Advice please for novices on holiday letting property?

[alig99]

We have only recently finally got all our bills and everything sorted out having lived in our home for 2 years and now find we have to go back to the UK to take up caring responsibility for a member of our family which we think might take a year or maybe more, so only likely to be able to spend a few weeks on holiday in our place

So we were wondering if we should put our 3 bed villa on the summer letting market and if we did what should we do, let it with all our home furniture and crockery, pans etc or get a holiday pack of stuff? Also what do people consider the best letting sites?
anything you think we absolutely know, be aware of, not do, do etc etc etc?


Your words of wisdom are keenly awaited Ali

[Paula]

Holidayrentals, ownersdirect and holidaylettings.

If you have anything in your home that really means a lot to you, I would replace it with something else for renting. I never put expensive crockery/kitchenware in rentals as I often have to replace it. When we used to rent out a property that we used ourselves we had a locked closet that had all more luxury bits and pieces in, so we would do a quick swap from the closet on arriving and leaving You do also have to think about the fact that children can be allowed to run a little wild on holiday in someone elses property, and you will find that your furnishings do suffer more wear and tear than if you were living their yourselves and taking the obvious care about your belongings.
Good luck.

[scotty]

If you rent to total strangers then you must distance yourself from the house and treat it as a business and not your home. Get someone local to check the property and make sure change overs go smoothly and damages get sorted (and paid for). Where in spain are you ?

[alig99]

Scotty we are near Competa the Costa Del Sol

[alig99]

Thanks Paula, we were thinking of having a locked cupboard (wardrobe) and but wondered about people trying to breakin to it; has anyone tried to breakin to the cupboard? ali

[JAWG]

The apartment that we rent, has a lockable small room. We certainly never think of trying to force our way into it.

[Paula]

No we never had that problem.

[casita-bonita]

Scotty we are near Competa the Costa Del Sol

We holiday rented our home in Sayalonga prior to us moving out permanently earlier this year. We had a lockable closet in which we kept all out personal items safely out of the way but keeping them available when we came over to stay.

We also owned a villa in Florida which we rented out, in fact it was occupied far more than our villa in Spain as the holiday season is year round. We also had a lockable storage room there in which our personal items were stored. In 5 years no-one ever tried to break into these closets.

Since both homes were originally purchased with the intention of holiday renting we didn't really have many items of personal value in either of them. We used the closets to store clothes, toiletries, tea/coffee etc so we had everything available when we arrived.

One the whole aside from damage from normal wear and tear renters treated our homes with respect. But I would still be a little reluctant to rent out a villa that was our home.

The other thing you need to bear in mind that there is a considerable amount of background work and cost involved in running a holiday home. Given that unlike Florida the cost in Spain of simply shutting up your home for a year is very little I would work out what your net income is likely to be and decide whether it is worth the hassle.

[alig99]

thanks Bob and Frances, apart from the changeover costs, damages and wear and tear, insurance and of course the dear old taxes, are there any other costs? ali

[frank]

Does the property need to be registered with the tourist authorities (with all that entails) to be legal? I realise probably nobody does anything legally in Andalucia, but do I remember reading about some Brit being fined quite heavily, even though she thought she was legal?

[casita-bonita]

thanks Bob and Frances, apart from the changeover costs, damages and wear and tear, insurance and of course the dear old taxes, are there any other costs? ali

You will need someone local to manage the property for you, as it will need to be cleaned between guests, laundry done, pool maintained/cleaned, carry out minor repairs, maybe maintain your garden if you have one. and so on. There will also be problems that arise while guests are staying that need attending to so someone local to call on is a must who can turn up and sort whatever the problem is is a must.

You will need sufficient sets of bedlinen and towels for weekly changing so at least 3 complete sets.

You will also need to spend money advertising the property for rental which depending on your approach can cost a few hundred quid. Ok not an awful lot of money but most likely the net revenue from 1 week's rental.

Maybe we've been lucky but cost attributable to damages have been virtually nothing.

Don't underestimate the amount of your time it will take up chasing enquiries, accounting, web site maintenance should you decide to do one.

Those dear old rental taxes run I believe at 25% here in Spain, whereas Florida was a much more "reasonable" 11-13%

[frank]

"You will need someone local to manage the property for you,"
Job for you, you're only a few minutes down the hill! ;-)

[casita-bonita]

Retired, note the capital "R"

Besides I have a list a mile, oops kilometer long of things to do in our home...

[alig99]

Thanks again for your advice Bob and Frances. We could be lucky with someone to 'manage' the property as there are a couple who live just up the track from us who I believe do property management, so hopefully that should be a problem. We'll have to think about making a decision quite soon I guess if we are to get bookings for the coming summer.

One of our friends mentioned longer lets say 2-3 months but again not sure how we would find such people.

Ali