I recently enquired about a long term rental on an apartment in Galway. The lady responded with the below - is this in fact the procedure and do I go ahead and send her a photo ID?
"'...you are a very nice person and I can assure you we will not have any problem.
I will try explaining the process step by step how this will work.
First you must reserve the apartment via Airbnb for one month and after you've made the booking, Airbnb will send you via email the invoice with all details about your booking.
As soon as you will receive the invoice you have 24 hours to complete the payment to confirm your booking.
As soon as Airbnb will receive your payment, they will contact you to fix the date of inspection. Their agent will come in 2-3 days after your payment is confirmed to present the apartment and give you the contract. The contract is signed by me and you can choose for how long you want to rent the apartment. The monthly rent will be the same for whole period.
Once you inspected the apartment you have two options:
1: You will take the apartment and sign the contract. After you've signed the contract Airbnb will release me your money.
2: But I don't think you will use this option, you'll tell to the agent that you don't want to rent my apartment and Airbnb will refund you the money in 48 hours.
I've chosen Airbnb because they offer a guarantee for both of us.
To continue I need from you a photo with your Passport ID or any official document of you. As soon as I'll receive this document, I'll send you the link to make the booking.
