove a point it isn't worth the considerable effort.

No renters under 25 for me. Sue me.
 

Sheila

SoWal Insider
Mango said:
We realized it could have been worse- a lot worse. Its just things.
Fortunately our damage deposit covered our tooties. I felt bad for my neighbor who took the brunt of it, and fortunate they were able to come down the week when they left to fix things back up.
I've moved on and forgotten about and I think she has too.

Thanks Cork for your experience.
It would have felt really good to lock em out, but figured the possible recourse wasnt worth the effort. They got the picture when we hunted down the Moms down on Monday after their bash.

Here's a good laugh. One of the girls had the nerve to call and ask if we found her black leather jacket. I told her that I think my cleaning lady used it to clean the vomit off the deck :rotfl:

mango

Mango,

I have a friend that has a large house in Seacrest beach. She had almost the identical thing happen to her three weeks ago. She lives locally so she had actaully met the group to give them the keys and make sure there was adult supervision. She even helped them haul their stuff into the house and made sure they knew where everything was before she left. Got a call at 2am from the Sherriff's ofc. to report they were on their way to check out a disturbance at her home. She got there right after the deputies arrived. There were almost 100 kids! Mom's were no where to be seen, they had hightailed it back to Montgomery! She kicked them all to the curb! She waited for the Mom's to get back and then had the deputy come over and have a little chat with them all. In the end, they were more than happy to pay for all damages and surrender the security deposit. I don't think option B suited them!
 

Cork On the Ocean

directionally challenged
gotothebeachmom said:
Mango,

I have a friend that has a large house in Seacrest beach. She had almost the identical thing happen to her three weeks ago. She lives locally so she had actaully met the group to give them the keys and make sure there was adult supervision. She even helped them haul their stuff into the house and made sure they knew where everything was before she left. Got a call at 2am from the Sherriff's ofc. to report they were on their way to check out a disturbance at her home. She got there right after the deputies arrived. There were almost 100 kids! Mom's were no where to be seen, they had hightailed it back to Montgomery! She kicked them all to the curb! She waited for the Mom's to get back and then had the deputy come over and have a little chat with them all. In the end, they were more than happy to pay for all damages and surrender the security deposit. I don't think option B suited them!

Boy, hadn't heard about that one GTTBM! Have to ask Kat, she's called for everything. We had a BUS full of kids last week. Yes a BUS full of teenagers and Kat told them they couldn't park the bus here. Called Coastal's rental division, they didn't stop them. They just wouldn't obey the rules and park the bus outside the subdivision. It was on the agenda for the BOD last week but they never got to it and they were scheduled to leave the next day.

You would think with such nice homes these kids couldn't afford to trash homes like these and would have to stick to the old hotels on PCB. It's a real problem and if the management companies kept the homes they managed reasonable, you would think that they could stop by on day 2 of the week and see if there's an adult there.

We went to a condo that we had listed and found a big dog that wasnt supposed to be there. We called our client, who called the management company and the dog left to stay with the renters friends. It's so sad that people just don't have respect for people's property. I wonder if a camera on the entrance of the house is legal so you can see who's going into your home? :dunno: Might be something to check out for owners.
 

DBOldford

Beach Fanatic
Jan 25, 2005
990
15
Napa Valley, CA
Mango, so sorry this happened to you. We have had two separate incidences of this at our Grayton home. One was just two weeks ago. Paula, I like your idea of writing a letter to the editor of their hometown newspaper and I will be penning one to the local paper in Anderson, NC. After the most recent incident, we had the house completely blocked out next year for the month of March and in April up until Easter week, when real familes come. Even if there isn't outright damage, the angst is not worth it, not to mention the concern of some kid being hurt badly or worse while there.

I am appalled at how many parents will swear and sign agreements to the effect that they will be on the premises at all times, then head for the hills after procuring the keys for their angels. Do not ever believe that your rental/management company is screening effectively, because that practice stops with handing out the keys. In fact, in our instance the County Sheriff was called out and the management was on a vacation of their own. Rentals are apparently down considerably and they will rent to anyone. They won't even charge these people the actual cost of the cleanup for fear that the abusers won't come back next year.

In our house, housekeeping stopped counting at 20 empty cases of beer and multiple half-gallon empties of liquor, hundreds of cigarette butts on the decks (a deck table used as an ashtray) and pool area, projectile vomiting on several walls and all along baseboards, and a bucket of vomit left in the walk-in food pantry. I don't even want to think about how drunk one has to be to throw up onto a wall. The mother, a registered nurse, swore she was there with these nine girls. When I called the house, the "parent" on the premises thanked me for "taking a chance on these girls." That should have been the first clue. I will also add that this woman did not sound like the parent of a teenager. I will say it again: Parents, you think this kind of thing is always done by someone else's kid. Think again. Left unsupervised, what you have is an alcohol-fueled free for all with drugs and sex (yes, we find evidence of those, too), and other unspeakable activities. You are out of your minds to let your children go off on a group trip like this without responsible parents along. Forget this chaperone stuff, because our experience is that is the person who buys the alcohol!

