New Fire Safety Guidance for `small paying guest accommodation’

Full length, written fire risk assessments, covering all aspects of fire safety, will become a legal requirement for properties offering sleeping accommodation to paying guests from the 1st October 2023. This means that all owners that let their property to guests, even for a single night, will need to have a full written Fire Risk […]

short term tourist accommodation

A review into the effect of short-term holiday lets will seek to improve the holiday letting market for those living in popular tourism destinations. Call for evidence aims to understand impact of increase in short-term holiday lets in England An open call for evidence aims to understand impact of increase in short-term holiday lets in […]

second home

Genuine small holiday letting businesses in England to be protected by closure of second home tax loophole Owners of second homes in England who abuse a tax loophole by claiming their often-empty properties are holiday lets will be forced to pay under tough new measures. The new rules, to be introduced in April 2023, were […]

What do the Covid tiers mean for holiday letting in England?

National Lockdown – Stay At Home On the 4th January 2021 the Government announced a third lockdown in England to control the rapid increase of coronavirus cases. The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are all taking their own similar measures. For full details of the restrictions affecting you and your holiday letting […]

Covid-19 Holiday Let Cleaning Guidance

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the hospitality and tourism industry have pulled together to produce protocols across all sectors, including specific Covid-19 Holiday Let Cleaning Guidance for self-catering properties. The Covid-19 Holiday Let Cleaning Guidance protocols were recently updated (July 2021) and will be kept under review. Certification and Assessment Schemes There are also […]

holiday let bookings and coronavirus

Holiday homeowners and holiday letting agents alike are understandably concerned about the potential for the disruption which coronavirus (Covid-19) may cause. Boshers have put together a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ’s). Hopefully these will help to clarify the position with respect to holiday let bookings and coronavirus. This includes details on cover provided by […]

coronavirus hand hygiene

In late January reports began to emerge of the presence of a potentially deadly virus in the city of Wuhan, China.  Since then the continued spread of Coronavirus (now clinically known as COVID 19) has shown no signs of abating, with more than 167,511 people across the world testing positive for the virus and the […]

washing machine recall

Whilst many of us spent mid-December enjoying and revelling in the run up to Christmas, for Whirlpool and their customers, things were seemingly going from bad to worse. Having already been heavily criticised for their response to a fire risk in their tumble dryers (of which they sold more than five million over an 11 […]

We all know that from time to time accidents happen; perhaps someone spills a glass of wine (hopefully not red!) or smashes a glass fresh from the dishwasher. We can accept those and understand that accidents happen to the best of us. However what if someone were to cause malicious damage to your holiday home? […]

Having the right insurance cover will help you run your self-catering cottage business with confidence. As a holiday letting insurance specialist we have pulled together a few pointers to consider when insuring your cottage complex: Don’t forget however many bookings you take, you are running a self-catering cottage business There are a wide range of […]

Top tips to get your holiday let website in great shape for the New Year With the busiest months now behind us are you ready for a January rush of bookings? Here’re some helpful tips to make sure that your website is doing your holiday home and destination justice. Is all of your website content […]

Smart Meters and Holiday Homes

What are Smart Meters and are there benefits of installing them in your holiday home? If there was a simple way for you to monitor, even reduce the gas and electricity bills in your  holiday home or cottages would you do it? The answer for most people would be yes, so when the current Government’s […]

water damage holiday homes

Our advice to holiday homeowners comes as the Met Office predicts temperatures to dip, bringing an end to the mild conditions experienced across much of the UK this autumn. Whilst many holiday homes are still busy with guests enjoying a low season break, the risks of burst pipes are reduced. However, the weather can soon […]

quality assessments

‘Quality’; it’s something we all strive to achieve and love to enjoy.  In no other area is this truer than in the tourism sector; an abundance of choice combined with online reviews from sites such as TripAdvisor mean that the discerning guest has never been as well informed or full of expectation.  So how do […]

prevent bed bugs

In the UK it’s fair to say that the majority of us don’t really get along with bugs or insects, so it’s also reasonable to add that we’d definitely not feel too comfortable with the idea of thousands of them being in our bed! Unfortunately, that prospect is becoming more and more likely with a […]

bed bugs

No matter if you’re at home or on holiday, your bedroom should be a safe haven. Somewhere you can relax and recuperate after a long day at the beach, with the kids or simply going about your daily tasks.  Imagine how comfortable you’d feel if you knew that as soon as you slipped between your […]

