Any holiday rental -owners ?

aggypanthus

Does anyone on here let out property as a holiday rental?

Wondering if its a worthwhile option to fill a gap between tennants, just for the summer months. For some odd reason its hard to get tennants right now, its in a quiet area , near a big town, Uni, shops, kids park etc, and loads of tourist attractions.
Its a nice flat honest!:)

lvm

I do...well, I help my Dad with it but this is a proper holiday accommodation business rather than just 1 on occasion.

Are you in a popular area?
How will you advertise?
Will you be able to keep on top of check ins/out, laundry and cleaning?

If you're in the right location and have the ability to manage it properly then the returns can be great.

I'll be buying property next year just for this purpose.

Good luck!

Werdnal

If its a flat, would your lease permit holiday letting? Residential letting is one thing, but strangers coming and going every week is different.

Would your insurance cover it? LL insurance is usually only for residential use.

Similarly, do you have a mortgage? They may have clauses against it.

As above, changeovers need to be managed - cleaning, laundry, basic provisions. You would need to provide bedding, towels, teatowels, toilet rolls etc.

Is flat fully furnished? Cooking pots and pans, cutlery, crockery etc.

I believe fire extinguishers and smoke detectors are compulsory in holiday lets.

Are all your electrical items PAT tested?

How will you manage utilities - guests expect it all to be included these days, and then spend the week with heating wacked up full and windows open!

aggypanthus

lvm wrote: »

I do...well, I help my Dad with it but this is a proper holiday accommodation business rather than just 1 on occasion.

Are you in a popular area?
How will you advertise?
Will you be able to keep on top of check ins/out, laundry and cleaning?

If you're in the right location and have the ability to manage it properly then the returns can be great.

I'll be buying property next year just for this purpose.

Good luck!

Strangely , although its close to Stirling,Falkirk, within reach of the Trossachs, there are very few in this actual village, people must prefer hotels around here.
I dont want to do it long term, its too much for us to manage.

Where will you buy?
I like going to D and G area

aggypanthus

Werdnal wrote: »

If its a flat, would your lease permit holiday letting? Residential letting is one thing, but strangers coming and going every week is different.

Would your insurance cover it? LL insurance is usually only for residential use.

Similarly, do you have a mortgage? They may have clauses against it.

As above, changeovers need to be managed - cleaning, laundry, basic provisions. You would need to provide bedding, towels, teatowels, toilet rolls etc.

Is flat fully furnished? Cooking pots and pans, cutlery, crockery etc.

I believe fire extinguishers and smoke detectors are compulsory in holiday lets.

Are all your electrical items PAT tested?

How will you manage utilities - guests expect it all to be included these days, and then spend the week with heating wacked up full and windows open!

Thanks for the tip re fire ext, think it has one anyway.
electricals not tested, does it matter even if they are newly purchased? All home electrics have a cert .
Not sure about LL insurance, we have it in place but not sure if it will cover hols.
We would have the extra cost of a TV and a licence, and bedding etc.

Marksmith_2

I don't know if you have already thought about this, but I was recently struggling to pay my mortgage and rented out my spare room as a Homestay Host for a local college and have now had a flyer from a company called Friend in the City who I believe are launching a website called Homestay.com this summer and you can rent out your room on there. Wasn't sure at the start but it's great and you don't have the hassle of long term tennants, might fill the gaps for you

Madmel

Werdnal wrote: »

If its a flat, would your lease permit holiday letting? Residential letting is one thing, but strangers coming and going every week is different.

Would your insurance cover it? LL insurance is usually only for residential use.

Similarly, do you have a mortgage? They may have clauses against it.

As above, changeovers need to be managed - cleaning, laundry, basic provisions. You would need to provide bedding, towels, teatowels, toilet rolls etc.

Is flat fully furnished? Cooking pots and pans, cutlery, crockery etc.

I believe fire extinguishers and smoke detectors are compulsory in holiday lets.

