You could certainly do this but you do need to think about the implications. And they will be different depending on whether you are looking for a single 6 week let or a series of short holiday lets.

First thing to consider is, is the house mortaged? Most mortgage lenders require you to inform them if you are going to be away from home for more than 30 days or if you are going to let the house or take in a lodger. So, if you have a mortgage or other loan secured on the house you'd be well advised to check with your lender what position they would take on this.

Secondly, you would need to check whether your current house insurance would be valid - many insurers also require you to inform them if you willbe away from home for more than 30 days and or if there will be other people living in the house in your absence and what their relationship is to you. If you don't do this then you run the risk of invalidating your insurance cover.

Thirdly, Health and Safety rules are very strict with regards to furniture with regards to properties that are let. You will need to be sure that all furniture, especially upholstered sofas and the like, meets current fire safety regulations. Without this you both invalidate your insurenace and be liable for being sued or even prosecuted for criminal negligence in the event of someone being hurt.

Fourthly, the Inland Revenue would probably take an interest too and though some of your costs could be legitimately set against the rental income you would be expected declare any profit as taxable income.

Fifthly, most holiday let tenants expect to find an absolutely spotless house empty of the owners personal belongings! You will need to find alternative storage for the contents of your wardrobes and drawers etc. They also tend to expect high standards these days with regard to the other equipment provided. Expect complaints if there aren't complete matching sets of crockery, cutlery and glasses etc as well as matching duver sets etc. If you do decide on holiday lets you will also need to come to an arrangement with either a very understanding friend or employ someone to check the property between lets, clean it, make-up the beds, wash the bedlinen etc ready for the next tenants, keep the garden tidy and the lawn mowed etc.

Finally, regardless of which sort of let you go for, I would suggest that if you live in a residential area where there are few rented properties or very little holiday letting that you sound out the neighbours and what their attitude would be to having strangers for neighbours in your absence. You have to come back and live with them for the other 46 weeks of the year - your tenants won't and won't necessarily pay much regard to the neighbours feelings about late night barbeques, parking across other peoples' drives/entrances, doing all the things that we all get up to on holiday but wouldn't dream of doing at home for fear of upetting the neighbours :-) The money you make could quite possibly never compensate you for having your neighbours turned into bitter enemies on account of what the tenants got up to in your absence. You could become the neighbour from hell in their eyes and the loss of goodwill could cost you dearly in the long run.

That said, I know many people in my home village who regularly finance their own holidays by having visitors stay in their houses each summer and many will be doing it next year when the Open returns to our local golf course. The difference is that we all do it through a reputable agent for the Open who takes over all responsiblity for vetting tenants, collecting the rent in advance etc and supervises the professional cleaning of the house both before and after the let. And of course the fact that you can get £400 per bed for the duration of the tournament sweetens the pill for everybody.

Or alternatively, they do it on the basis of a house swap - there's no better guarantee of good behaviour from your tenants than their knowledge that you are living in their house whilst they are living in yours and most houseswappers have lower expectations of what will be provided etc. But of course in this instance no money is changing hands and what everybody gets out of such arrangments is a 'free' holiday which doesn't seem to be what you have in mind.

SM

What am extremely well thought out, well composed and well said post.

Absoultely - thank you very much SM, for taking the time to answer so thoroughly. There's a lot to think about isn't there. I think the main sticking points would be the mortgage company and fire resistant furniture. Regarding the mortgage, I wonder if they can/would do anything about it anyway? Before lending the money they can refuse to lend on those grounds, but what can they do if they find I rented out for a while. Do you think they'd ask for their moeny back? Surely they can't make me sell up.

I'll contact the insurance company and run the idea by them next week - in any case it might be best to keep it to 30 days rather than the whole 6 weeks. Sounds like I'll need time to pack everything away before and out again after. Maybe I can lock everything in one room and rent it as a 3 bed instead of a 4 bed.

The fire resistant thing - my sofas are about 7 years old so I think they would meet the legislation. They've got the big labels still on them. The rest of the furniture is all real wood and ikea etc.

Inland Revenue can have their cut.. used to that!! Matching crockery & bed linen etc... really, oh dear that might be a stick point - It could all end up costing more than I could get if I have to replace all that!!

Good point about the neighbours too. Not sure what to do about that other than be fussy about who I rent out to - but I suppose you never can be sure.

A lot to think about, thanks again SM
Sof

Apart from the other issues, I'm wondering how you intend to advertise it as I don't think letting agencies would generally be very interested in such a short term let.

Before lending the money they can refuse to lend on those grounds, but what can they do if they find I rented out for a while. Do you think they'd ask for their moeny back? Surely they can't make me sell up.

They are unlikely to make you sell-up but you would technically be in breach of contract - if you check your original documentation you'll probably find that you signed to say that you wouldn't take in lodgers or rent the house without informing them. What they'll primarily be concerned about is somebody gaining the right to live in the house and them being stuck with renters/squatters they can't get rid of easily if they ever need to re-possess. They'll want to check exactly what sort of agreement you wll be entering into to ensure that they keep a legal charge on the property as security for the mortgage. Before making you sell-up they are more likely to insist that you redeem the mortgage byre-mortgaging with someone else prepared to loan you the money.

The most likely outcome is that you will be able to satisfy them that there are no risks for them but if you intend doing this on a regular basis they might want to change the terms of your mortgage. Most buy-to-let mortgages carry a higher interest rate to compensate the bank or building society for the higher risks involved for them, particularly if you are going to be reliant on the letting income to be able to afford to keep paying the mortgage. I think that this tends to be one of those situations where if you keep them informed you won't have a problem but that if you don't inform them and they only find out after the event, and especially if they find out because a problem arises, then they could throw the book at you.

SM