Do not rent this property, because the property owner has no regard for your well-being or the South Lake Tahoe fire department. We can make this factual claim because of the following events and communications that took place during our stay from 12/27/22 to 1/1/23.
1). On 12/28/22 the upstairs “renter” left the property and soon afterwards we smelled a strong odor, which we feared could be a natural gas leak. The upstairs residence was off limits, so we immediately contacted the fire department for our own safety and the safety of the property. When the fire captain arrived on the scene we notified him that we were on vacation and he immediately questioned if this was a legitimate vacation rental property because there was no signage indicating so. We advised the captain that we rented through Vrbo and upon further investigation, he notified the sheriff's department suspecting that it was an unregistered vacation rental property. Thankfully, the odor was not a gas leak and the fire crew suspected it might have been a strong air freshener that the upstairs renter was using or a poorly maintained heater.
2). We communicated every occurrence with the property owner via Vrbo text in order to keep her abreast of the developing situation and instead of expressing any concern or regard for our safety or the safety of the property, she surprisingly threatened to charge us if she received a fine from the fire department. In fact, she did charge us $500.00. Moreover, she added the following comment to the charge, “The fine from the fire department, crying wolf.”
3). We chose this property primarily because of the hot tub. Unfortunately, when we opened the hot tub cover it smelled like mold and the water was dingy green. We immediately advised the property owner and instead of apologizing or attempting to rectify the situation immediately, she said, “That’s weird, the guests that left used it.” We needed to insist that something be done, and although she did send someone out to change the water, it wasn’t until our last night stay that we could finally use it.
This property owner should be ashamed of her greed and disregard for her tenants and the South Lake Tahoe residence, including the fire department who receive funding from legal vacation rental properties to ensure everyone is safe. She made our stay miserable and we hope no other renters risk suffering through a similar experience.