Rental FAQs

At The Knowles Company, you will be receiving a fully personalized and attentive service. We are with you every step of the way to assure a quality experience both in your listing and bookings. We have seen that automatized booking systems sometimes lack in consistency, reliability, and consideration. These online marketing platforms are generally catered towards the tenant rather than the owner and do not always protect the best interest of the owner. At Knowles, we work for you, to deliberately avoid these inconveniences, relieve the headache and provide an experience that you desire. When listing with Knowles, you receive our expert advice and service. We bring the tenants straight to you and serve as the communication stream between tenants and homeowners to relieve the heavy work from you. Our professionalism, compassion, and dedication to each owner has been proven to give satisfaction for many years.

Please reach out to our listing agent, Kate Chaplin, at 207-276-3322 x 234 or at kate@knowlesco.com.

A security deposit is required of all tenants and is collected with the tenant’s final payment and held by The Knowles Company. The security deposit may be used to reimburse the owner for any expenses for which the tenant is responsible in accordance with the lease, including extra cleaning and damages.

We encourage all owners to employ reliable caretakers and cleaners, though the company does not provide them directly. However, we are more than happy to refer to you to qualified caretakers and cleaners with whom we are familiar.

We encourage Owners to be aware of all Federal, State and local laws pertaining to vacation rental properties.  In brief, Owners are required by law to maintain their property in safe and well-maintained condition, and furnish their property with any required safety devices such as smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors, fire extinguishers, etc.  Also, Owners are legally responsible for maintaining homeowner’s insurance with sufficient liability coverage for tenants.  Your coverage must protect against fire as well as other risks as recommended by your insurance agent.

Yes. Although we prefer it, we do not ask that homes be listed exclusively with us. If your home is listed on other sites, it will be your responsibility to update us when the home books through those sites. We also will call you when we receive an inquiry to make sure that it is available before we book it. It is required that rates are consistent across all sites. In the event of a double booking as a result of owner error, the tenant whose lease was executed first will be entitled to the house. In the event The Knowles Company tenant needs to be relocated, the owner will be responsible for the cost of The Knowles Company commission, and may be liable for any additional costs required to acquire a replacement home.

We currently only manage Knowles listings, as well as VRBO if it is also listed with us.

 Given the high volume of turnovers in a single weekend, we simply do not have the manpower to personally inspect a property in advance or just after a Tenants’ stay. We therefore rely on the eyes and ears of caretakers and cleaners who are intimately familiar with a house and more liable to notice if something is amiss. We do, however, personally inspect houses available for rent whenever appropriate either to address a particular concern, or to simply familiarize ourselves with a home so that we can more accurately and confidently promote it.