Consumer Law, Warranties Vacation rental cancelled due to Covid - any chance of refund?

[DoIHaveACase]

Jurisdiction

Florida

We live in Illinois. We booked a vacation rental property on Captiva Island, Florida, for Mar 28-Apr 4, 2020. The rental was facilitated VRBO; actual booking was with Dream Vacation Rentals (DVR). We cancelled due to Covid. The Illinois governor issued a "no leisure travel" order on March 20. The Florida governor ordered vacation rentals to be closed starting March 28. Total amount paid to DVR is over $17k. Contract essentially says "no refunds for any reason". DVR offered a 12-month credit, which we declined. As we were not legally supposed to travel, and DVR was not legally supposed to operate the property, we are trying to see if we have any legal recourse to any refund.

Additional details:

• We declined the 12-month credit, due to health concerns of our family; additionally, the value is not just the property itself, it also includes all the surrounding amenities, which can hardly be considered the same as they were when the property was reserved (September, 2019)
• We have tried using the dispute process of our credit card; that has been on-going for seven months now, though all signs point to it ending in the merchant's favor (can provide more detail if requested, trying to be brief)

Thank you for any thoughts or feedback!

 

[adjusterjack]

we are trying to see if we have any legal recourse to any refund.

The only way you will find that out is by having a lawyer review the contract and the circumstances. For $17,000 you would be foolish not to consult a lawyer.

 

[zddoodah]

Contract essentially says "no refunds for any reason".

Given the above, and assuming you haven't misinterpreted this language or overlooked something else important, I don't see how you haven't answered your own question.

Of course, there's no way to be sure without reading the entirety of the contract.

For $17,000 you be foolish not to consult a lawyer.

Agree.

 

[mightymoose]

As I understand it your dispute is directly with the owner. Vrbo previously refunded its service fees in full for that date range and you should have already received this.
Florida Executive Order 20-87 imposed penalties on owner's who violate the order, including lots of the rental license. Do you have any evidence that you were encouraged to stay at the rental after the order was issued?
If so you may be able to use that as some leverage.
There are many others who are having this problem. You should be able to reach out to others and maybe combined efforts to find a solution.

 

[Zigner]

As I understand it your dispute is directly with the owner. Vrbo previously refunded its service fees in full for that date range and you should have already received this.
Florida Executive Order 20-87 imposed penalties on owner's who violate the order, including lots of the rental license. Do you have any evidence that you were encouraged to stay at the rental after the order was issued?
If so you may be able to use that as some leverage.
There are many others who are having this problem. You should be able to reach out to others and maybe combined efforts to find a solution.

The directive that you cited specifically states that it does not apply in the OP's case situation:

(B. This directive shall not include the following:
...
iii. Rental stays where guests are currently staying in a vacation rental or have previously booked a stay and are schedule [sic] to check-in no later than March 28, 2020; ...")
(emphasis added)
(https://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/orders/2020/EO_20-87.pdf)

 

[mightymoose]

I wonder if the Florida legislature might eventually come to the rescue. So many people are out thousand of dollars and failure to rectify the issue could effect the rental business going forward.
For people effected by the governor's prohibition of the rental (which is surely the only reason you did not go... right? RIGHT?) the state might provide relief to owner's so that refunds can be issued.
It would take time and proper persuasion for that to happen.

 

[Zigner]

I wonder if the Florida legislature might eventually come to the rescue. So many people are out thousand of dollars and failure to rectify the issue could effect the rental business going forward.
For people effected by the governor's prohibition of the rental (which is surely the only reason you did not go... right? RIGHT?) the state might provide relief to owner's so that refunds can be issued.
It would take time and proper persuasion for that to happen.

The OP was offered an option for a credit. I suspect that it's the only real option the OP has.

 

[DoIHaveACase]

Thank you all for your feedback. A few comments and follow-up questions:

The only way you will find that out is by having a lawyer review the contract and the circumstances. For $17,000 you would be foolish not to consult a lawyer.

Agreed. I guess a side question is, what's reasonable to expect in terms of fees when I engage a lawyer? We were put in contact with a local lawyer here in Illinois (a friend of a friend of a friend), who basically said I have to start with a $5k retainer fee before anything formal can happen. I certainly don't expect free legal counsel. But I can't help but feel there must be someone willing to research Florida case law (e.g. has Westlaw access), review my contract, and maybe look for other similar cases (of which there must be, given the pandemic), in less time than is implied by $5k in initial fees. Someone who can come back and tell me what my odds of success are.