As to recourse, our management company has collected damages from the charge card on both occasions when we had problems. They have also required the renters to pay for extra cleaning or carpet cleaning. They take photographs of the house to make their own case and you are entitled to have copies of these. We sent these indecent photos to the first problem parents, who assumed all damages and actually strictly disciplined the kids through their college counseling office. (Parents left the house because the grandmother took a turn for the worse and actually died...house was overrun by kids evicted from another house.) In the second instance, we will send photos to the parents and write that embarrassing letter to their local newspaper.

You have the right to evict anyone who is occupying your home under breach of the contract. Our management company kicked the first offenders out; they lost both rent and their entire deposit, plus damages. If you have occasion to think there are unsupervised underage kids drinking alcohol and disturbing the peace, you can also call the County Sheriff and have him arrest the entire bunch. More than likely, drugs will be found on the premises, too. (This is when you will see parents, by the way. They will be burning up Hwy. 331 to make bail so their angel doesn't have a record that would be of interest to an Ivy League recruiter.)

In the end, the only way to make sure this doesn't happen is to not allow your property to be rented during the key time slots. In addition to March through Easter, you should also take care of the last week in May/first in June. That is senior trip week and most younger children are not yet out of school. Parents are not firmly tethered to Planet Earth about the realities of young people and alcohol, drugs, sex. Management companies are oriented to your renters, not to owners, and they flee the area at the end of the day or go on vacation to miss the entire mess. Maybe when their revenues are reduced considerably, they will start to do something meaningful in the way of prevention. But probably not. I was recently told, "Well, maybe they had a little too much fun." Vomiting on a wall doesn't sound like much fun to me... :dunno:
 

Jdarg

SoWal Expert
Feb 15, 2005
18,068
1,973
Reading these posts has been helpful to me as a parent- even though my son is only 13, we have already had conversations with other parents about Spring Break. Sounds like SUCH a nightmare for property owners.

As of now, our future plan is to rent a house in Grayton, and BE THERE, with our kid, and his friends. He can invite a set number of friends and the trip will be on my dime, BUT- I will be there, with not only rules, but lots of ideas for cool things to do. The choice for him will be easy- he can go to the beach with his friends and have a good time, with his parents there, or he can stay home and do nothing. There will be no option C,D, or E! Hopefully, we will like some of his friend's parents, and they can come too!
 

Unplugged

Beach Fanatic
Jul 31, 2005
519
0
Donna: I agree with you about blocking off the property during Spring Break - our experience shows Memorial Day to Labor Day is the optimum time to rent. For us, the meager revenue $$'s and risks just aren't worth it during rest of the year.

Jdarg: I wish all parents were as responsible as you!

Cork: This is why we haven't launched a management company: way too many headaches - even the best company will occasionally get fooled by Spring Breakers who are intent on renting under false pretenses....
 

Sheila

SoWal Insider
Cork On the Ocean said:
Boy, hadn't heard about that one GTTBM! Have to ask Kat, she's called for everything. We had a BUS full of kids last week. Yes a BUS full of teenagers and Kat told them they couldn't park the bus here. Called Coastal's rental division, they didn't stop them. They just wouldn't obey the rules and park the bus outside the subdivision. It was on the agenda for the BOD last week but they never got to it and they were scheduled to leave the next day.

You would think with such nice homes these kids couldn't afford to trash homes like these and would have to stick to the old hotels on PCB. It's a real problem and if the management companies kept the homes they managed reasonable, you would think that they could stop by on day 2 of the week and see if there's an adult there.

We went to a condo that we had listed and found a big dog that wasnt



supposed to be there. We called our client, who called the management






company and the dog left to stay with the renters friends. It's so sad that people just don't have respect for people's property. I wonder if a camera

on the entrance of the house is legal so you can see who's going into your
home? :dunno: Might be something to check out for owners.


This one was not in our neighborhood. This house is on the south side of 30-a in a neighborhood west of us. This particular home had it's own pool. It was trashed as well. The owner was so upset when she was trying to tell us about it. She said at one point while she waited for the Mom's to get there she almost called Walton county just to haul them all off to jail and let them deal with trying to explain to the rest of the groups parents why their kids were in the pokey, while under their supervision. She was amazed at how offended they were that she would dare evict them. :dunno:

I can't belive our board of directors didn't deal with the group in our neighborhood. Bad thing is once you allow it.....it's hard to unring that bell. I hope if something of that nature takes place at my home, I get a call. It may take several hours but I would be there in person to take care of it. Although, I have a good managemnet company that makes drop in visits if they suspect things are not as they seem.
 
New posts


Sign Up for SoWal Newsletter