Rules when renting a holiday place - bonkers or completely normal?

[DragonMamma]

We are renting a large property for over New Year (for a total of 3 nights). There are 10 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms. We rent houses regularly and have done for many years. This 3 night break is costing just under £3.5k so it’s not exactly cheap.

We’ve just received the list of do’s and don’ts from the owner and it reads like nothing we’ve ever come across before. It’s like they are reluctantly giving us use of the place and barking instructions at us.

Some examples below copied and pasted from their 7 page (!) instruction manual.

*YOU ARE EXPECTED TO LEAVE THE PROPERTY IN A SIMILAR STATE OF CLEANLINESS AS YOU FOUND IT, IF THE PROPERTY IS NOT SO, YOU WILL BE CHARGED AN EXCESS CLEANING CHARGE.
Including all floors to be hovered or swept, bathrooms and toilets cleaned, kitchen to be cleaned, all washing up done and put away.

Hot water will be on in the morning from 7am until 10am, briefly at lunchtime and again from 5pm until 10pm. Options for extra heating and hot water are available please see our website. These must be booked in advance.

NEVER LEAVE THE WOODBURNER UNATTENDED. IN INTERESTS OF SAFETY UNLESS YOU ARE EXPERIENCED USING WOODBURNERS WE SUGGEST THAT YOU DO NOT USE IT.

Swimming pool - Shallow end depth of approx. 1metre, deep end depth approx. 1.9 metre. STRICTLY NO JUMPING, DIVING OR OTHER BOISTEROUS BEHAVIOUR*

AIBU to think that if you’re charging over a thousand pound a night and absolutely insisting on a 10am check out (OR face yet another additional charge) then you simply cannot expect the occupants to clean 9 bathrooms and do all of the general cleaning. There’s also a strict list of what cleaning products are to be used where.

We always leave properties in a decent state - we will set the dishwater off after breakfast, give the bathroom a quick wipe so it’s not excessively dirty. We’ll bag all the rubbish up etc and make sure it’s tidy and do whatever else we have time for before leaving (strip the beds etc.). But this reads like they want us to clean it to a professional standard all before 10am!

AIBU to think this is a bonkers and that it’s not the responsibility of the occupants to do the cleaning for you? And to also have to book extra hot water in advance?

How on earth are we supposed to know when we are going to want hot water? What happens if we go swimming after lunch, do we have to sit and wait for it to come back on at 5pm? They have take a £500 security deposit and based on the list of things we may get charged for is endless and it’s really put us off going 😞

I rent out a few cottages and all seems pretty standard to me. 10am check out us fairly normal, as next guests arrive at 4, so you need time to make beds etc.
Covering their back with log burner for insurance etc - and to stop the phone calls from guests complaining they can’t light the fire and can someone nip round and light it for them. - I’ve had plenty of those calls!
Standard to state leave house in same level of cleanliness as when arrived or face an extra cleaning charge - but no one expects it to be perfect - but bins need to be put out, quick vacuum around, dishes cleaned/ put away etc. This makes it quicker to do the turn around clean. It’s hard to say in information please leave quite cleanish as I’m Not washing /scrubbing everything for you.
I always state when water heater is on so guests know. - it’s on enough for a reasonable shower for all guests etc, but like at home, your not going to be heating it constantly just in case.
If you really want to check - search for the holiday cottage companies on the web and read their terms which will all be similar.

The cottage is listed on a hen party venues website. If you don't want the place getting trashed, then maybe don't rent it out to hen parties. I've seen plenty of places that say no hen parties allowed.

Its not standard to leave house in exactly the same state of cleanliness as when arrived. Basically clean yes, but not spotless - thats bonkers.

I can't wait for your update in a few days OP. That should make for an interesting read. Enjoy your few days and for yours and your friends sake i hope it goes well. For our entertainment on here maybe not so much . Kinda joking

Addup I'd be hugely shocked if most UK holiday rental companies specified that bathrooms had to be fully cleaned and all floors hoovered, dusting done etc in great detail. It is vastly different from usual instructions - not leaving the dishwasher running is a common one as cleaners don't have time to unload and may not be finished running when they get there.

OP I'm surprised you've not contacted the rental company- I hope it works out ok for you.

A tip after we got stung in a similar rental earlier this year - huge place with a pool. Take pictures when you leave. They tried to claim we had stained something, and it turned out it was the cleaner who didn’t want to admit to it. It took ages to sort and felt they took advantage as they thought we could afford it because we’d rented an expensive place.

