Advice on renting out our home (short term)?

[Koulibiak]

DH and I are toying with the idea of renting out our house for a few weeks (short term). We live close to an annual event that brings a lot of demand on the local market, so prices are attractive - it would be several thousand pounds a week. We would be signing on to a specialist platform - not AirBnB/Verbo.

However, I’m worried that it’s going to be a lot of work to empty out wardrobes, fridge etc, and about the potential damage. We would have to get additional insurance, install locks on private areas and probably buy some new bedding - I don’t really want to share my bedding with strangers.

Has anyone done this, and if so what would your advice be?

If you want top money you really have to make it as if you don't live there at all and it needs to be of a high standard. i.e if its wimbledon and you are hoping to rent to players/coaches etc that standards are pretty high. If it's edinburgh and you are looking at renting for the festival then there is a pretty wide range of demand available so standards are not as exacting. Unlless it's a lot of guaranteed money if it often more hassle than its worth

@lemonts thank you, it’s a nice house and the agent thinks there would be strong demand (but I’m sure they always say that). For one thing it is fully a/c’ed, which is unusual and desirable. But yes, I anticipate it will be a lot of work to store all our belongings 😱. Especially with two messy teenagers

A former colleague did similar for a few years. Was v profitable, apparently!
The week before was a chaos of moving things, cleaning, etc. And she had to keep everything in good condition. Afterwards, she'd do a deep clean then move all her personal stuff back in.
She stayed with parents whilst renting it out.

We live close to Wimbledon tennis and a number of our friends and neighbours rent their places out for 3 weeks (qualifying and Championships). The preferred tenants are corporates apparently as they will cause minimal issues, and their company will hear of and sort out any they do cause. Players are a risk (some don’t look after places) although if they’re knocked out in the first week they won’t hang around but you get the full rent.

Some friends rent to the same umpires etc each year and that seems to work well.
There are several specialist agencies so talk to them and they can give you a steer on what’s expected.
I know our friends have to make drawers and a reasonable amount of wardrobe space available and declutter their homes, which can be a pain, but the income they receive makes up for it, and they go away on holiday when their home is rented, paid for by the rent.