Lay My Hat

We want to be as 'hands-off' as possible and for the let to just cover its costs. It's already a holiday let and if the figures the current owner have given us are correct it should 'just' about cover its costs. Just re-read your original post and one thing worth mentioning is that our laundry has ...

We had heard of the local agent already as they are a well established south west regional agency. But we also considered two other agencies. One we felt was too small and the other promised huge returns but it became clear that they wanted full control. We would have had to get all our cleaning and...

There are several sites that are specific to the peak district which I would prefer. However, do local agents bring in the same number of bookings that a national site like Sykes would? We started up last year in Cornwall and are with a regional agency. I have found them to be great to work with an...

Thanks Gillian, yes I agree. These guests requested a tree so I think I’m safe this year. However I admit I didn’t search the forum so I’ll do that now and prob delete the post.

We’re in our first year and have a Christmas booking. What are your top tips for decorations and any extra things needed at that time of year? We have a wreath, a pre-lit tree and I’ve just bought one of those dancing flame pillar candles. We will also put up decorations and ribbons. The family comi...

More people mean more wear and tear too. We've got three bedrooms but market it for four people as we don't want to cram them in (and one bedroom is small).

We went for Nest and it's working well so far. Like with Hive, you can't set a maximum but we also have a schedule that stops someone leaving it on all day. Guests seem to have been able to figure it out so far.

Thanks everyone, I really value your advice. Have started our new “text on arrival” policy today and new guests have already told us how much they love the cottage 👍

Thanks for all the replies. I had been going to keep to our practice of not contacting, but since the dog pee incident (posted on Managing Your Property) I’ve been wonder if a welcome text will help the guests to see us as real people, not faceless owners. Will give it a try on the next few and see ...

Yeah it’s the not telling us about it that gets me the most. We’ve had our fair share of holiday accidents - daughter once spilt a whole cup of hot chocolate on a Majorca sofa bed and husband broke a fridge glass shelf by putting a four-pack of large water bottles on it (Greece) - but we always fess...

Thank you, will get some of that. Have ordered new rug (£80) as it is the most straightforward thing to do. Rather worried about the whole place smelling and about the potential for a dog to pee on the sofa (they are not allowed on the sofa but obv some owners will ignore that, these ones certainly ...

Only our sixth lot of guests and our cleaner has just told us that the lounge rug is soaked by a large amount of dog pee. He tried to clean it but to no avail, it stinks so will have to be thrown out. The guests left without fessing up which is very annoying. Fortunately it's a fairly cheap Ikea rug...

Hi Just started renting our place out this August after two years of renovations. We live 250 miles away so we are with an agency who handles the whole booking and have a house keeper in the village for cleaning and any emergencies. My question is whether you recommend contacting the guests ourselve...

Aargh! Nightmare, what an absolute PITA and time consuming too. Hope it all get sorted soon.

J I'm REALLY looking forward to meeting this chap but have a dread that he will cap it all by being a late arrival and goodness knows what else he'll come up with ………………………… As I said before - he will wait a while before I send his damages deposit back but sincerely hope there is no reason to keep ...