Got trashed during spring break- to sue or not?

[Paula]

I think letting parents know that the neighborhoods call the sheriff if there's any inkling that there are underage kids doing anything in any of the rentals that is illegal (alcohol, drugs, etc.) that you would encourage pressing charges. Parents who are responsible would love your sense of responsibility; parents who aren't will look elsewhere.

Maybe there should be a "neighborhood watch" in each community for spring breakers and unsupervised under 25-year-olds. The neighborhood watch could note if it looks like there are people under 25 without supervision, people under 25 drinking, etc. and call the sheriff, rental agency, etc.

It would be great if 30A were known to be unfriendly in general to spring break under 25 year olds. Those who behave will want to come here anyway, those that don't won't.

 

[peapod1980]

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

mango

Donna, well, I see your sense of humor in intact--I commend you on that! So sorry to hear about what happened, though.

 

[SHELLY]

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.

Thanks to the "gentrification" of PCB the Spring Breakers have migrated to other areas this year. If these students can't congregate at clubs for drinking and debauchery, they'll make their own. "Well to do" parents who don't want their lil' darlings going off to dangerous places like Aruba are lying and footing the bill to put them up in "safer and upscale" places such as SoWal and Destin. Stories out of Destin, which once prided itself as a "family friendly"destination have had more than its share of student hi jinx this season (lots of drinking, noise until the wee hours, and bubble bath tossed in the condo Jacuzzi)

SoWal doesn't have the kind of places that keeps a gang of underage (for drinking) college kids "entertained" once the sun goes down--as long as there is someone willing to take the money to house these groups, it's gonna happen. Folks who invested in a basket o' condos at sky-high prices last year are easing standards in an effort to get some kind of cash flow going.

Just because mummy and daddy are "professionals" who can pay the bill is no guarantee that their off-spring will be responsible--heck even the Bush twins have probably had a few "wild and crazy" nights that ended in parental bailouts.

 

[Unplugged]

Shelly: When you're right, you're right!!

 

[Paula]

I like the idea of reminding parents that if their kids get in trouble with the law (and under age drinking and damaging property is against the law), it could go on their childs' record and affect them in the future. You'd think parents would be concerned about their kids' safety and not help them get themselves in trouble.

Boy, every time I respond to a VRBO request now, I'll add something like "All guests under 25 years old must be accompanied by an adult over 25 because this is a family-friendly community. This is strictly enforced by the association." or something like that.

 

[Mermaid]

I like the idea of reminding parents that if their kids get in trouble with the law (and under age drinking and damaging property is against the law), it could go on their childs' record and affect them in the future. You'd think parents would be concerned about their kids' safety and not help them get themselves in trouble.

Boy, every time I respond to a VRBO request now, I'll add something like "All guests under 25 years old must be accompanied by an adult over 25 because this is a family-friendly community. This is strictly enforced by the association." or something like that.

Paula, didn't you mention in a thread about calling your guests when they arrive to check to see everything was okay? This instance of Mango's house being trashed reminds me of it--maybe that extra personal touch might be what's needed to instill another layer of responsibility in guests. When you "know" someone, it changes things. I don't know if it could prevent unfortunate incidents like this, but perhaps it could lessen the damage significantly. Might be worth a try, at least.

 

[Cork On the Ocean]

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.

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.

The good thing about Seacrest Beach is there are some full time residents on nearly every street that will complain and call the police. I'd have no problem calling the police. It still happens. I noticed one of my client's house was accumulating a lot of beer cans around the outside so I called him. Problem was I wasn't his management company and couldn't knock on the door and I really didn't see or hear any bad behavior, just lots of trash. We made sure the management company cleaned up the outside but that's all we could really do on that one.

The busload of kids weren't unruly. If was a religious group and the kids were pretty quiet, but the issue was the bus parked out front that they refused to move. Enforcement of our covenents has been a real problem on many levels and it seems that more often than not they'd rather look the other way than engage in a confrontation. Personally, I think the primary responsibility is to the homeowners who pay a lot of money to have those restrictions and there should be no exceptions. 3 days were spent screwing with them, IMO, if they wouldn't move the bus, we should have had them towed at their expense. I'm sure the owner would have gotten ticked but where do you stop? What if somebody parks a semi in front of your next door neighbors house? Would you want it removed?

 

[InletBchDweller]

Cork,

My mom lives at Seacrest and she said that this last week was a doozie. She said kids were running around the pool, jumping over the waterfall walls, when she asked them nicely to quiet it down they all congregated under her balcony and talked and laughed for what seemed hours. I drove by a house one day and kids had electric guitars set up and were giving a "concert"??? to the whole neighborhood. The mom just said "you know 16 year old boys"....
I know that some signs were broken and some things stolen.
I know last year our golf cart was highjacked and driven to Rosemary!!!!
Every year I am floored as to how some parents have no control.....

 

[Cork On the Ocean]

Cork,

My mom lives at Seacrest and she said that this last week was a doozie. She said kids were running around the pool, jumping over the waterfall walls, when she asked them nicely to quiet it down they all congregated under her balcony and talked and laughed for what seemed hours. I drove by a house one day and kids had electric guitars set up and were giving a "concert"??? to the whole neighborhood. The mom just said "you know 16 year old boys"....
I know that some signs were broken and some things stolen.
I know last year our golf cart was highjacked and driven to Rosemary!!!!
Every year I am floored as to how some parents have no control.....

I don't get to the pool too often. What a zoo! And it's only going to get worse with all the communities using the pool. Apparently now the developer is offering to sell us the pool. It's my understanding that there was something said about giving it to us but now he wants to sell it. I can't even imagine being on the pool. I'm on the west end where it's pretty quiet so far. I love the area but would like a community with fewer rentals since I'm full time. It's a great community for rentals though.

 

[InletBchDweller]

yes she is full time for now....