Apartment License

[volkswin]

Hello All,

I was wondering if anybody had information relating to the type of license needed in Craotia for croatian citizens to rent private appartments to tourist for accomodation.

The reason I ask is that I recently stayed in an apartment (self contained apartment on the top floor of a private house), apartment rental was arranged by a UK tour operator well known for holidays in the Balkans.

To cut a long story short the apartment was dirty, unhygeinic
9 grimme, grease, mould, stained bedding including cig burns etc) and unsafe( exposed wiring in all rooms, no barriers on stairs and lobby )and in no way comparable to the apartments shown in the brochure.

I have been in contact with the tour operator and asked for a copy of the license the apartment held, i have recieved a pjoto copy document dated 2004 which lists the building as a 3star 2 room apartment I think (my Croatian translation is not the best).

I would like to know how regulary such licenses need to be renewed and what license this apartment should have for tourist rental.

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

regards,

[volkswin]

Hi Thank you for the information,

I cannot recall seeing a blue apartmant sign on the exterior of the building however that is not to say there was not one.

The property in question is licensed for two apartments both of which are situated on the top floor, however after complaing about the apartment we were offered the basement room of the house as an alternative, this I believe is in breach of the apartment license, never the less we refused and relocated ourselves and are in dispute with the tour operator.

The apartment is rated at 3 star however that was 8 yrs ago, looking on the net I agree with you that all the private apartment lets i have seen on the net look to be of a better standard than the one we were allocated.

I ahve been in touch with both the croatian misinsty for tourism and the dubrovnik tourism board but so far have recived no replies and will try your suggestion.

thanks again.

[Carol]

I am sorry you had a bad experience but a word of advice... if the apartment owners are Croatian (which is quite likely is the approval was issued as early as 2004) then you will be wasting your energy trying to get the Croatian authorities to take action.

If the agency through which you booked is ATOl or ABTA registered, then maybe that is the route to take.

Failing that you canname and shame the apartment on tripadvisor etc or just cut your losses. Trying to interest the Croat authorities in your plight and then persuading them to take action will be like banging your head against a (reinforced) brick wall.

I am sorry it has happened to you though.

So.. which town was it???

[volkswin]

Hi Carol,

Thank you for your reply, we were staying in an apartment in Gruz owned by a croatian national, who was by the way a very pleasant man however the hygiene and safety standards left a lot to be deired and not really what you would expect for a 3 star.

The tour rep was not intrested in our complaints but luckily for us we had the means to pay for alternative accomodation which after 24hrs getting no where with the rep I chose to take.

I am not wanting the croatian authorities to take action but I am trying to find out as much about these particular apartments as possible, as the tour operator is refusing any compensation as they insist the apartment met all croatian standards and that we were offered alternative accomadation in the same block - which was in fact the basement.

I recieved a photo copy document dated 2004 however as I dont know any croatian the translation doen via the computer is not the best so dont know if the document I have is bonafide or just an intent of letting etc.

I am considering taking this to ABTA however I will explore all other avenues first, lickily i paid via credit card and have invoked the consumer protection act.

Luckily for us it only affected our first 24hrs in Croatia and once we moved we were able to relax and explore this amazing country, however others who may be not as fortunate as us to be able to move themselves may not have the same opinion of Croatia.

regards,

[Carol]

iS IT STAMPED? if its got a stamp on it then there is a reasonable chance that its bona fide. If there is no stamp, then its fake.

However, if I was going to fake soemthing, i'd remove the grounds for suspecting that it was out of date, so its probably genuine.

We moved to Croatia in 2005 with a 13 month old who had just started walking and a 2 1/2 year old who wasn't risk aware either. We were offered house after house with no banister on concrete stairs or huge gaps that a large child could easily walk through. The Croats just don't do health and safety (you are expected to use your common sense and keep away from the stair edge, avoid touching live wires etc. Coming from the Uk, it actually took a bit of getting used to, but obviously we did in the end.

The star rating is not about the quality of finish: its about how many boxes that can be ticked. So, the requirement for 5 star is a chair in the bathroom and there's no reference to the quality of the bathroom itself if you see what I mean.

[usplitu]

Such a shame that this happened you on your trip and so disappointing that the tour operator seems to be very unwilling to deal with this problem. It really is not the norm in Croatia, levels of hygiene are generally very high in rental places. Often sheets & towels can be older but are usually spotless.

Unfortunately it sounds like you have now left Croatia so it is too late for you for this but, your best form of redress in such a situation, is to write a complaint in the 'complaints book' which, by law, must be located in every rental premises. Once a complaint is written into this book it must be responded to by the owner and a copy of the response copied to the complainant and to the tourist authority. The tourist authorities, through their inspectors, are quite happy to fine Croatian owners just as quickly as foreign owners.

For you, it is too late to call in the inspectors but for others who might find themselves in the same situation the quickest solution is to go to the local tourist office and give them the address of the property where you are staying. By law, the owner must register you within 24 hours of arrival and so they will be able to see where you are staying (they can also check your location using your passport number) and then they can handle your complaint directly. If the owner hasn't registered you in that time period, then they are in serious 'fine' territory which only adds fuel to your complaint.

[volkswin]

Hi Carol & Usplitu,

Thanks for your replies any information I can glean about the license etc can only help me, I have tried to upload the PDF scan of the document but unfortunately the pro board server is not working correctly.

Niether the owner of the apartment or the tour rep offered us the option of a complaint book hense we took plenty of pictures however the tour operator is sticking to the line that the apartment met all croatian standards and that we were being picky!
So in effect the tour operator has stated that blood stains in the bathroom, grease and grimme in the kitchen area, exposed copper wiring, fag burned and stained furniture and bedding are all perfectly acceptable in Croatia.
What dissapoints me most is that having looked on the independant web sites most of the apartments look modern well furnished with nice sofas and LCD tv's etc our apartment had a portable tv on a old computer table and was just plain shabby and was in desperate need of a makeover for example all the wooden door frames had turned yellow may have been good apartment 8 yrs ago but not acceptable now.
Although I did'nt pay a great deal you expect any accomodation to be at least hygienic and clean, this was the first time in a while that we have travelled with package tour operator and dont think I will be doing it again anytime soon.

regards,

[volkswin]

Hi All,

Update on apartment situation, been busy and away with work so have not had the time to spend chasing this up recentely, however I have established that the building in question was licensed for 2 self contained apartments, as both of these were located on the upper floor I then believe that the owner was in breach of his license by allocating us the ground floor basement as an alternative?
I have been in contact again with the tour operator and it would seem my only option now is to either take them to court or go to abitration via ABTA.

Regards,

[volkswin]

Hi All,

Have just about explored every avenue in regard to redress with Balkan Holidays and have been offered a small amount of compenstation take it leave it.
Will be taking them to the small claims court however in the meantime I have put the experience on a blog:

apartmentsdubrovnik.blogspot.com