 Does the property owner have a website? Most scammers won't take the time to create a website. Additionally creating a website leaves a trail that law enforcement can track to prosecute the scammer. Just because a property owner does not have a website does not make them a scammer, but it should raise a flag to proceed with caution. If the price is too low, be suspicious ! (False listing) When possible, pay with a credit card, wire transfer or check. Paypal or your credit card company will provide you protection in the event of fraud. Don't send check if you cannot verify the name and address of the Owner ! Never pay with Western Union if you don't know the Owner. Most smaller vacation rental owners do not accept credit cards as a form of payment. In that case most will accept a personal check. However, most scammers will only take cashiers checks. This should be a red flag. If a property owner requires a cashier check, take additional steps to assure the owner and rental are legitimate. The cashier check protects also the Owner if the payment is done only at the check in and not before. Another safe and easy way to verify if your Miami Vacation Rentals is not a scam, is to "Google" the Owner and his own address. Example with our Corporation T&T Florida Investments Corp. Owner Guy Tenenbaum Address 16479 NE 30 Ave N Miami Beach FL 33160 Here in our Official Florida Registration link. You can also verify the ownership of the Miami Vacation houses you want to rent on Miami Dade .Gov You can read on Comments, below, people that were taken advantage of by fraudulent vacation rentals on the internet Never rent without Ownership verification for a Safe Rental !
Never rent without verification of the City Approval for Short Term Rental ! Be aware: South Beach prohibits short-term rental of any kind. Miami Beach is considering Short-term
rental anything less than 6 months. If the owner
of the property is not licenced to do this by the
city and State of Florida and you agree to rent a property you run the
risk of being evicted by the city's police department with no recourse.
By renting from a licensed company you reduce your risk of any fraud as
well. Make sure you verify this information with https://www.myfloridalicense.com/LicenseDetail.asp?SID=&id=52AF8F9164A7DE0C51055333C6DDE85C January 2009, the City of Miami Beach & South Beach confirmed that Short Term Rental is prohibited in Miami Beach or South Beach less than 6 month and 1 day. Don't take the risk, you can be evict by the Police ! Short Term Rental is prohibited too in North Miami Beach, nearest legal town for short term rental from South Beach because we was grandfathered in. (Miami Herald news posted on Friday 11/20/09, *news below). If you do not want your holidays ending-up a nightmare, refuse any offers of short term rentals in the city of Miami Beach. Refuse also contracts for 6 months that are fraudulent to avoid Miami Dade taxes or done to make you believe that this is legal when you know that you asked for only “2 weeks” rent. It is a criminal offence. Be aware that unscrupulous Real Estates Agents continue to rent Short Term or Vacation Rental in Miami Beach for less then 6 months and 1 day even if it's prohibited by law, hoping you will be not evicted ! *MIAMI HERALD NEWS posted Friday 11.20.09 Also supporting the ordinance is Guy Tenenbaum, a native of France who moved to North Miami Beach in 2000 and owns a vacation rental business, which will be grandfathered in.``We're happy because if the law did not pass, we'd continue the same way we did for years. We live in the neighborhood, and we don't want Eastern Shores to become a big party house,'' he said. |
Fraud Warning for Miami Vacation Rentals ! |
Miami Vacation Rentals: Villa Bay View
Hello Guy. I called you earlier about the property that we "rented" via computer that was not actually you renting it to us. It was discovered that we originally contacted the agent Lucas Smith via a listing on Craigslist.
We have a budget of about $1400 for the days we need (arriving on October 22, departing on October 26). I don't assume it would be possible to rent this same property for this price, considering the circumstances? All the guys were really excited about staying here for our vacation, and your property has been the talk of the trip. It has even been posted on our event's page on facebook for all our friends to be jealous over. Its heartbreaking that this was a bogus deal and that we were ripped off because of an online scammer. I have contacted the authorities as well as Paypal's fraud department regarding the false transaction. At the end of this message is the contract we received for the property for you to look over, including the "office address" for the "company." Please get back to me as soon as you can an let me know. I included your information in the fraud report, as well as letting them know that this has happened on your property at least once before and that the FBI and lawyers had been contacted for prior occasions. Thanks for your help Guy!
Bruce
m claudia liliana Parra Ferro <yayis65@hotmail.com>
sender-time Sent at 2:17 PM (GMT-05:00). Current time there: 2:26 PM. ✆
to miamiwaterfrontrental@gmail.com
date Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 2:17 PM
subject RE: VacationRentals.com - Rental Inquiry [Claudia Parra] - Property #56347
mailed-by hotmail.com
Images from this sender are always displayed. Don't display from now on.
hide details 2:17 PM (9 minutes ago)
Hola Delphine.
Hable con mis compañeros, y a pesar de estar muy temerosos con respecto a lo que nos paso con nuestra reserva, desean que continuemos con nuestros planes de viaje.
Queremos saber que posibilidad hay de reservarte con $500 us, si aceptas me mandas por favor cual sera el procedimiento.
Estos son los datos de la persona con que hicimos nuestra reservacion anterior (Me sigue llamando y me insiste en que le mande por lo menos la mitad del total que falta por la misma via). Su nombre es Dave Battaglia lo contacte por la pagina Vacations rentals.com ,su propiedad es la No.62665. La direccion es 5310 N Bay Rd. Miami Beach-Florida Zip code 33140. El telefono de contacto 3212925034 . Otra direccion de Correo beachvllagmail.com.