Standard to state leave house in same level of cleanliness as when arrived or face an extra cleaning charge - but no one expects it to be perfect - but bins need to be put out, quick vacuum around, dishes cleaned/ put away etc. This makes it quicker to do the turn around clean.
@Addup don’t you see the inherent contradiction in what you are saying here? If the property has been professionally cleaned when the renters arrive then it’s impossible for the renters to leave it in the same state as that in which they found it!

Gutted that I can't find it on the web....

Looking at the T&C on the owner’s website they are rather obsessed with banning nitrous oxide.

What have I done now?

(Seriously though OP, I hope you have a good break despite this. Definitely take photos or video before leaving as suggested, as it sounds like they’ll try it on.)

Is it a short break you and your guests are going on or a 3 day punishment ?! If i was paying over a grand a night i wouldn't expect to be rationed on hot water ffs!! I would be also concerned about how they are they planning to enforce their petty do's and dont's? - do they have cctv installed in ALL rooms? Will the owner be sat by the pool with a whistle in hand? The whole idea of a short break is to have fun and NOT be on your hands and knees scrubbing someone elses loo! It sounds like they will be an absolute nightmare to deal with and I can seriously envision them stiffing you with loads of ridiculous extra charges!
Can you guys cancel and stay elsewhere?

It says to leave the place in a SIMILAR state of cleanliness. It doesn’t sound to me that they want it left to high standard. They just don’t want it left dirty.

Sounds v strict

I had a similar overly strict holiday let that I binned in the end and got my deposit back.

In fact they binned me as I questioned the draconian rules as they said I obviously wasn’t going to be happy there. They insisted that we all buy a specific type of sun lotion to wear as the usual ones we get from UK will ruin the lining of their pool. We had to ensure we all bought this cream from a specific website. They had a whole list of other petty rules too and extra charges threatened throughout the contract - cleaning mentioned in same way. After I questioned it a few times they suggested I as my money back ( I was really polite aswell). It was never going to work. They were letting directly. We found somewhere much more relaxed. If you are unhappy now- I’d question it all. I think being worried about this stuff before you go just results in not being able to relax which defeats the objective.

@NitrousOxide

@Baxterbear we arrive today and were only sent the T&Cs a few days ago so there would have been absolutely no chance of finding somewhere to accommodate 18 people at such short notice so we are ploughing ahead!

@ginexplorer Specific suncream? That’s a whole new level of bonkers!

hese terms are what I would consider normal for Scotland and the North of England.

We've rented holiday cottages all over Scotland including Islay, Mull, Orkney and Skye, as well as Northumberland and it's not normal! As I said upthread we do make sure the place is not a tip and that the basics are done like empyting the bins. But I certainly don't clean and we have never been expected to do so. Also never not had our deposit returned.

I do not go on holiday to spend half a day cleaning.

They can’t issue conditions after the contract has been made. You haven’t agreed to them. Leave the house in a reasonably clean condition. I’d be annoyed about the hot water, you might not have booked if you’d known about that.

I hope it goes well Op
You enjoy yourselves, hopefully everyone will do their bit the night before you leave and the morning you do leave
Sounds like there’ll be no late night carousing on the last night.

I always clean holiday homes and leave it in a condition I’d be happy to find it in myself.

I've also rented lots of holiday properties.

Those T&Cs are not normal.

On a different note I had a booking declined because we were all female and they were worried about hen parties!

I tried to explain that it was a quiet get together of university friends. 4 of whom are perennially exhausted due to balancing work-home-young children and that there was only going to be 5 of us in a house that slept 10 and that I suspected we would be in bed by 10pm every night. No go.

We went somewhere else and my prediction came up pass!

Agree with “Pineapple” above. Have rented properties all over UK during the last 50 years. Rules have hardly changed in that time. Always had to leave by 10am, towels always provided, but most importantly, have never had to clean, other than a quick tidy up, bins emptied etc. Have never lost our deposit.

These terms are what I would consider normal for Scotland and the North of England.

How strange. I go to self-catering in the remoter parts of Scotland, mainly the far north and the islands and have never come across this.

Stayed in countless holiday homes. Only ever had to do a full clean on one, in France. They do generally say you can't leave the dishwasher going or stuff in it though, or you'll be charged extra. Good luck getting your deposit back OP!

It's funny seeing the different experiences. I've done self catering holidays for around 20 years, in Ireland, the UK and France and have never stayed anywhere that you weren't expected to clean, and empty the dishwasher before leaving.

In France we also had to mop the floors. The owners there have always come and met us at checkout and inspected the cleaning. If it was up to scratch, all good. If not, then we had the option of paying something like €80 to the owner there and then for them to clean it themselves.