Holiday Letting Help!

Sterillium

When I started a thread yesterday, looking for advice, holiday letting was helpfully suggested.

I hadn't considered it, but, the more I think about it - and having had a good look at holidaycottages.co.uk at existing holiday lets in my area - I'm beginning to think that this could be a very good idea. As it would mean the property could generate revenue, but we could still access it when we wanted (or needed) to spend time there.

I have a million questions about holiday letting now, but the basic things I'd appreciate a knowledgable steer on, are:

• Are holidaycottages.co.uk a good option, or are there others I should look at?
• Are there any home insurance companies who are highly rated for holiday letting?
• What are the pitfalls I need to be ready for? 

Positive advice and guidance very much appreciated. 

eddddy

From your previous thread, it sounds like you have a residential mortgage. You'd probably need to pay that off and get a commercial mortgage instead, as you'd be running a business.

You might (or might not) need planning consent for change of use from a dwelling house to short-term holiday lets. It depends whether the "character of usage" of the property changes (and probably how much the neighbours complain).

You'd need specialist 'holiday let' insurance. 

Comms69

You need to register as a business with the council. The council might say no. So that’s the first thing to check.

secondly is you need someone to monitor the property regularly

csgohan4

Holiday let is seasonal potentially, you may have void periods, you need to do a business case and crunch those numbers, 

Sterillium

Thank you eddddy and csgohan4, my "to do" list is currently:
1. Check title deeds for covenants.
2. Check with local council regarding planning permission.
3. Investigate a mortgage lender that will allow holiday letting (although likely not possible until after lockdown etc)
4. Find a management company and look for insurance that includes public liability.
5. Crunch the numbers on potential income (and discuss this with a management company?)
At present, I can only find one management company local to me, and the other that seems to be at the top of all the searches is holiday cottages dot com.

davidmcn

You don't need to let an agent deal with bookings (and lose whatever commission they charge), many owners can do reasonable business advertising themselves, particularly once they build up some repeat business or word-of-mouth recommendations. Though if you're the first point of contact then you can end up spending lots of time dealing with (possibly fruitless) enquiries about availability and prices.

Sterillium

davidmcn said:

You don't need to let an agent deal with bookings (and lose whatever commission they charge), many owners can do reasonable business advertising themselves, particularly once they build up some repeat business or word-of-mouth recommendations. Though if you're the first point of contact then you can end up spending lots of time dealing with (possibly fruitless) enquiries about availability and prices.

My issue would be both the time spent dealing with enquiries and the fact that I'd be too far away to manage handover.  

davidmcn

Sterillium said:

davidmcn said:

You don't need to let an agent deal with bookings (and lose whatever commission they charge), many owners can do reasonable business advertising themselves, particularly once they build up some repeat business or word-of-mouth recommendations. Though if you're the first point of contact then you can end up spending lots of time dealing with (possibly fruitless) enquiries about availability and prices.

My issue would be both the time spent dealing with enquiries and the fact that I'd be too far away to manage handover.  

Fair enough, but bear in mind you can separate out "using an agent for bookings" and "employing someone to do cleaning etc".

Sterillium

davidmcn said:

Sterillium said:

davidmcn said:

You don't need to let an agent deal with bookings (and lose whatever commission they charge), many owners can do reasonable business advertising themselves, particularly once they build up some repeat business or word-of-mouth recommendations. Though if you're the first point of contact then you can end up spending lots of time dealing with (possibly fruitless) enquiries about availability and prices.

My issue would be both the time spent dealing with enquiries and the fact that I'd be too far away to manage handover.  

Fair enough, but bear in mind you can separate out "using an agent for bookings" and "employing someone to do cleaning etc".

That's true - I bet I can get a good rate from a local cleaner if I dig around. Thank you.

greatcrested

Sterillium said:

davidmcn said:

Sterillium said:

davidmcn said:

You don't need to let an agent deal with bookings (and lose whatever commission they charge), many owners can do reasonable business advertising themselves, particularly once they build up some repeat business or word-of-mouth recommendations. Though if you're the first point of contact then you can end up spending lots of time dealing with (possibly fruitless) enquiries about availability and prices.

My issue would be both the time spent dealing with enquiries and the fact that I'd be too far away to manage handover.  

Fair enough, but bear in mind you can separate out "using an agent for bookings" and "employing someone to do cleaning etc".

That's true - I bet I can get a good rate from a local cleaner if I dig around. Thank you.

You need more than a cleaner.

Someone to do a proper inventory check on each hand-over. And manage the keys each time.

An odd job man to fix all those little things that get broken. Or the roof tiles that slip.

Someone to go shopping to replace the plates, saucepans, sheets etc that get damaged or 'lost'.

An engineer/electrician to fix the gas boiler/electrics.

So either you take on some /all of these yourself, or have a list of people to call on, or pay an agent to manage it all.

Sterillium

What is the general consensus in terms of good mortgage lenders that will offer holiday let mortgages?
We are currently with a regular lender, so clearly I need change this.