Charlotte's Blog

One of the joys of holiday letting has been sloping off away from rules and regulations for a while, as the net tightens in the holiday let sphere (see last month's chat) housing regulators are struggling to let go. Unfortunately for us many of Southsea's holiday lets fall within 257HMO buildings.

 (with thanks to simplybusiness.co.uk) As of October 1 2023, owners of holiday lets are required to meet new fire safety regulations.

Despite my attempts to become a business owner, with my move to holiday letting, being a landlord is a responsibility that is hard to escape. 

The sun glitters over the sea, the music plays and we enter the fray once again. Victorious festival brings a buoyant conclusion to the Summer season in Portsmouth this year.

 "Modern economists agree that the power dynamics of the rentier-tenant relationship are oppressive" Wikipedia.

Having faced certain challenges last month, the second attempt to work remotely proves to be even more challenging

I have taken the plunge and bought a camper van. Surely there is nothing that can't be done from a remote location…

 After 6 years of throwing myself wholeheartedly into my business, I am now ready to step away and see if it has legs of its own. The things that I own have ended up owning me and I am just a little worn out. My son has also left home so freedom beckons.

As the rental space became overwhelmed with paper and legislation, holiday letting was a breezy, carefree alternative. No tenants, licences or council visits. Not for much longer!

By now, my readers will know all about holiday letting in Southsea, but do you dream of foreign climes? 

Once again the tumbleweed is blowing through the bookings in the short let industry, what to do?

 Life is a leasehold and far too much of '22 was spent in a legal knot with a business partnership that was no longer desirable. As I end '22 with it finally over, and with myself in recovery from a very challenging experience, the New Year brings a different sort of goal.

Remember, remember, November means admin on this team…

Autumn is the time for planning routine maintenance and counting the 'falling leaves of bank notes' of the Summer season.

The recent financial shock has yet to be felt in the holiday let market, but what does it mean for hosts?

Remember the good old days, when you went to a holiday cottage armed with your own linen and a bag of £1 coins for the meter? Are we returning to these times?

Stop the clocks, forget the social life and make hay while the sun shines. This is why we do it folks!

There are many calls for greater legislation; whenever there is a complaint these days the answer is to increase the bulk of the Law. I believe that we should rip it up instead and let the market decide.

  You can loan out a room, camper van, driveway and household equipment, even the family dog. What are the most practical and realistic ways to benefit from this way of operating?

Enthusiasm for the sharing economy seems like a distant memory…before Covid, many of us were busy mucking in and sharing/renting our homes, vehicles and household equipment. Some of us started using Airbnb professionally, where is it going next?

The world of property has consumed my last month. A business trip to the French Alps, working on the new Plymouth project and fresh determination to systemise and outsource parts of my business.

I am going back to the roots of Airbnb with a home share this weekend, the global corporation has modest roots that still work just fine.

 I am not exactly writing from a far away beach but our long awaited bungalow in Plymouth has its renovations underway. This is a new way of updating properties for me, an 8 hour round-trip has to be taken seriously!

I am a starter – this means that I am comfortable setting things up, winding the clockwork handle, but then like to see things roll away. 2022 brings another new start for me so happy days.

 November is creeping into December. It is a full 2 months since I have set foot inside any of my holiday let properties (broken ankle…still!) and my imagination is running riot with imagined disaster.

October is tax time around here. I seem to have acquired several small Ltd Companies, part of an LLP as well as self employed, payroll, pensions and land & property pages, as well as the FHL (furnished holiday let) parts of my own tax return. Can you beat my record number of tax pages?

 September this year has brought something of a slowdown after the hectic staycation boom of August. Fate has intervened again with a broken ankle so how best to make use of the time?

This year I decided I wanted it all, my desire was to max out the holiday lets AND attend the glorious Victorious with my friends. Was this too much to ask?

Holiday accommodation ratings systems have been around for a long time, but are they still fit for purpose in the digital age?

Shiny pennies in the property world…I am by nature discontent and fidgety. Having a property business fits this very well as all manner of things get thrown at you, but the latest idea to take my attention is a keeper for me.

 I took the plunge and bought ring video doorbells for my holiday lets, I really was better off not knowing!

Sweeping the pavement outside my short lets in Orchard Rd, I wondered how this old-fashioned habit had died. (Editor note: This is NOT a picture of Charlotte cleaning her door step!)

Cleaning the front step used to be a matter of pride for many households. This small threshold literally welcomed people to your home and displayed to the street that you were a person that did things properly and took pride in yourself, your work and home.

 There have been stirrings and accusations in the world of holiday lets this month as HMRC announce a clampdown on holiday homes. Where does this fit in to the jigsaw of short term lets?

This month short term lets have been splashed across the local paper for good and bad. Nothing can quell my enthusiasm for opening up properly on 12^th April but have I slowed down too much to get back into business?

I don't do stocks and shares, I don't do bitcoin, I am not even sure what FOREX trading is. Received wisdom is that wealth is best retained by diversifying your portfolio to weather the storms of financial life.

A slap in the face is more effective than ten lectures. It makes you understand very quickly. Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

Some financial knowledge comes easily, some is learned through sweat and some lessons must be a slap-in-the-face before they finally come home.

As landlords, we have all struggled with building trades over the years – big jobs are easy, you have a surveyor or similar to manage it, a contract with a builder chosen by tender and whilst much of the work is done 'as fast as possible' as opposed to as 'well as possible' generally, as long as the snags get properly recorded and resolved all is well.  But... 

So it's a rainy Sunday morning in Gosport and I have been reflecting upon the current state of the property education sector here in the UK. Like everyone else my Facebook and other social feed's are flooded with offers of free seminars, no money down deals, promises of a 7 figure salary or business, health, wealth and happiness!  

How do you get your kicks in lockdown? My rebellious younger self wouldn't recognise me.

Optimism deserts me as we dig in for the long Covid haul 

Charlotte is having a month off, so I thought I'd use her spot to share a thought this month as I just bought a new washing machine for one of the houses.  At £229 from ao.com with free delivery it was a no brainer, why even try and repair the old one. Not only  was the new one  A+++, it had a 10 year parts guarantee AND it was SMART - but that's where my worries began

 What has the PDPLA ever done for us? 

What an err…interesting month it has been. For the first time in many years I have attended to numerous projects outside of the business…

I like my small business, it feels good to break free from work, shift for yourself and hear the ker-ching of money you have made yourself. This last 2 weeks has been eerily quiet so a great opportunity to reflect (as well as clean my much-neglected house).

What happens to your short term let business when guests, or weather events of Biblical proportions, let you down?

Diversify or specialise, think big or be content with small, be out there or safe in here..

There are many sorts of people, a few ways to put them in categories could be specialists vs generalists, big-picture vs attention-to-detail, risk taker vs risk-averse. Personally, I am each and every one depending on the day of the week!