To think that holiday let owners with 'unusual' house rules should have to make them clear on the advert?

[bsidecside]

We're regular holiday let-stayers as a we have loads of kids (5), and so have seen a variety of 'house rules' over the years. We're currently staying in an otherwise lovely holiday let that has a house rule that 'all refuse and recycling must be removed from the property'. We're not staying very remotely (small town on the coast close to other small towns) so I can't see any 'need' for this rule other than to cut down the cleaning at the end. Having to remove all our litter (which I'm trying to keep on top of as we go) is making me increasingly cross. I'm not saying I definitely wouldn't have booked if we'd seen this rule, but I certainly would have considered other options more carefully first!

Cheer me up with your tales of the weirdest - unexpected - house rules you've come across in a holiday let!

The time we stayed in a caravan it was even worse - we were expected to clean the whole place top to bottom and the site managers came and checked. Not fun with little kids hanging off you! (There was an option to pay about £60 and the staff on site would do it for you, but we hadn't realised ahead of time and hadn't budgeted for it).
But yes, compared to hotel rooms and food for 7 people, holiday cottages are hugely cheaper.

I take that rule to mean that any rubbish and recycling should be removed from the property structure, and I myself would be putting it in the waste and recycling bins provided by the local council. It's something I tend to do anyway, don't like recycling building up inside and I put rubbish bags out just in case property isn't going to be immediately let and, therefore, not cleaned.

I get that it's annoying but it seems you're being a bit martyrish about having to "keep on top of the litter" and take out every single crumb as it's created to stop the "grotty build up".
Couple of carrier bags in the kitchen. One recycling, one not. Rinse jars etc. When you go out on a day trip, take the non recycling with you to a public bin or transfer to a double lined black bag in the garden. Double black bag for recycling as and when the bags fill up. Remove at end of week.
No one is expecting yo uto search the streets to put in individual sweet wrappers as you eat a bag of sweets

It’s standard for people who won’t pay for business waste removal from their businesses…

I know what you mean! We’ve just stayed somewhere where we had to remove all of our rubbish - except we didn’t have access to the house bins so were expected to wander around looking for a public bin we could put a bin bag in 😡

As a previous poster said, many recycling/refuse places charge for use if you are not local. I have to provide proof of my address at my local one.

The OP has said the nearest one is also a drive away, so yes I would consider it a hardship aka right pain in the arse.

Clearly they are trying to dodge paying council tax or similar - never had anything like that and we've stayed in many self catering lets.

If there's Wheely bins at the property just use them. Unless you were told at the time of booking how would you know? Not everyone reads the info left at the actual property.

The ones that I think are taking the piss are the ones stating that you have to hoover before you leave. I've had that twice now (one booked by me, one by MIL) and I will be paying more attention in future to see if they say that again. That's part of basic between lets cleaning!

We’ve stayed in a few remote places where we had to remove our rubbish, there are normally skips somewhere to dump it as no rubbish collection.

Ha - I'm the opposite of a 'martyr' but with a family of 7, one fish and chips dinner leads to about 2 carrier bags of waste, so yes, it does need to be taken out regularly to stop it covering all the surfaces or the toddler or dog playing with it.

remove rubbish from inside bins and put in the wheelie bin outside

we had this same rule, except there wasn’t a wheelie bin outside (it was an apartment block) and the communal dumpster had been taken away with no indication when it would be replaced.

Don't know where you are but I live in Devon and it wouldn't work here. You have to book to go to the waste/recycling centre, give your address and car reg number. I think different people booking every week would be a bit of a giveaway.

Laughing at all the people saying it's not a hassle.

Holiday cottage owners should pay for refuse collection.

I've recently been away with 10 friends to a cottage. We had to empty the property (inside) of rubbish- putting it into the wheelie bins. Fine. Masses of recycling- all
sorted correctly.

I'd have been furious if asked to drive the rubbish to the tip. We had to vacate by 9am. We would've had to take all the rubbish to the tip the day before- a 10 mile drive away! Had we had to take all the rubbish/recycling we'd have had to go every day. Not much of a holiday!

Our local tip wouldn't let you in. You have to prove local residency.

Some of the replies on here are ridiculous. Anyone letting a holiday property needs to make provision for rubbish, usually you use the outdoor bins. I think that they say you can't do that means they haven't registered the business use of the property with the council. Personally I'd be letting the council know what the property is being used for and leaving a bad review.

No it definitely isn't. We always just use the wheelie bins as normal and put them out on whatever day is bin day. You are always told what day to put them out.

I have a friend who has a holiday let in Cornwall. The council won't collect rubbish because it is a commercial let. He pays £17 per general rubbish pick-up and £14 for recycling plus a charge for the actual weight of the content.
I think the owners are just being mean and saving money.

That is a ridiculous rule and must be some cost cutting on their part. Be very vocal about it in your reviews!

Yeah - I've been taking it out shopping bag/handful at a time and rather surreptitiously shoving it in to the on street bins (which there are plenty of near the house). But clearly these are not meant for 'large scale' domestic waste!

Our local recycling centre has an online booking system linked to your council tax code. I can’t imagine this not getting rolled out to most places in the future.

@bsidecside your caravan experience sounds terrible! I go away I them about 5 times a year and never do more than wash the dishes, empty the bins to the big bin on site and leave the toilet in a decent state. I've never even stripped sheets or anything, fuck that, it's a holiday not some enforced work schedule.

Regarding the actual question in the OP.

I suspect that most people don't think their rules are unusual.

Aw god OP what a faff! We’re a bigger family of 6 and find holiday cottages easiest for us currently- don’t mind doing normal day to day stuff on holiday but taking rubbish to a dump is extra work I wouldn’t welcome while on holiday.
Did you book via a website where you can leave feedback for future families?

Does sound like maybe they’ve been caught out as being a commercial property rather than residential and don’t want to pay extra for bin collection but surely they should be disposing of waste themselves if they don’t want to pay for it?

Holiday lets used to be Saturday to Saturday and cleaning took place on a Saturday. Now holiday lets can be any length, so rubbish being left either in the house or in bins, will probably smell if not emptied straight away. I cannot imagine what you are going to do last morning when everything gets thrown out.

We went to a Sun Park in Belgium and had to make up beds and take off before we left. Kitchen had to be left as found, nothing left out or in drainer or dishwasher. There was a list of charges. They left packs of games, toys, crisps, drinks and nibbles. Thinking these were free, my children dived in and we got charged for all these.

The last house we stayed in 2 weeks ago had 5 different recycling bins and 1 general rubbish bin.

We stayed in a place once that had a rule you couldnt put the cutlery in the dishwasher and you couldnt use the air conditioning until 6pm. We ignored both ‘rules’ and the sky didnt fall.