Hot Tips for Renting Your Holiday Home

Holiday promises of gathering the whole family under one roof for togetherness. But which particular roof you assemble under, everyone knows, has the potential to lead to some holiday sneer. As an alternative, renting a vacation home for the holidays can factor a degree of neutral ground into the get-the-whole-gang-together equation. Staying in a rental property has the potential to be more rewarding than gathering at a hotel, despite the latter being more likely to offer a bargain. Yet rental properties have the added advantages of full kitchen facilities, private hot tubs under starry skies and multiple floors of accommodation to keep combative parties apart. Nevertheless, there's still an art to picking the right rental home for your crew.

If you decide to rent your property as a holiday let, you will need to set clear objectives surrounding the length of time you intend to rent it and the income you expect to achieve. Associated with these decisions are questions around maintenance of the property, legal and tax issues in the country where you purchased and how best to promote your accommodation to holidaymakers. Never under-estimate the importance of cleaning of holiday letting.

Wastepaper bins that haven't been emptied, sweet wrappers lurking in a far corner under the kids' bunk beds and greasy cookers all add up to an odious start to anyone's holiday. It's essential to have good, reliable cleaners going into the property between lets - many owners send them in for a mid-week clean as well. Besides going down well with your visitors, it gives you an excuse to keep an eye on things. Don't expect your property to be in pristine condition after the letting period. There'll always be visitors who leave a mess behind them, break things, trample your plants etc. It's all part and parcel of the business.