Enviamos $500 via Western Union a nombre de Richard Butkus a esta direccion 55 Chestnut-Long Beach. California zip 9082.
Siempre tuve contacto con el Sr. Battaglia.
Depronto estos datos te sirven para poner una alerta y evitar que mas gente siga siendo estafada.
Muchas gracias, espero tu respuesta.
Claudia.
Here is another red flag for fraud I encountered recently. If an alleged property owner asks you to send a check to his assistant in another state or country - don't do it! You are sending your check to someone who thinks they have a real job processing orders. They will deposit the check into their account and then wire the money to an overseas account and then your money is gone!
Bonjour, je profite de votre site pour vous confirmer que nous avons loue a South Beach pour une semaine. La Police ou un autre service, je ne sais pas, est venue nous demander nos billets d'avion apres nous avoir demande pour combien de temps on avait loue. Nous avons dit la verite, on nous a demande poliment mais fermement de prendre nos affaires et de quitter les lieux. Le proprietaire n'a pas voulu nous rembourser. Savez vous ou je dois porter plainte pour recuperer mes 8,000 Dollars ?
Reporting Fraud
In the event that you do detect fraud or have been a victim, you can use the contact information below.
* FTC toll free hotline: 877-FTC-HELP (877-382-4357)
* FTC online complaint form (www.ftc.gov)
* Canadian PhoneBusters hotline: 888-495-8501
* Internet Fraud Complaint Center (www.ic3.gov)
* Internet Fraud Information (www.firstgov.gov/Citizen/Topics/Internet_Fraud.shtml)
* FBI (www.fbi.gov)
* http://www.fraud.org/
The City of N Miami Beach took New Ordinance, November 17 2009, to forbid definitively short term rental or vacation rentals for less than three months. Only 8 houses was grandfather in. Seven belongs to Guy Tenenbaum who is renting homes in Eastern Shores since years and paid Sales and transient Taxes.
MIAMI HERALD NEWS posted Friday 11.20.09
North Miami Beach passes ordinance banning short-term rentals
A new city ordinance prohibits homeowners from doing short-term rentals.
BY JOSE PAGLIERY
JPAGLIERY@MIAMIHERALD.COM
In an effort to curtail the short-term leasing of North Miami Beach homes that often end up the site noisy weekend parties, the city passed an ordinance Tuesday forbidding such rentals.
The new measure makes it illegal for the owner of a single family home to rent the house for less than three months at a time. The new rule also prohibits renting out the home more than three times a year.
Those who are currently licensed to do short-term rentals will be grandfathered in, but others face stiff penalties of $250 per day.
City attorney Darcee Siegel said the issue is problematic for residents, because homes are often rented to rowdy partygoers.
``It's a problem, and not only in this city -- in various cities,'' Siegel said at the meeting.
With a 5-2 vote, the council passed the ordinance, which will prohibit short-term rentals and require those that were grandfathered in to obtain yearly business tax receipts from the city. The only area exempted is the mobile home area located east of Biscayne Boulevard between 135th Street and 145th Street.
City officials urged homeowners seeking to be grandfathered in to contact the city to obtain the permits, which cost $60 per home each year. Those permits can be denied if a home has code-enforcement violations, Siegel said.
Those homeowners who don't get permits and are later caught could face fines of $250 per day and $500 per day for repeat offenses.
The tighter restrictions come just a few months before the Super Bowl comes to Land Shark Stadium -- a stone's throw from the city.
Councilwoman Phyllis Smith noted that many families hit hard by the recession could make upwards of $10,000 for renting out their homes during Super Bowl week.
Still, she voted in support of the ordinance, saying it would give the city a weapon to use against those who seek to turn Eastern Shores, a high-end neighborhood in North Miami Beach, into a district of luxury vacation rentals.
Councilman Philippe Derose echoed her thoughts.
``Single family homes should be single family homes,'' he said.
Also supporting the ordinance is Guy Tenenbaum, a native of France who moved to North Miami Beach in 2000 and owns a vacation rental business, which will be grandfathered in.
``We're happy because if the law did not pass, we'd continue the same way we did for years. We live in the neighborhood, and we don't want Eastern Shores to become a big party house,'' he said.
Tenenbaum hopes to sell most of his eight North Miami Beach homes -- most of which he bought before the housing market tanked. But the ordinance will still affect him because he plans to keep living in the city, he said.
As of the ordinance's passing, Tenenbaum is one of only two home-rental businessmen who has come forward. The other is Eric Harari, who owns a two-story five-bedroom Eastern Shores home he rents out to vacationers attending Art Basel or other international events.
``For me, it will not change much,'' he said. ``I've paid my taxes since day one.''
Officials said they would rely solely on neighbors to report illegal activity. ``Our code enforcement is not going to drive around to see whose car is switching,'' Smith said.
Councilwoman Beth Spiegel, who voted alongside Frantz Pierre against the ordinance, said the rule wouldn't jibe with the nature of North Miami Beach's zoning code -- which doesn't expressly forbid short-term rentals.
``When you change your zoning code to prohibited uses, you turn your zoning code upside down.'' she said after the meeting.
MIAMI HERALD NEWS posted Friday 11.20.09
Also supporting the ordinance is Guy Tenenbaum, a native of France who moved to North Miami Beach in 2000 and owns a vacation rental business, which will be grandfathered in.
``We're happy because if the law did not pass, we'd continue the same way we did for years. We live in the neighborhood, and we don't want Eastern Shores to become a big party house,'' he said.