This category is about all aspects of Holiday Home Letting and will be of interest to owners of holiday lets across the UK. As Holiday Home Insurance Specialists we are proud to share tips, guidance and articles.

Whether you own an individual holiday home or cottage or a holiday cottage complex our holiday home letting articles are for you. Subjects covered include taxation, online scams and regulations.

Check out these posts: Holiday Letting Terms and Conditions, Registration Schemes for Short Term Lets, Buying a Leasehold Apartment to Holiday Let, Holiday Lets and Tax – what you need to know.

VisitEngland Launches Free Guide

VisitEngland has launched the most comprehensive business case for accessible tourism in England. The booklet entitled `At Your Service‘ provides advice on a lucrative market worth over £2 billion. If you make adaptions to your holiday home to make them more accessible for people with disabilities, please consider increasing your buildings and contents sum insured on your holiday home insurance policy to allow for the costs of the improvements. If the adaptions involve building works please contact your holiday home insurance broker to inform them of your intentions so they may ensure the correct cover is in place both during and after the renovations.   

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“Like” Boshers on Facebook – and benefit from the chance to WIN a key safe for your holiday home..!

Please “Like” us on Facebook and you’ll be kept informed about important holiday home insurance developments and noteworthy news of interest to holiday home owners.

Once we have 250 Likes on our Facebook page we’ll choose a fan at random and post them a C500, the UK’s first Police Approved key safe…read all about it here..!  

Many thanks in anticipation…

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C500 Key Safe

C500 – The UK’s first Police approved key safe

One benefit of our holiday home insurance policy is that the comprehensive cover provided to holiday home owners accommodates the use of Key Safes to make it more convenient for guest changeovers. All our underwriters ask is that you take sensible precautions such as those covered in our previous blog post, You, Your Holiday Home Insurance and Key Safes.

As part of our service to holiday home owners, we like to inform you of products, services, risk advice and legislative changes of interest to you as a furnished holiday let owner. Whilst we are not in a position to directly endorse the C500 key safe ourselves we were suitably impressed with it to warrant this blog, with the proviso that other key safes are available..

Read on for details of the C500 – The UK’s first Police approved key safe.

For your guests, gaining access into your holiday home is often a challenge. A key safe can provide immediate access for authorised visitors using a unique combination. This guarantees secure access 24/7, allowing visitors to arrive and depart whenever they need to. It’s why 86% of Local authorities use this method to deliver care into the homes of vulnerable people they support.

Police Approved – Key safe designs can vary greatly, not just in terms of looks but also levels of security.

Supra UK were concerned that some key safe products actually put people’s homes and vulnerable people at risk. This concern prompted Supra to carry out extensive market research to understand what customers wanted from a key safe. It highlighted that 80% of people said that the most important key safe accreditation was gaining Police approval. This was a tough challenge but essential to meet customer requirements.

Supra are absolutely delighted to announce that the Supra C500 KeySafe ™ has now achieved LPS (Loss Prevention Standard) 1175 level 1 security rating; this is the same level of security provided by a domestic front door. Gaining this independent security rating then enabled the C500 to be Police approved, through the Secured by Design (SbD) scheme.

This makes the C500 and only key safe on the UK market to be approved by the Police.

What experts think of the C500 KeySafe:

“Now that the C500 KeySafe has achieved LPS and; SbD accreditation this should be the only key safe that is specified – it is a very good product”

Peter Bennett, Thames Valley Police

“We have no hesitation in saying that out of the five key safe products evaluated, the Supra C500 is the only key safe worth considering.”

Dr. Kevin Doughty – Centre of Usable Home Technology (CUHTEC)

Supra are confident that the C500 KeySafe is the most attack resistant on the UK market. If you are in any doubt on the suitability of a particular key safe, please contact your local Crime Prevention Officer.

Find out more at www.keysafe.co.uk

Find out more about holiday home insurance from Boshers Ltd by clicking here.

C500 key safe | longer screws for rendered walls

Please note that with effect from September 2014 The Key Safe Company have made a small but important change to the installation fixings supplied with the C500 police approved key safe. They are now supplied with 60mm long self-tapping masonary screws, these longer screws are more suitable for fixing through rendered walls, negating the need to knock the render off of the wall before fixing. Find out more about the C500 improvements to key safe installation fixings.

Holiday home owners considering a key safe will also find this blog post of interest: You, Your Holiday Home Insurance and Key Safes.

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Holiday Lettings EPC’s – Are they really required?

On 30th June 2011 a piece of legislation comes into effect that will ensure that an Energy Performance Certificate or EPC is required on Holiday Lettings. This will bring Holiday Lets into line with other properties that need an EPC, such as those currently required on sales and rental basis.

As of the 30th June 2011 any property that is let on a holiday basis for a combined period of four months or more in a calendar year will be required to have an Energy Performance Certificate. This change is an attempt by the Department of Communities and Local Government to improve the EPC requirements and to encourage potential improvements in holiday rentals.

Read on here

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Holiday Lets: deadline nears to make the most of cottage industry

Time is running out for holiday cottage owners to upgrade their property while simultaneously cutting their tax bills. A £30m tax break, which cuts the cost of second homes for more than 65,000 families, is to be withdrawn next month because of EU laws. Read the full article here 

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Tips For Safe Holiday Home Letting

Our lettest e-Newsletter for furnished holiday home owners “Tips For Safe Holiday Home Letting” is available by clicking here

In this issue: 

  • Holiday home Maintenance Checklist – ensure your holiday home is safe to let and reduce the risk of holiday home insurance claims.
  • Holiday Home Owners Warned – Increase In Theft Of Heating Oil!
  • Is your holiday home underinsured?

