Family owned holiday let - making it fair for us all. Advice appreciated.

[CircassianLeyla]

I have posted in Investments too.

Just a bit of background. We have a holiday home that was an inheritance from GPs years ago. Currently my parents use it the most (my dad for 3 months of the year, he is the original recipient). They also pay for the upkeep and maintenance etc.

It is owned on paper by 4 grandchildren (my dad basically signing it over to us but retaining rights to use). We are all adults.

The idea is that we would market it from here with a website/word of mouth recommendation etc. What we need to ensure is that everyone is represented fairly.

I am thinking that we should set up a small company with two accounts, one for a sort of service charge pot that we all contribute to (we had a flood last year that resulted in repairs which to date my parents have paid for). The other account would be for money taken from bookings. Then each year or every 6 months to have a small meeting where we go through the accounts and everyone gets their share of any profits (there may be none, it may be that this covers upkeep).

How would you suggest we spilt it if the "workload" if we can call it that is split as follows?

Dad - would be there on the ground, dealing with repairs, paperwork, official things.

Owner 1 (me) - happy to deal with admin side and chip in when I am there (every other year for between 2-6 wks), cleaning, changing sheets etc.

Owner 2 - has various health issues so would only be contributing money for up keep (I am guessing a sort of service charge).

Owner 3 - at present uses once a year for a week or two with friends. She has a busy job and not sure she could contirbute time, but could contribute to servcie charge fund and cleaning etc when there.

Owner 4 - uses for two weeks every year/every other year usually when we go. Probably would have some time to help with admin and would help out when there.

We can let it locally but this involves no guarantee and touting for guests etc and none of us is really up for that.

I don't want us to fall out over this house so want to get it right and above board from the outset.

We have a family home that has been in our family for close to two hundred years. We run it like a youth hostel for family members.

All of the owners pay a yearly fee and you pay a nightly fee when staying in the house. Non family members pay a little more.

We pay a neighbour to maintain the property and another woman to wash bed linen and to clean the house twice a year. The house is only used over the summer.

We have a yearly meeting during which the owners decide what needs to be mended and set a budget. Membership fees are adjusted accordingly.

We don't run the house to make a profit, and we do not allow non family members to stay unless they are guests of family members.

It has worked for us so far!

Oh I forgot to say that we have an elaborate booking system. This is really the most important thing to get right. Most people want to stay over the same period and you will have to figure out how to manage this.

Our family is split into four different groups and we give priority booking to each group on a rotating basis. In practice this means I will get the two weeks I ideally want every four years!

Also, our house is large and can accommodate several families at once. This makes a huge difference and has made it possible for all of us to know each other to a certain extent.

That seems a lovely arrangement. I think what has prompted me to give this some thought is that my parents are finding it difficult to maintain themselves now so perhaps that is a way forward.

I guess the difference for us at the moment is that it is just my 2 cousins and brother and my parents as well as us (5 with DC). The house is large enough for us all to be there and bring friends but the situation will change as my cousins settle down with families but I think the lose idea is to split it with them having one floor and us the other.

It is worth thinking about though, so thank you for responding.

Family homes are quite common in Scandinavia as children inherent equally ( in most cases).

I know people who have successfully kept home in their families despite sharing with hundreds of people. A popular way of doing it is to run the home like a company and allocate shares.

Good luck it is a wonderful thing when it works.

Hi op

I think if you genuinely want to rent pat of the property out to tourists rather than just family, you'll need to give some consideration to how that side can be run smoothly and professionally. If your parents are finding the management and maintenance of the property to be a slog just now, would they really be up for becoming landlords / cleaners / hosts to paying customers? Maybe I am not understanding your proposal properly. Is it located in a place that gets plenty tourists etc?)

For sharing the running costs I would suggest they are shared proportionally depending on how long each 'owner' is there each year. Have you got a good idea what it costs to run the property in a normal year?