Questions owners ask

Full management is 20% of accommodation income after the platforms’ fees, plus a one-off £295 onboarding fee. Cleaning fees paid by guests aren’t included in our 20%. The set-up and hand-over package is £495 once, with no commission. See pricing for the extras.

Not at the moment. We’re not VAT-registered, so no VAT is added to our fees. If that ever changes, we’ll give you at least 30 days’ notice.

12 months to start with, then it carries on until either of us gives 3 months’ notice. Bookings already made when you leave are honoured.

No. Cleaning, repairs, photos and equipment are charged at cost, and trades invoice you directly.

Every booking pays into your own bank account. Airbnb and Booking.com pay you directly; Vrbo and direct bookings are paid to you through our booking system. We never hold your money or your guests’ money.

Airbnb pays our share to us automatically as your co-host. For everything else, we send one invoice a month, due within 7 days.

Yours. Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo check the owner’s identity and bank details, so the accounts are in your name and you add us as co-host or manager. We never ask for your passwords.

We do, day to day, to earn the best overall return. You can set a minimum nightly rate, and you can see every booking in your own owner portal (launching soon), with figures refreshed daily.

Yes. Block the dates through us, ideally a couple of weeks ahead. There’s no commission on your own stays; you just pay for the clean afterwards.

Our cleaning partner, who also cleans our own holiday let. Every clean follows a checklist with photos, and we check it before the next guests arrive. The cleaner invoices you directly, and we set the guests’ cleaning fee to cover the cost where the market allows. If our usual cleaner can’t make a changeover, we arrange cover.

We arrange them with local trades and approve anything up to £150 without bothering you. Above that, we send you photos and a quote first, unless it’s an emergency.

Guests review your listing, so the reputation you build is yours. We reply to every review and review every guest.

Usually within a few weeks of signing. The fire risk assessment, safety equipment, photos and your platform accounts are the main steps. See onboarding.

We cover Hampshire and Wiltshire, for homes within reach of our cleaning partner.

Choose full management if you want us to run it day to day. Choose set up and hand over if you’d like to run it yourself, but want it set up properly by people who run an award-winning holiday let. You can move to full management later.

Yes, that’s what we’ve built the service for. Everything runs remotely; you can name a contact to make decisions while you’re away; repairs under an agreed limit just get done; and you can block dates around leave. See military families.

Service rules may require you to tell your chain of command about other income; check the current rules with your unit. We can give you a letter confirming our arrangement: that the income is rental income from your own property, paid to you by the booking platforms; our fee basis; and that you’re not employed by us.

You are, entirely. That includes income tax on your letting profits, any VAT if you’re registered, council tax or business rates, and capital gains tax when you sell. Booking platforms may report your income to HMRC. We don’t give tax advice, so please speak to an accountant.

If you have a mortgage, your lender may need to agree to holiday letting, and so may your landlord or freeholder if your home is leasehold. Getting any consent you need is your responsibility. We don’t ask for evidence of it, but please check before you start.

The law: the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to holiday lets. The owner, as the “responsible person”, must carry out a fire risk assessment and put proper fire precautions in place. The government’s guide, Making your small paying guest accommodation safe from fire, explains what that means for smaller holiday lets.

What we do: carry out your fire risk assessment, fit or arrange the equipment it calls for, check alarms at every changeover, and review the assessment every year.

The law: working smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms are part of the fire precautions above. The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 set the standard for rented homes, and we apply the same standard.

What we do: require a smoke alarm on every floor and a carbon monoxide alarm in every room with a fuel-burning appliance, and test them on every changeover checklist.

The law: under regulation 36 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, anyone who lets premises for people to live in, including under a licence as holiday guests do, must keep gas appliances and flues safe and have them checked at least every 12 months by a Gas Safe registered engineer. See the HSE’s guidance for landlords.

What we do: require an in-date Gas Safety Record before you go live, keep a copy and remind you before it’s due each year.

The law: owners must make sure the electrics and any appliances they supply are safe. The electrical safety standards for rented homes require an inspection at least every 5 years, and we apply that standard to holiday lets.

What we do: require a satisfactory Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) every 5 years and PAT testing of the appliances guests use, and remind you before renewals.

The law: the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 set fire-resistance and labelling rules for upholstered furniture and furnishings.

What we do: check the labels on sofas, chairs, mattresses and cushions at onboarding, and flag anything that needs replacing.

The law: anyone letting property must assess and control the risk from legionella in the water system. See the HSE’s guidance for landlords and its Approved Code of Practice L8. There’s no such thing as a “legionella certificate”; it’s a simple risk assessment and sensible controls.

What we do: include a legionella risk assessment at onboarding, and flush little-used outlets and check hot water temperatures as part of our routine.

The law: a holiday let in England is rated for business rates instead of council tax if it’s available to let for at least 140 nights and actually let for at least 70 nights in 12 months. Otherwise council tax applies.

To be rated, you also need to intend to let it commercially for those periods in the coming year, and the Valuation Office Agency may ask you to declare that. Only commercial lets count towards the 70 nights, and GOV.UK says only stays of 28 nights or less: nights in a longer stay don’t count, and nor do your own stays or stays by family and friends.

What we do: give you the letting records you need each year: nights available, nights let, and the income from them. Making the declaration, and paying rates or council tax, are your responsibility.

The law: the government is creating a national registration scheme for short-term lets in England, under powers in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023. The government’s guidance (published 19 February 2024) says the scheme is still being developed. As far as we’re aware, it hadn’t opened by 30 October 2026, and the detailed rules and fee hadn’t been set.

What we do: register your home for you when the scheme opens, and keep you up to date until then.

The law: outside London, holiday letting doesn’t automatically need planning permission, but very intensive use can be a “material change of use” that does, and some homes have planning conditions or covenants that restrict it. The government has also consulted on a new planning class for short-term lets. England has no national licensing scheme for holiday lets (the planned register is above), but check whether your council has any local requirements.

What we do: flag anything we spot at onboarding. Checking planning, covenants and local rules is your responsibility; your local planning authority can advise.

The law: the Consumer Rights Act 2015 means guests must get the stay that was described, provided with reasonable care and skill. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 bans fake reviews and hidden incentivised reviews from 6 April 2025; see the CMA’s fake reviews guidance.

What we do: write accurate listings, never post or buy fake reviews, never offer guests anything in return for a good review, and reply to every review honestly.

The law: guests’ personal data must be handled under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Businesses that handle personal data usually need to pay the ICO data protection fee.

What we do: keep guest data secure, use it only to manage stays, and delete it when it’s no longer needed. We’re registered with the ICO (ZC118248). No cameras are allowed inside the home, and any outside camera must be disclosed to guests.

The law: there’s no legal requirement for a particular policy, but ordinary home insurance usually doesn’t cover paying guests, and a claim could be refused.

What we do: require specialist holiday-let insurance with public liability before you go live (we recommend Pikl), and we’ll show you our own professional indemnity and public liability insurance certificates before we take on your home.

The law: under the Equality Act 2010, businesses providing services must make reasonable adjustments for disabled guests.

What we do: write an honest accessibility statement for your home (steps, door widths, bathroom layout, parking), so guests can decide whether it suits them, and answer access questions before they book.

This page is a general guide to the rules as we understand them on 30 October 2026, not legal advice. Each owner remains responsible for their own property’s compliance; we help you meet it.