Read these articles and more here Holiday home Insurance e-Newsletter 

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Holiday Home Pre-Season Maintenance Checklist

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Ensure your holiday home is safe to let and reduce the risk of holiday home insurance claims in 2011. We have compiled this holiday home pre-season maintenance checklist as an aide memoire, it is not an exhaustive list so feel free to leave your own comments and suggestions below.

Your holiday home

  1. Do you have GAS APPLIANCES? If you do, have you arranged for your GAS SAFETY registered engineer to (a) service your gas appliances and central heating boiler in accordance the manufacturers instruction?; And (b) to carry out an annual gas safety check? For more guidance click here
  2. Do you have Oil Fired Heating? If you do have your heating engineer service your applicances and boiler in accordance with the manufacturers instructions and carry out a safety check. Be aware that heating oil thefts are on the rise! For more guidance click here
  3. Do you have an open fire, stove or wood burner? If so have you had your chimney swept recently?
  4. Mains water tap – ensure you can turn it on and off. Do your guests know where to find it incase of an emergency?
  5. Inspect your roof for signs of slipped slates or tiles and have repairs carried out where necessary.
  6. Have you checked your smoke detectors and changed the batteries if not hard wired? Diary for periodic checks. 

Your holiday home garden

  1. Arrange for your drains, gutters and downpipes to be inspected to ensure they are clear of leaves and debris which may cause blockages.
  2. Repair broken fences, gates and boundary walls.
  3. Consider cleaning garden paths, patios and steps to remove any build up of moss, lichen and algae, to reduce the risk of slips and trips.
  4. Check your garden furniture, is it fit for purpose? If your garden furniture is damaged, replace it now for you or one of your guests has an accident.

Your holiday home risk assessments

  1. Fire risk assessment – have you updated your holiday home fire risk assessment? make sure you record your results. For guidance click here
  2. Portable electrical item checks. Include a visual check of your portable electrical items, checking for damage such as fraying power cables. If in doubt have your portable electrical items inspected by a qualified electrician or replace them with new ones as necessary.
  3. General risk assessment – ensure that your general risk assessment is up to date and that you have thought about the use of saunas, hot tubs, spa pools, childrens play equipment and swimming pools where appropriate.

Boshers Ltd | Holiday Home Insurance Specialists have comiled this holiday home, holiday cottage and cottage complex maintenance checklist as a useful aide memoire for owners of commercially let UK holiday homes. It is not designed to be exhaustive and Boshers Ltd will not be held  responsible for errors or omissions.

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Theft Of Heating Oil

Theft of heating oil from holiday homes

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The cost of heating oil has increased significantly recently and this has resulted in more thefts of oil from holiday homes and elsewhere.

The first indication that a theft has taken place is usually when a holiday home’s heating system fails to work. The assumption is often made that the boiler is at fault, but regrettably the problem is often simply no oil. Thefts vary from small amounts being stolen, to the whole tank being drained. The methods used by the thieves can be very crude, including drilling or punching holes in the side of the tank and then filling jerry cans. Resulting pollution of the ground and water by oil is a costly business and can lead to your property being unavailable for holiday letting to guests whilst the environmental damage is put right. It’s not hard to see how a few large claims like this can result in higher premiums for all to cover the costs.

Theft of heating oil from holiday homes

So what can holiday home owners do to prevent such losses?

  • Monitor the level of oil in your tank regularly and ask your housekeeper, caretaker and/or a friendly neighbour to do the same in your absence.
  • Conceal the location of the tank by using hedging, fencing or walling.
  • Securely lock doors at all times if the tank is situated within a building.
  • Install security lighting to cover the tank if the holiday home is overlooked from nearby buildings.
  • Ask nearby residents to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the police.
  • Encourage high occupancy rates, which reduces the time available to thieves.
  • Padlock the valve. This may not always be the correct course of action, as thieves may smash the valve completely, but it can deter a less determined thief.
  • Install an alarm devices which creates an alert if the oil level suddenly drops or if the lock is attacked.
If you are unfortunate enough to have a theft of oil at your holiday home, ensure that you report it to the police immediately and inform your holiday home insurance provider of the incident. Check your policy carefully to ensure that you have sufficient cover for loss of oil and adhere to any inspection warranties.

Follow this link for posts similar to theft of heating oil from holiday homes and other useful resources for holiday home owners

For further information on UK holiday home insurance visit the website page most relevant to you:

Thank you for reading `theft of heating oil from holiday homes‘.

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Holiday Home Owner Winter Maintenance Checklist

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Boshers advises UK holiday home owners to use quieter periods, such as the Winter months to carry out essential maintenance checks so their properties are protected from inclement weather and in tip top order for the following letting season.

Mark Lavington, says: “Many weather related insurance claims could be avoided if holiday home owners were to give their holiday letting properties a winter health check before the worst of the weather hits”. Furthermore there’s a `duty of care’ for owners to ensure that their guests’ safety has been considered.”

The Boshers holiday home insurance team have compiled a `Winter Maintenance Checklist for holiday Home Owners’ as a useful aid. A free copy can be downloaded from www.boshers.co.uk/holiday-home-insurance or requested by phoning 01237 429444 or emailing cottages@boshers.co.uk

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