Are all your electrical items PAT tested?

How will you manage utilities - guests expect it all to be included these days, and then spend the week with heating wacked up full and windows open!

Werdnal makes excellent points. You need someone close at hand to answer questions and deal with problems. We have dealt with the following since March this year:

"The TV will not get BBC1 or BBC2" - DH reset the Freeview box

"No hot water comes out of the bath tap" [this from someone who gave me less than 24 hours' notice that they were coming so the water had not had a lot of time to warm up] - I went in, turned on the tap, lifting it very slightly - bath filled

"The curtain rail in the bedroom has fallen off the wall" - hmmm, it was not new when we bought the place but we replaced it that day

"The heater in the bedroom doesn't work" - yes, it does, but you left a towel on it so the automatic cut-out worked and now it needs resetting

There are more, but these highlight the need for someone to be close by. You should also be aware that holiday lets are commercial and as such attract small business rates rather than council tax and you should also pay for your waste disposal as this is not included, unlike household kerbside refuse collection.

When these questions come up on here, I advocate talking to your local Tourist Information office. They keep lists of accommodation providers and are a fount of useful knowledge. They will know what the going rate is for your area and whether or not it will let. They may well also pass on referrals to you, although they charge a percentage for this.

lvm

aggypanthus wrote: »

Strangely , although its close to Stirling,Falkirk, within reach of the Trossachs, there are very few in this actual village, people must prefer hotels around here.
I dont want to do it long term, its too much for us to manage.

Where will you buy?
I like going to D and G area

I'll be sticking to Edinburgh. Pretty much guaranteed to be let almost all year round and there are some great flats out there with potential to be great holiday lets. I only wish I could do it this year.

lvm

Madmel wrote: »

Werdnal makes excellent points. You need someone close at hand to answer questions and deal with problems. We have dealt with the following since March this year:

"The TV will not get BBC1 or BBC2" - DH reset the Freeview box

"No hot water comes out of the bath tap" [this from someone who gave me less than 24 hours' notice that they were coming so the water had not had a lot of time to warm up] - I went in, turned on the tap, lifting it very slightly - bath filled

"The curtain rail in the bedroom has fallen off the wall" - hmmm, it was not new when we bought the place but we replaced it that day

"The heater in the bedroom doesn't work" - yes, it does, but you left a towel on it so the automatic cut-out worked and now it needs resetting

There are more, but these highlight the need for someone to be close by. You should also be aware that holiday lets are commercial and as such attract small business rates rather than council tax and you should also pay for your waste disposal as this is not included, unlike household kerbside refuse collection.

When these questions come up on here, I advocate talking to your local Tourist Information office. They keep lists of accommodation providers and are a fount of useful knowledge. They will know what the going rate is for your area and whether or not it will let. They may well also pass on referrals to you, although they charge a percentage for this.

^^

I second this! You would be surprised how many little issues can cause you the biggest problems!

With regards to business rates, not sure if its just where I am but I'm sure there are exemptions under a certain value...don't know the details though!

PasturesNew

Holidaymakers can be animals.... they're on holiday to party. I was living next to a holiday let and it's amazing what goes on. The family who rented it out (moved abroad) thought their "sleeps 7" house was great for "a family". Who usualy rented it would be two families, so 4 adults and often 5-6 kids. But, they'd often not be alone and would have other friends/relations locally who would also turn up and party in the house/garden - with BBQs being hosted with about 8 adults and 10 kids..... and 4 dogs.

There were wreckers, bed wetters, makeup/nail polish spillers, plumbing wreckers....... all sorts.

It'd often take two staff from the professional cleaning company two hours each to go through and clean it on a changeover day. Clean, vacuum, replace broken items, make the beds.....

And the management guy would make 2-3 visits a lot of weeks as he was called out for blocked drains, non-working electricals, a gas smell....

lvm

Oh...check out https://www.laymyhat.com (or .co.uk?) It's completely holiday rentals and a great resource!