Guide to Holiday Home Rental Agreements
Introduction - When you let out your holiday home or cottage,
it is vitally important that you provide your tenant with some form of
Holiday
Letting Agreement. The
agreement needn't be complicated, in fact the simpler the better,
however many holiday home landlords still believe they can simply
collect money and allow people to occupy their property. You can buy
holiday let contracts from good book shops, make you own or you may
like to ask for the advice of a solicitor. The following notes apply
to holiday homes in the United Kingdom, property in
France & Spain and other European
countries have their own rules and regulations and you will need to
seek local advice. A contract for letting will help your business run
as smoothly as possible, if everyone knows what is expected of them at
the start of the contract, it makes everything so much easier.
Holiday Home Letting Contract - should include at least the
following information:-
The address of the property that is being offered for let.
The name and contact details of the landlord
The name of the tenant
The term of the holiday let, the commencement time and the time and
date that it finishes (you will need to tell the tenant at what time
they need to quit the property by)
The deposit
The inventory as agreed with the tenant.
The above provides the basic information but other information should
also be included and the following are some guidelines.
Checking Your Holiday
Rental Contract - should include at least the following
information:-
Make sure your agreement states that the property is being provided
for holiday purposes only. This is particularly important with longer
lets as in the past courts have dealt with cases where there was
confusion between a holiday let an an assured short hold tenancy. It
should be pointed out to the tenant that the agreement confers no
protection to them under the Housing act 1988 You must make clear to
your tenant that the property is rented to them and them only, the
maximum number of occupants should be specified on the contract. The
tenant needs to know that they are not entitled to the sub let the
property.
The agreement needs to specify the rent and the dates on which it must
be paid, it is a good idea to also include what will happen if payment
is late. If you intend to charge interest on late payments, you should
specify what rate of interest you intend to charge.
Make your tenant aware that they are responsible for the interior of
the property and that it should be kept in a good clean condition at
all times. If they damage the property, they also need to be aware
that they will be responsible for damages. Some tenants assume that
everything that is broken will be covered by
holiday home insurance, this is not
the cases and certainly wilful damage will not be covered. Normal wear
and tear should be expected and allowed.
You must advise your tenant that they re not allowed to alter the
property in any way, some landlords have taken repossession of their
holiday home only to find evidence of redecoration. You must
advise your tenant of the importance of swap over times, this is very
important during period of short term holiday rental, incoming tenants
will have arrived for their holiday and they will want to occupy the
property as quickly as possible.
You must make the tenant aware that have a right to enjoy the property
uninterrupted but you must retain the right to inspect the property if
necessary . Also if scheduled appliance or
maintenance checks need to be carried
out during a tenancy, you must talk to tenant and keep them informed.
Make sure the tenant is fully aware that they should not cause a
nuisance to near by properties and that they must not do anything that
may prejudice a claim under the insurance policy.
Some people want to take their pets on holiday and you will need to be
clear if you find this acceptable or not. It is best practice to
exclude pets from rental properties although you may like to waive
this requirement subject to circumstance.
The above are some basic guidelines for dealing with UK holiday home
rental, however probably the biggest headache to landlords is caused
by
Tenants deposits, these cause more
flashpoints than all other problems put together. The landlord should
make clear that he will hold the deposit and return it to the tenant
at the forwarding address provided at the end of the tenancy
agreement. It is a good idea to mention the time it will take to do
this. You should allow yourself reasonable time to asses the condition
of the property and if you intend to make deductions from the deposit,
they should be reasonable and you should detail them in a letter. for
longer periods, amounts deducted from the deposit should be made up by
the tenant to restore the deposit to the required amount. A word of
caution here, if the tenant decides you have deducted too much from
their deposit and court action follows, you may find that the court
are more sympathetic to the tenant than the landlord. Be fair and
reasonable with your charges and you should not have too much trouble.
Overseas property insurance and holiday home insurance for....
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cape Verde,
Croatia, Cyprus, Czech, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Morocco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Ireland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa,
Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates.
