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StayPC Vacation Rentals (by Kenneth W.):

StayPC is a vacation rental web site based in Utah. Be careful before you agree to rent your timeshare to this company.

Last week they contacted me about one of their clients wanting to rent my timeshare in Aruba that I listed on Redweek.com. We agreed on a price and they sent me their rental contract to sign.

The contract has some very serious issues to someone renting a timeshare to StayPC. First, the contract did not include some provisions that are standard to these kinds of rental deals. 1) It did not include a provision that either party could NOT assign the contract to another person without the other party’s approval 2) It did not include any language that the initial deposit was Non-Refundable. StayPC could miss the final payment and I would have to refund the deposit and have to put the unit back on the market, incurring costs and losing 60 days of time that the unit was off the market. 3) Finally – and most disturbing – there was no cancellation provision in the contract. StayPC could cancel – even at the last minute – and I would have to refund the money and get stuck with the unit with no time to rent it out.

There were other problems with the contract that gave me concern. 1) They demanded that I give them the confirmation number of my timeshare week before receiving any money, even though I told them that I paid Red Week an extra fee to have them verify the reservation, and my rental listing on Red Week’s web site was marked “REDWEEK VERIFIED”. They refused to budge, saying that Red Week only confirms ownership of the unit, not the reservation – which is not true. 2) The payment section of the contract indicated that I would receive an IRS Form 1099 which means that I would have to declare this as rental income on my tax return UNLESS I accepted payment via PAYPAL or a credit card. This is illegal as a vendor cannot choose which transactions get 1099’s. It also makes me wonder if something else is going on with this option.

I offered suggested language to address the three issues I mentioned above, but StayPC refused to make any changes. They suggested that I could write up my suggested wording changes – except for the cancellation provision – as an addendum and send it to them. Of course, I would have to first sign their standard contract which contains a provision stating “This agreement contains the entire understanding of the parties hereto with respect to the transactions and matter contemplated hereby…” StayPC could refuse to sign the addendum, and I would be stuck with their standard contract.

I told them that I would not sign their contract without my changes, but offered to do the deal using Red Week’s escrow service. They said they could not pass on the escrow service fee to their client, so I offered to pick up the whole fee. They refused, saying they don’t do escrow deals – probably because Red Week’s contract includes the provisions I needed!

Be careful and read the whole contract…