What is the reality of owning a holiday home?

[pongyprude]

We are thinking of buying a holiday home. Nothing extravagant. It’s a four bedroom unit with a small pool. We would try and rent it out to cover some of our costs but otherwise we would let my parents stay there as they also love the area.

Everyone who we know who owns a holiday home says it’s a millstone. Costs more than you think and then you feel stuck having to visit. Prices in the area we are looking seem really reasonable so may be scope for growth.

Our careers aren’t there yet for us to wfh for weeks on end, but in a few years this is likely. What is the reality like of owning a holiday home?

I think people buying holiday homes in scenic areas is an issue in Ireland too @Carriemac, as it prices out the locals. I know it’s been discussed as a major issue for Gaeltacht areas in particular as the people who grew up with the language find it harder to live locally. As the Gaeltacht areas are on the west coast they’re typically very scenic and are prime holiday destinations. And the housing crisis here means many are critical of people owning second homes in general.

https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2026/03/25/states-failure-to-provide-homes-for-irish-speakers-threatening-future-of-language/

@Coozingof course I’m not saying it’s perfect in Ireland but that the resentment and hostily that say you get in Wales and Cornwall is not the same .

Haven’t come across this rule. Could you point me to the legislation on some official website please? Could be useful to DD who’s DP (wedding planned next year) has an Irish passport. Thanks.

This might cover what you need.

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/residence/family-residence-rights/non-eu-wife-husband-children/index_en.htm

DC1 is a UK citizen but has full residence rights in an EU country. This still entitles their spouse to live in the country and entitles the spouse to work rights/residence card. The details probably vary a bit by bureaucracies but in principle she should be good to go once married.

I wouldn’t personally.

You’d need to employ someone local to manage the property if you are not local - Changeovers and resolve issues in person. You’ll also need to manage bookings.

Also - how can you be sure your property won’t be damaged. It happens. 99% are respectful… some are not.

Your personal belongings - you couldn’t keep these at the property.

You also have all the operating costs on top of employing someone as well as paying tax.

i mean people do make it profitable but it is a lot of effort…

My advice is to think very carefully. It’s very costly and with hindsight I definitely wouldn’t do it again. I am waiting for an opportune time to get out of the market and sell, but don’t know when that will be, hopeful in the next couple of years.

I really wouldn’t. My parents bought a holiday home and it was a constant source of stress. They spent most of the time they were there doing maintenance and DIY and fixing the things that renters or family had broken.

I think you need to think about the differences between a holiday let and a second home for you/your family to use. They're VERY different.

From a tax point of view, you can't claim costs for the proportion of time used by family or otherwise not available to let. That's a big mistake a lot of people make and HMRC are very hot on it. So you have to do your sums on the basis that you have to pro-rata all the costs, i.e. mortgage interest, utilities, contents, furniture, fittings, insurance, cleaning fees etc between the time you/your family use it (not allowable) and the time it's let out or available for letting.

Unless you live nearby and have plenty of time to manage it yourself, plus dealing with marketing/bookings admin, etc., you'd need to engage an agent to look after it for you. An agent isn't going to be too keen if it's not available to be let out during the busy peaks as they want their commission and management fees, so unless you're only intending to occupy it yourself (or family) in the off peak months, you may struggle to get an agent on board anyway. Some have pretty fixed contracts as to limits on how many weeks of the year you make it unavailable to let.

Who's going to clean it? You really should get professionals to maintain a decent standard and get them to do proper cleans after you/your family have stayed in it.

Holiday lets are very competitive - without getting an agent on board (i.e. Sykes, Cottages.com etc) you may struggle to get it rented out enough. Yes, you may not want it rented too much, but if you're not on one of the big booking sites, you may struggle to rent it out at all without a lot of hard work marketing it, creating your own website etc. You also need to work on getting very high ratings from past users, that means making it a pretty high standard of F&F, equipment, contents, cutlery & crockery and kitchen utensils, dishwasher, washing machine, sky tv, wifi, excellent cleanliness, etc - a few poor reviews and you're screwed really.

I have an EU spouse and a second home in the EU, and can confirm this is true. Google the Practical Handbook For Border Guards and have a read.

DH and I are retired and have a second home in the sun, where we spend around five months of the year. We are there now, and I can say hands down it's the best thing we've ever done. We do not rent it out, it is ours and waits for us. It makes us happy .

We do not let it stop us going to other places and never would, we have several other trips a year. Of course there are running costs for the house and car, but it actually saves us quite a lot of money due to the lower cost of living and what we would otherwise spend on alternative accommodation - not that this was something we thought about when we bought it eight years ago, but it's a nice side effect.

There are plenty of local services and tradesmen to deal with any chores and maintenance if we want them.

We love it and have made good friends there. The day it doesn't work for us any more we will put it in the market, pocket the profit after tax and move on to the next adventure.

4 bed with pool does not sound like a UK property

until you clarify if this is UK or overseas the answers you get will be misleading

I wouldn’t have one abroad again. Total millstone. Had some good times there but felt guilty if we ever went somewhere else. Lost money on it too. A second home in the UK would have been a much better investment.

5 days later and OP has not made one reply in this thread
I wonder if this is just a spoof thread

@mismomary Ours in Cornwall hasn’t been a great investment. We haven’t made anything on the capital investment in 15 years. Huge mistake!

Probably a lazy "jourmalist"

"Nothing extravagant. It’s a four bedroom unit with a small pool."

Nothing extravagant indeed!

yes, use of the word "unit" suggested the possibility of a place on a complex overseas, but I guess we may never know

my parents had one in France for years.
In the early days they let it. They really didn't make much money, as there is really only a 12 week season, and some of that is not high season, and the costs of housekeeper, laundry and garden and pool maintenance had to be factored in.
Later they used it mostly for family and friends. It cost a huge amount per year, but suited them. They did have a large number of local friends and contacts when things went wrong.
Recently the tax situation in France for holiday lets has become very expensive, and makes it very hard to imagine letting one now.
If this is not UK based, think carefully about access and visas/number of days in EU etc

As others have said, distinguish clearly between a second home for yourself, and a paying holiday let. They are 2 very different things.

Yes also if I remember rightly in Portugal for example they have laws stating if you employ a cleaner a gardener etc for the holiday season you've got to employ them for the whole year so even when you've got no one coming in to rent the property you still have to pay for them to come and clean, garden etc once a week

Nothing extravagant…4 bed with a pool!

we did have a second home:holiday let in St Ives for about 10 years but while we enjoyed using it we ended up selling up. One of the reasons was a negative attitude to second home ownership in the area, which I did understand. St Ives is full of holiday homes….walk around Downalong and practically every property had a key safe outside indicating it was a holiday let. There were other financial reasons which I won’t go into but we ended up selling.

Take it from me, the renting-it-out part is a bloody nightmare. Why not rent a luxury airbnb in the area a few weeks each year?