How to temporarily rent out an apartment for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

January 12, 2009 8:23 PM

How to temporarily rent out an apartment. A friend wants to rent her place out for a couple of months for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.

The apartment's in a prime location and is in pristine condition. She'd like to advertise and get fairly upscale, serious replies. The words "athelete's family" were used. Where are the best places to do this on the web/in print? Is there anything she should know before doing this, and are there sites that give tips on this?
Legal stuff - best place to find info on writing up a contract, what she and the guests are responsible for. As she's in Canada, replies specific to the Canadian system would be good, but any other input is equally as welcome as it'd be a good place to reference from.
Finally, what am I missing here? Are there other factors she should be aware of?
(More detail: Apartment's in a new (just over 1 year old) condo in Yaletown. En-suite washer/dryer, 1 bedroom, all mod cons. She's planning on getting maid service in. She's also looking to get CAD$2000/week for it, which seems pretty reasonable to me. I'd suspect getting an athelete's family at this late date would be wishful thinking. Am I incorrect? Also, no specific time frame on the rental, but let's go with 6-8 weeks.)

posted by Zack_Replica to Travel & Transportation (7 answers total)

For $2000 a week, it's worth paying a few hundred bucks to get a lawyer to answer the legal questions. That's really the only right way to do that part.

She probably also wants to look at what type of insurance she needs.
posted by winston at 8:31 PM on January 12, 2009

$2000/wk seems low. I know people in Calgary who rented out their condo (2 bedroom) for the Olympics for $10,000/wk. And that was 1988.
posted by rokusan at 9:35 PM on January 12, 2009

I remember reading an article about a year ago about a service that matches people like your friend with potential renters, and includes a bit of vetting on both sides to make sure things go smoothly. It was designed for more 'high-end' clients. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the company. Googling shows me several places that might list your friend's place (eg rent2010.net) but I can't find the one I read about.

But hold on a second; 6 to 8 weeks at $2,000 a week? What kind of athlete's family has $16,000 and 2 months of vacation? I mean I guess it's possible, but I'd be pretty surprised...
posted by PercussivePaul at 8:17 AM on January 13, 2009

Actually, it looks like this might be it. They're geared towards corporate clients (e.g. journalists). Unfortunately they stopped accepting new listings in November, but it says they have a waiting list of properties which they might use depending on demand. Your friend should contact them right away.
posted by PercussivePaul at 8:21 AM on January 13, 2009

Response by poster: I think that athlete's family was just a guideline - basically people who would go on vacation to the Olympics and want a really nice place to stay and are ok with paying for that. I'll check out that link later, thanks!
posted by Zack_Replica at 11:10 AM on January 13, 2009

A friend of mine points out this link which is probably similar to the one above.
posted by stray at 9:40 PM on January 13, 2009

The people who rented my friends' condo were German tourists, for whatever that's worth.
posted by rokusan at 12:48 AM on January 14, 2009