Janet recently ran a presentation in the Landlord Zone conference discussing the practicalities of using a flat for Self Catering vs Long-term letting, which was titled: Less Risk with Self Catering.
The conference was targeted to existing long-term let landlords or potential long-term let landlords, with the audience mostly disenchanted long-term let landlords looking for alternative ideas on generating income for their investment. Most of the participants had never considered the option of using a property as a ‘holiday let‘.
Benefits of short-term self-catering
Janet identified many of the pros regarding short-term letting. But perhaps the most popular points were down to two items:
- No Assurred tenancy – tenant does not have rights to the property
- Potential for earning more income
As many of the landlords at this presentation appeared to have been letting for quite some time, it was inevitable that many of the landlords had been through very difficult experiences with tenants. While looking at their pride and joy of an investment they would get frustrated watching it deteriorate, possibly with a tenant who refuses to pay their rent. Unfortunately, though this situation can be rare, it is difficult to rectify in a short period of time, leaving the landlord with no income on their investment and running the property at a loss.
Janet noted that with ‘holiday letting’ the guest is not granted the same rights as a tenant. As long as y9ou have provided the guest with a correct set of terms and conditions (and they have accepted them) the guest does no have any rights to the property. Also, with self catering letting the guest has paid in advance before arriving at the property. This eliminates the possiblity of not getting paid.
Coming next
In the next blog I will discuss the cycle guest management.
