Tips for looking for a holiday let 5 February at 5:15PM in House buying, renting & selling 19 replies 1.3K views

gazfocus

My wife and I are considering buying a holiday home but have been also talking about potentially looking for something that would let well on Airbnb. 

I was just wondering if any of you have done similar and if you have any tips for finding the right property. 

elsien

This country, abroad? 

gazfocus

elsien said:

This country, abroad? 

Sorry, should have said. Looking for this country (potentially North Wales). 

I’ve read up on requirements re business rates vs council tax and legal requirements etc.

dimbo61

So you want to be a Landlord in Wales !

gazfocus

dimbo61 said:

So you want to be a Landlord in Wales !

As I said, ‘potentially’ North Wales, but no decisions have been made yet. Basically looking at areas within a 2hr drive from where we live. 

macman

Put your money in a 2 year bond paying near 5% and avoid all the stress of being an LL.

gazfocus

macman said:

Put your money in a 2 year bond paying near 5% and avoid all the stress of being an LL.

Now where’s the fun in that? 

gwynlas

if you want to have a good holiday let it needs to be somewhere that you can check regularly even if you employ agents and a cleaning service. A good manager other than yourself is more rare than rocking horse droppings. you are looking for low maintenance and idiot proof heating systems appliances etc. Every potential customer might cause a problem breaking things and not informing you or disrespecting the space, many also prefer the personal touch of meet and greet. All the main companies have agents who will advise you on requirements, Check out all rentals in your chosen area for customer reviews and see what they appreciate. Furnishing with your cast offs and unintentional mismatched crockery is not acceptable these days. Some local councils charge double council tax on second homes and holiday lets despite the fact that your guests will spend locally. Quirky smaller spaces for 2 or more people are more appealing rather than larger properties but you will need to decide if you are aiming for couples or a family market and whether you are looking for a summer seaon or year round. It can be rewarding when you see the additional income, set up a company for this,  and get a good review scores. We have had a studion in Paris that slept up to four, thankfully the buildings concirge did the cleaning and the managing agent was a battle ax, Currently we have a studio annex letting through a national agent, use a cleaning service and do out own laundry and check in.

Loza2016

I live in a tourist hotspot in north wales.  Just my opinion but things are dying down here now people are going abroad again. Lots of holiday let’s coming onto the sales market due to the changes to council tax. 

Got a friend who owns a holiday let cleaning business and bookings are down considerably compared to previous years. 

gazfocus

gwynlas said:

if you want to have a good holiday let it needs to be somewhere that you can check regularly even if you employ agents and a cleaning service. A good manager other than yourself is more rare than rocking horse droppings. you are looking for low maintenance and idiot proof heating systems appliances etc. Every potential customer might cause a problem breaking things and not informing you or disrespecting the space, many also prefer the personal touch of meet and greet. All the main companies have agents who will advise you on requirements, Check out all rentals in your chosen area for customer reviews and see what they appreciate. Furnishing with your cast offs and unintentional mismatched crockery is not acceptable these days. Some local councils charge double council tax on second homes and holiday lets despite the fact that your guests will spend locally. Quirky smaller spaces for 2 or more people are more appealing rather than larger properties but you will need to decide if you are aiming for couples or a family market and whether you are looking for a summer seaon or year round. It can be rewarding when you see the additional income, set up a company for this,  and get a good review scores. We have had a studion in Paris that slept up to four, thankfully the buildings concirge did the cleaning and the managing agent was a battle ax, Currently we have a studio annex letting through a national agent, use a cleaning service and do out own laundry and check in.

Thanks for commenting. A good amount to think about in there. With regards to Council Tax, from what I've read, it's likely we'd need to pay Business Rates rather than Council Tax.

We are going to book our holidays through Airbnb this year to see what others do, but will be buying new furniture, etc if it's something we go ahead with. 

Loza2016 said:

I live in a tourist hotspot in north wales.  Just my opinion but things are dying down here now people are going abroad again. Lots of holiday let’s coming onto the sales market due to the changes to council tax. 

Got a friend who owns a holiday let cleaning business and bookings are down considerably compared to previous years. 

Thanks for commenting. That's handy to know.

We had always talked about buying a caravan and having it sited so we can go on holiday pretty much whenever we want but now we're going to have sale proceeds from a house, it makes more sense to buy a house that will at least retain some value, than a caravan that will be worthless in a few years time, so the thinking was that if we can make a bit of money as well when it's empty, it's win win.

Still very much in the 'thinking about it' stage at the moment though.

_Penny_Dreadful

Isn’t the Welsh government cracking down on second homes and holiday lets?