Attracting Millennials to your coastal holiday home

‘Millennial’ is a word that we hear more and more as time goes by and it’s used to mean many different things.  In essence, millennials are currently aged between twenty-six and forty-one. So, what are the chances of attracting millennials to your coastal holiday home? According to research from the National Coastal Tourism Academy (NCTA), […]

increase off-peak bookings

With the busy summer holiday letting season fast becoming a distant memory, now is the time to be thinking about how to increase off-peak bookings during the low season.  As you’ll already know, the opportunities for parents to take their children out of school during term time are now limited, meaning that focus needs to […]

business rates

Business rates are a burden for many businesses across the country.  With the recent emergence of the ‘sharing economy’ and an explosion of listings onto platforms such as AirBnB in recent years (there are more than 60,000 in London alone), many holiday cottage complex owners have been left looking over the fence at those offering […]

Wales Coast Path

If you’ve got a holiday home in Wales then you’ll undoubtedly have plenty to shout about to your prospective guests; rugged coastline, heritage, beautiful blue seas and sandy beaches make up just some of the many reasons tourists flock to the 870 mile coastal path that flanks the country each and every year. Here are […]

registration scheme for short term lets

Feeling safe is a basic human need and something we should all be able to experience in our daily lives; we should feel safe when we’re at home, when we’re in the office or when we’re on holiday wanting to relax. As a holiday homeowner, you’ll no doubt put much of your effort into the […]

In order to ensure self-catering properties are effectively meeting quality standards, the Holiday Home Association (HHA), which is the UK’s longest serving trade association for the self-catering holiday home industry, has launched an industry code of practice aimed at raising quality standards and provide potential guests with a level of assurance when booking privately owned […]

holiday letting terms and conditions

A new campaign led by The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is highlighting the importance of being open and transparent with your guests when it comes to your holiday letting terms and conditions.  The initiative, named ‘Small Print, Big Difference,’ is encouraging holiday home owners to ‘check in’ on their small print to ensure it’s […]

Holiday Let fire Safety | Risks of halogen bulbs

The death of any child is always extremely tragic, and the case of a six-year-old who lost his life in a house fire last year has again highlighted the fatal consequences fire can have once it takes hold of a property. Riley Jake Jackson from Derbyshire died from “fire-related burns and carbon monoxide toxicity” after […]

As holiday home insurance specialists we understand the industry and know the insurance needs and demands of letting a holiday property; that’s what comes with using a specialist. Please take a minute to read Holiday Homes – Getting your Buildings Insurance Right and give us a call if you have any questions. We’re here to give […]

Holiday letting tips

As a holiday home owner there’s so much to think about; from guest safety to website photography and Facebook posts to the internal fixtures and fittings. Or even who’s doing the changeovers and mowing the lawns before those guests roll up the driveway. The good news is that we’re here to help. We talk with […]

Airbnb hidden cameras

When it was founded in 2008, very few people could have envisaged how quickly and large Airbnb would grow. It is now home to 31 offices across the world. Airbnb has welcomed more than 400 million guests since its launch and has listings in a staggering 161 countries. With growth can often come problems, the […]

HMRC Let Property Campaign

Five years ago, we posed the following question. Whether getting the best terms on the tax you pay on your holiday letting income sounded like an attractive proposition? Our question was related to the launch of a new campaign by the Government, aptly called the Let Property Campaign. You can see the original post here: The […]

Septic tank

Owners of rural holiday cottages should be careful not to fall foul of new septic tank regulations When you think about a holiday home, emotive thoughts of stunning locations, long summer evenings and fun with family and friends are often some of the first things that spring to mind. An important, albeit less glamorous aspect […]

electrical safety checks

The government has recently announced (on 29th January 2019) that they intend to introduce new mandatory five-year electrical safety checks for privately rented homes throughout the UK. This move will require new electrical safety legislation to be drawn up. It comes after years of campaigning by consumer and safety groups following a number of tragic […]