Advice needed please

I'm new here, not a timewhere owner and never rented one before. We're looking for a week in Maui (westin Ka'anapali), and have found and agreed on a great price with another redweek member. I have put down a $100 deposit via paypal, and he sent me a Guest Certificate (issued by Interval International) confirming the week, however, when i called Westin, he said that the reservation is still under his name. When i called II, they confirmed it's under my name, but they did say that as an owner, he could change that anytime. He said that II will send Westin the guest info closer to the arrival date, but that's not up to him.

I'm supposed to send a check for the entire balance 2 weeks after the confirmation, but when i asked for a rental agreements, he said he want to keep the process simple, so no rental agreement. And he also asked that i sent the check via normal mail. he does have a website, and Facebook page. here is his website:

http://www.wkorv.com/index.html

I kept going back and forth whether or not to pay the balance, or just get my money back (he said he will refund the deposit if i dont feel comfortable).

Please let me know what your thoughts are. Thanks in advance!!! it's one thing to loose the money, but it will be a disaster to pay for airfare and all, then the entire family have no place to stay, wouldn't be a vacation :)

I don't know if the rental is legit or not, however you should never rent without a rental agreement signed by both you and the owner.

I see on his webpage he posted "I have been renting units at this property since 2004 and have had over 400 renters to date". I can't believe he's had 400 renters with no contract in place. You'll just have to trust your gut feeling on this one. Another question is how has he had 400 renters since 2004 when he just owns a timeshare?

Thank you so much. I ended up asking him to kindly refund the deposit and he did. Such a great deal, but it didn't feel right without a rental agreement :)

Thanks!!!!

I think you dodged a bullet when you asked for your refund !! This man would have to own 50 timeshare weeks and rent each one for the past 8 years to have 400 customers. And - in all that time no one asked for a contract - I doubt it.

I own Marriott weeks in Myrtle Beach and I have a strong contract that I sign and send to my renter before I take any money. There is a matter of trust going on until the deal is all done. I put the reservation in the renters name and when Marriott sends them a confirmation, then I ask the renter to send back the Notarized contract with the rental fee. There is a line in the contract that says I will not take the reservation out of their name once their check clears. They can hold me to that because they have my original signature on the contract.

All owners are accepting ultimate responsibility for damages by their renters although Marriott will first try to collect from the person who stayed at the resort. We must reflect that risk in our rental fees. So far I have been lucky and have fortunately dealt with responsible renters.

So you see both the renter and the owners must be careful in their dealings. Create a strong contract and everyone will feel comfortable.