Lay My Hat

Hi there, what are the legalities of taking a security deposit for a holiday let - do they have to be held by a third party, is there a set amount to take?
Thanks
Lazydog

Hi
No, it’s not like a deposit for a rental property, where the money has to registered in an approved scheme.

However, that’s not to say there shouldn’t be some guidelines or regulations.
There appears to be great variation in the amounts held and the reasons for not returning it in full.

Just seen your post. Deposits is a tricky one and one we have pondered hard.
From the guests point of view. They don’t wont and shouldn’t have to pay until they arrive. Understandable.
From our point of view.
We ask for £100 damage deposit to be paid with the balance payment. We have tried asking for it “before the holiday starts” this was a problem as it was getting forgotten and we found we had to chase it. Sometimes even days after the guest had arrived.
Same with cash, for obvious reasons uk cheques we’re not exceptable on arrivel, so we tried asking for cash on arrival. This too was forgotten and we had ask on more than one occasion for it. That then brings in to play the exchange rate. If someone pays in Sterling, fine. They get sent back an sterling cheque. Euros fluctuate so that was different. We now ask for it with the balance but if someone asks, we do let them send a cheque/ transfer as long as it can clear before they stay starts. It’s only happened once and was fine. Now, as most guests pay by bank transfer we just send it back that way. It is usual in there bank the day they leave or as soon as they let us have the return details.

In 25 years and 100's of lettings, we have always taken the damage deposit with the balance 8 weeks before arrival. In all that time, only one objection from a French family when we accepted it be paid in cash on arrival.
We return the deposit within a week of departure by bank transfer and if it is to a no Euro zone, we use the current exchange rate. Never had a problem with this method.

I take the security deposit with the balance usually through bank transfer but sometimes with a cheque.

Occasionally with payments outside Europe with payments through Wave I don't ask for a security deposit as I see this as less straightforward.