Renting out your second home to holidaymakers

It’s been said that more than four million people rent cottages and holiday apartments in the UK every year, and self-catering is beginning to show up as one of the fastest-growing areas of the UK holiday market, so get on board now and start to bring in the bucks with your second or holiday home.

But just before you start, here’s what you need to know about the holiday letting industry and the law:

The main benefit when it comes to holiday homes, as oppose to renting out other types of property, is that if you let out a furnished holiday home in the UK,

Firstly, renting out your property as a holiday home means that your rental income from this property will prove to be more profitable for tax purposes, as opposed to what you may earn from another rental income.

There are, however, some regulations which your property must adhere to in order to be legally accepted as a holiday rental.

For your property to count as a holiday let, it must be:

·          In the UK

·         Furnished

·         Available for holiday letting to the public for at least 140 days a year

·         Actually let as a holiday let for at least 70 days a year (and not just at cheap rates to friends and family)

The holiday lets must also be both:

·         Short term lets of not more than 31 days

·         The only lets over a period of at least seven months

·         The property can’t be rented to the same person for more than 31 days in the year

·         If you do meet these requirements in a seven month period then there are no restrictions on longer lets in the remaining five month period, and these rental do not count as holiday lets.

If your property does not qualify as a holiday let, you will be taxed as normal for rental income. The most important aspect of renting a holiday property is the make sure you have great landlords insurance. Direct Line For Business offers excellent low premiums for landlords insurance, so visit www.directlineforbusiness.co.uk today for a quote.

Please note that Direct Line for Business does not control and cannot guarantee the relevance, timeliness, or accuracy of the article above.