UK hosts: do you know the regulations regarding holiday lets?

[Huma0]

So, there may be things here that do not pertain to homeshare hosts like myself, especially as I host long term stays, but I came across this article that may be useful to UK hosts who rent out holiday lets, e.g. an entire property for short term stays:

https://www.independentcottages.co.uk/holiday-blog/its-the-law-legislation-for-holiday-home-owners/

While it does not come from the 'horse's mouth', there are quite a lot of links contained within it to official government information, so you can check for yourself if it is correct and up-to-date.

In particular, it's interesting to know that the limit for stays before they change to a tenancy situation is 31 days. I do not know if this is correct. I've seen several other hosts post here that it's three months but I don't know where they got that information.

There's also lots of information about insurance, tax relief etc. Topics that often come up here on the CC and that often seem to cause confusion.

[Huma0]

PS This article looks like it was published in 2020, so there may have been changes in regulations since then, but seeing as it seems like a pretty thoroughly researched article, I would expect it to be updated as necessary.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Huma0 the writer of the article is confusing the 31 day limit that stops longer lets being counted toward the 105 day FHL requirement with the point at which a tenancy starts. I have yet to find a definition of when a tenancy is created in the UK but key concepts such as who pays for the utilities, tv licence etc seem to be relevant. Perhaps an issue for those thinking of charging for heating and lighting....

On TV licences the folks at Hotel licensing have told us we only need one licence for our 3 apartments (we new this) but also that it will cover our house as well.

[Huma0]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

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@Mike-And-Jane0 wrote:

@Huma0 the writer of the article is confusing the 31 day limit that stops longer lets being counted toward the 105 day FHL requirement with the point at which a tenancy starts. I have yet to find a definition of when a tenancy is created in the UK but key concepts such as who pays for the utilities, tv licence etc seem to be relevant. Perhaps an issue for those thinking of charging for heating and lighting....

Would you mind explaining in more detail? I have only once experienced squatters in one of my properties (not trespassers, but people who stayed without paying when they shouldn't have) and sought legal advice at the time. The fact that they were not paying for any utilities seemed to make no difference...

Also, I had no idea RE the TV licensing. I thought that was one license per household as standard.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Huma0 This doesn't apply to your Airbnb situation as when you share facilities with guests they are deemed Lodgers and have no right to stay in the property once their 'contract' is up no matter the length of said stay.

For 'whole home' listings such as ours we do need to be more careful and there is not a clearly written rule or law that I can find anywhere (and believe me I have searched). The best document I found was one written by an insurance company that allowed hosts to do stays less than 6 months as long as the guest didn't pay for utilities etc. Who knows what the truth is.

We are very careful on longer term stays to ensure that we either know the guest well enough to be confident they will leave or to limit stays to under 31 days per the FHL tax rules. We did risk one person for longer but tried to set the price per night high enough so that it made no economic sense for them to stay long term.

TV licenses are fascinating and there are many pitfalls. For some people (and it may apply to you) a hotel licence is needed. Strangely this covers up to 15 'bedrooms' and includes the owners accommodation as long as it is in the same complex and not separated by roads, rail tracks etc. As such I believe we will only need one licence for our house and the 3 apartments  that are attached to our house. Before you panic the hotel licence costs the same as a normal licence so it is a win-win for us.

[Huma0]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

Mmm, I had no idea about the hotel TV license! The license is not something I think about really in terms of hosting as my guests only seem to watch stuff on their devices with their own subscription services (I do have Netflix, Amazon Prime etc. but no guests have ever asked for access to my subscriptions). I have told one or two guests that if they want to watch something on BBCiplayer, they can go ahead and select yes, because I have a license for the house.

RE the tenants' rights issue. Yes, I know all about the laws RE lodgers/licensees and how they are different to assured shorthold tenancies, so I feel pretty well protected by the law. Finding insurance that covers my set up is another matter... 

However, whenever I've tried to find out the information about STR and if/when a guest could become a tenant (usually because someone else here on the CC is asking), I've been unable to find any clear information about it. So, it could be 31 days, it could be three months, or it could be six!

Pricing high enough to discourage overstaying is one tactic but, I think a lot of the fear is that the guest will not only overstay but stop paying, i.e. become a squatter. Airbnb doesn't really cover us for that situation. In my situation, I can tell them to leave, put their stuff out (if they don't collect it in a reasonable time) and change the locks, but what about hosts with separate units? That's where the law seems vague.

[Debra300]

@Mike-And-Jane0, @Huma0 

I am curious.  Do you know if the TV license is required if it's used just for streaming apps (either installed on the TV or via a connected device)?

[Huma0]

@Debra300 

So, the TV license is to do with the BBC (that's what it pays for) and owning a physical TV. If you are using Netflix, Amazon Prime etc. it's not relevant. 

However, to watch BCC iPlayer, technically you are supposed to have a TV license (not for every user but for the household). I really don't know how they monitor this though, although I guess there are ways, as all you have to do is click yes, I have a license. I have never been asked to provide proof of it.

Back in the day when it was just physical TVs with aerials, there used to be vans that drove around with detection equipment to see who had a TV, which they could then check against the database of licenses so you could get busted!

[Debra300]

@Huma0,

I know about the TV police van, because my friend traveled a lot for her job in the 90s, and her young adult daughter didn't pay it while she was away.  She was NOT happy to receive the fine in the mail.  I remember wondering how the scanner could be certain which residence the signal was coming from when people live in terraced houses.  For those who didn't have a TV, would they have to request for the TV police to return and re-scan when their neighbor was watching TV to confirm where the signal was emitted?

[Huma0]

@Debra300 

I have no idea. Maybe the scanning equipment was quite accurate? As a kid, I wasn't overly concerned with these things, but I was aware of them certainly as there were always scary ads on the TV about it! I have just always paid my license, but then I appreciate the BBC (it's not just the TV shows, but the films they produce, the radio channels and the BBC World Service etc - it's all a bit of a British institution), so don't mind really.