As I understand it your dispute is directly with the owner. Vrbo previously refunded its service fees in full for that date range and you should have already received this.

VRBO did refund their fee ($500) almost right away. I believe our dispute is with the property management company (DVR), who are acting as the agent for the actual owner of the property.

Florida Executive Order 20-87 imposed penalties on owner's who violate the order, including lots of the rental license. Do you have any evidence that you were encouraged to stay at the rental after the order was issued?
If so you may be able to use that as some leverage.

Not really. To be clear - we did cancel before the Florida EO was issued, due to medical safety concerns (high-risk children, traveling with aged grandparents). We were told, after our stay was supposed to happen, that we technically could have stayed. I believe the Florida EO went into effect on midnight Mar 28, and our check-in was during the day. So I think technically they could have opened it for us. Though, had we flown there as planned, we would have been in violation of the "no leisure travel" EO in our home state.

There are many others who are having this problem. You should be able to reach out to others and maybe combined efforts to find a solution.

Do you have any thoughts on how we might find others in this situation?

The OP was offered an option for a credit. I suspect that it's the only real option the OP has.

The credit was only for one year. If it was one year after the end of the pandemic, then we gladly would have accepted. I feel there is a valid argument that the one year credit is of lower value than what we paid. The value of the property is not just the facility itself, but the surrounding amenities. And can anyone realistically argue that all the amenities will be available and safe as one would expect in normal times?

For people effected by the governor's prohibition of the rental (which is surely the only reason you did not go... right? RIGHT?)

Given the above [contract essentially says "no refunds under any circumstances"], and assuming you haven't misinterpreted this language or overlooked something else important, I don't see how you haven't answered your own question.

I don't want to believe it, but it's starting to sound like we may simply be out of luck. A $17k lesson on not signing one-sided contracts and/or purchasing cancel-for-any-reason insurance?

 

[Zigner]

To be clear - we did cancel before the Florida EO was issued, due to medical safety concerns...

That is key to this matter. You were aware of the "non-refundable" policy, yet you cancelled. As I said above, I think you should take the credit. It's possible that things will change in the future, but I think you may be throwing good money after bad if you hire an attorney. Talk to a few of them, of course...but that's my prediction.

 

[adjusterjack]

I have to start with a $5k retainer fee before anything formal can happen.

Call around to other lawyers. See if somebody will look into the basics for you for a smaller fee.

Though, had we flown there as planned, we would have been in violation of the "no leisure travel" EO in our home state.

For which there likely would have been no consequences.

Do you have any thoughts on how we might find others in this situation?

Google. Or try posting on City-Data. Thousands of people post there every day.

And can anyone realistically argue that all the amenities will be available and safe as one would expect in normal times?

Contractual obligations have nothing to do with what "might" happen.

 

[zddoodah]

what's reasonable to expect in terms of fees when I engage a lawyer?

For something like this, an hourly fee of $200-400. For a basic review of this sort of contract and a couple meetings or phone calls to discuss the lawyer's conclusions, probably less than $1k.

We were put in contact with a local lawyer here in Illinois (a friend of a friend of a friend), who basically said I have to start with a $5k retainer fee before anything formal can happen. I certainly don't expect free legal counsel. But I can't help but feel there must be someone willing to research Florida case law (e.g. has Westlaw access), review my contract, and maybe look for other similar cases (of which there must be, given the pandemic), in less time than is implied by $5k in initial fees. Someone who can come back and tell me what my odds of success are.

There's almost certainly no point in doing case law research, and it's relatively unlikely that there are cases anywhere that have fully made it through both the trial court level and the appellate level and been published. It's also relatively unlikely that anything like this will ever make it that far because few such cases will involve enough money to make it worthwhile to go through trial court litigation and an appeal, so your assertion that "there must be" such cases is incorrect. Finally, lawyers do not dispense odds.

I don't want to believe it, but it's starting to sound like we may simply be out of luck. A $17k lesson on not signing one-sided contracts and/or purchasing cancel-for-any-reason insurance?

I don't want to kick you while you're down, but I have an incredibly hard time fathoming paying that kind of money under a "no refunds" contract without buying cancelation insurance. However, if you have the means to rent a $2,400+ per night vacation home, I'm guessing this may not be as big a loss for you as it would be for most folks.

 

[mightymoose]

From what I have read it seems even people who had insurance have had difficulty with these refunds. It may not have helped you under these unique circumstances.