If you have a cottage or a holiday home, perhaps in the middle of the countryside or along one of Britain’s glorious coastlines, you might be thinking about what you can do with it in the weeks or months that you are not using it. Perhaps you only use it a couple of times a year, and it sits there empty for the rest of the time. Well, there are other options available to you, including letting it out as a holiday rental. There are plenty of people looking for luxury staycation places.
Maybe you do not actually own one yet and are thinking about it, wondering if it will be a worthwhile purchase. Perhaps you have done your research into holiday let mortgages and are trying to make the numbers work for you. Here, we are going to share with you six reasons why you should think about letting out your holiday home when you are not using it.
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1.Earn some money
This is the most obvious one. If your holiday cottage is in a desirable spot, people will pay to stay in it all year round, meaning it earning you a relatively passive income. In the peak holiday season, you can command fees of thousands of pounds, meaning that you can cover your mortgage on the property and make a tidy profit. You may even see it start to pay for itself in a few years, making it a worthwhile investment.
- Keeps your property ticking over
When your holiday home is sitting empty for up to 50 weeks of the year, it can start to feel a little neglected and rundown, and significant problems can go unnoticed if no one is checking in on it. By hiring it out, it ensures that your property is aired regularly, is heated and is well maintained. It also means that your attention is drawn to problems as soon as they arise, rather than letting them become bigger and more expensive to deal with.
- You won’t be liable for council tax on the property.
If you simply use your holiday home for personal use, you have to pay council tax on it. However, if it is available to let for more than 20 weeks a year, you no longer have to pay it. Instead, it should be registered for business rate property tax. This may benefit you as in some areas, you may be able to claim small business rate relief. In some councils, if the rateable value of the property is less than £15,000, the relief can be up to 100%, so it is definitely worth looking into!
- Increase the value of your property
Letting out your cottage rather than letting it stagnate when not in use means that you will continually be making improvements to it – redecorating it more often, modernising it and generally keeping it looking fresh and tidy. By doing this, not only are you likely increasing your booking revenue but if you come to sell the property on at any point in the future, it will go for more. You also can increase the saleability of the property by marketing it as a standard home or a holiday home.
- Give the local economy a helping hand.
We all like to think that we are doing our bit for the local economy, especially if we are only there a couple of weeks of the year. By letting your holiday home out to tourists, you are bringing more visitors into the area who will spend their money in local shops, attractions, and events, which directly contributes to the local economy. Again, this can indirectly benefit you – a bustling and thriving area will bring more people to your property, meaning you can command higher fees, and your home will increase in value – it’s a win all round!
- The flexibility and ease
Just because you hire your holiday home out does not mean that you cannot use it. Ok, so you have to be a little more organised and can’t just go and stay there on a whim if you have guests already booked in, but you still have access to it as a getaway and escape from everyday life. It is also relatively easy to do, especially if you use a holiday letting agency handle your bookings for you. They advertise it and organise it all, and all you need to do is make sure it is clean, tidy and watch the money roll in!
Letting out your holiday home is definitely something worth thinking about. It is a relatively passive income, hassle-free, and can benefit you in many other ways.
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