One month booking!

[brightmike]

I have had an enquiry for the whole month of May. Apart from the cleaning considerations do I need to take anything else into account. I'm not sure what the maximum is for HMRC either?

The only question in their enquiry was to ask what the discount would be lol.

[Hells Bells]

31 days I think.

[kg1]

Do weekly rolling contracts so you don't fall foul of HMRC.

[edinburgh]

Bit confused here, so would appreciate the clarification. This hasn't happened to me yet, since we rarely have entire months to book, but I'm confused about what the HMRC issues are.

Can you let me know, so that should such a booking appear, I don't screw it up?

[newtimber]

Do weekly rolling contracts so you don't fall foul of HMRC.

I think you may still fall foul of HMRC as you would still be renting the property to the same person for a continuous period unless they physically move out and stay elsewhere for a night.

[zebedee]

If you search www.gov.uk HS253 Furnished holiday lettings (2015) you will find the rules re HMRC and 31 day lettings

[brightmike]

It looks like a 1 month booking should be okay with HMRC then. The guest has not got back to me yet

[rosebud]

If I remember correctly you can't let for periods of longer than 31 days for more than 5 months. (I had a 13 week let in the summer)

I have agreed to a 4 week let next year but wouldn't agree to 13 weeks again. I think more damage can result from a longer stay.

[greenbarn]

As far as HMRC are concerned there are only two things to think about:
Any let of more than 30 days does not count towards the 105 days of letting (out of 210 available) that you must achieve in a year as a minimum to qualify as an FHL.

As summarised by rosebud:

If I remember correctly you can't let for periods of longer than 31 days for more than 5 months.

Lets of more than 30 days must not total more than 155 days in the year.
That's it from the tax angle.

Steer clear of the let being regarded as an AST. Make sure you retain the rights of access and do not use the word "tenant" in any agreement; check for other requirements but long lets don't automatically become ASTs.
Final point - check for any restrictions in the planning consent which may limit the length of one stay. (Unusual but it happens, particularly where consent was restricted to holiday letting use only).

[PW in Polemi]

I think more damage can result from a longer stay.

On the other hand, when somebody stays in the same place for 2 weeks or more, they make it their home and look after it. There'll probably be more cooking in and less eating out (greasy filters on over-hob extractor, blackened burnt on stuff on frying pans - but you were going to clean them anyway before the next guests ) and your white sheets might not be washed hot enough to get really clean (so they might become a little yellowed or greyish - use bicarbonate of soda in a hot wash to bring them back), but overall, we've found longer stays are easier to clean up behind.
If you're really worried, either don't take the booking, or offer a weekly clean rather than a discount. If you do offer the clean, you will have to cover yourself/your cleaner by insisting either that Mrs Guest remains at home during the clean to ensure that nothing of theirs is damaged or that they shut all their belongings away in cupboards/wardrobes/drawers. I'm sure there's a thread about mid-stay cleans on here somewhere ....