The Big Short Time and Furnished Holiday Let thread ...

[spygirl]

39 minutes ago, wherebee said:

You can criticise AirBNB all you like - all I know is that when travelling for work or pleasure, it guarantees I won't be in a hotel with rapist Abdul in the room next door.

That's priceless.

No, Abdul will have been double booked and be in the next room, sat awake with his knife and Vaseline, just waiting for you to fall asleep.

 

 

[wherebee]

3 minutes ago, spygirl said:

No, Abdul will have been double booked and be in the next room, sat awake with his knife and Vaseline, just waiting for you to fall asleep.

 

 

Nope, always book single place accomodation.  No 'next door'.  Only booked a share placed once, in New Zealand, and there was a crazy christian minister and his wife who were a piece of work....

 

[spygirl]

6 hours ago, sancho panza said:

Intersting article here from the grauneisd...Heysus wept.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/jul/19/can-we-get-a-buy-to-let-mortgage-and-use-the-house-as-a-holiday-let

Q We are two women who are nearing our mid-60s and won’t get our state pensions until we are 66. I work in schools and earn very little while my partner is a graphic designer who now has very little work.

On the plus side, over the years we have invested in some buy-to-let properties and are lucky enough to enjoy great relationships with our tenants. We also have a furnished holiday let and are planning to buy another. We have had an offer accepted on the property in question but because it went to sealed bids, we ended up offering rather more than we should have. So we’re now trying to find a mortgage with a low interest rate before I stop work next year and am unable to get a mortgage of any sort.

 

We have been offered one by our mortgage broker but the rate is quite high. The rates for buy-to-let mortgages are much lower but the tax incentives for furnished holiday lets are better. If we took out a buy-to-let mortgage could we then rent the house out as a holiday let?

A To answer your last question first, no you couldn’t. Buy-to let mortgage conditions usually specify that the property is inhabited by the same tenant(s) under an assured shorthold tenancy for the duration of the tenancy. This is the opposite of a holiday property let to a lot of different tenants (aka holidaymakers) for two weeks or so at a time. And in the words of specialist independent brokers holidayletmortgages.co.uk “using a buy-to-let mortgage for holiday letting, without the express permission of the lender, constitutes a breach of mortgage conditions, which can have serious consequences including forced redemption of the mortgage and damage to your credit rating”.

Equally inadvisable is choosing to invest in a furnished holiday let rather than a buy-to-let purely on the basis of tax treatment. It is true that, with a furnished holiday let you can still deduct mortgage interest payments from rental income which, since April 2020, buy-to-let landlords can no longer do. However, this is only if your furnished holiday let is available to the public for a minimum of 210 days a year and actually let for at least 105 days a year.

Mortgage interest isn’t the only thing you need to take into account when assessing the pros and cons of each type of ownership. The costs of running a holiday let tend to be higher because of the turnover of tenants and the chances of getting a mortgage of more than 60% to 75% of the value of the property are lower than with a buy-to-let mortgage. So you’ll need to find more cash to put towards the purchase of a furnished holiday let than you would with a buy-to-let property. There’s also the fact that – as the tax rules recognise – a holiday let generates income for a limited time whereas a buy-to-let property has the potential to earn money for entire years at a time.

Iif you are determined to go down the furnished holiday let route and you are equally determined to find a lower mortgage rate, I suggest you switch to an independent broker that specialises in holiday let mortgages.

Yeah remember reading that on here.

Standard ticks -

Lefties ... property lazy fuckers .... borrowing loads of money here there n everywhere ... patronising the tenants ... Im not exploitative me.

Im relatively sure this is real. I just know too many other similar fuckwits.

Still, Jul 2021.....  Must be retired by now .... wonder how that the 5x increase in BTL IRs has gone down?

Wonder if they still have a good relationship with their tenants...

 

[spygirl]

37 minutes ago, spygirl said:

Yeah remember reading that on here.

Standard ticks -

Lefties ... property lazy fuckers .... borrowing loads of money here there n everywhere ... patronising the tenants ... Im not exploitative me.

Im relatively sure this is real. I just know too many other similar fuckwits.

Still, Jul 2021.....  Must be retired by now .... wonder how that the 5x increase in BTL IRs has gone down?

Wonder if they still have a good relationship with their tenants...

 

And, again. what Ive gone about on the BTL thread -

Potless fuckwits borrowing several 100k to 1m, on IO basis, to invest in properdee, on an IO basis ... at multi century low IRs.

 

[Onsamui]

21 hours ago, spygirl said:

As promised to @sancho panza

This is not going to go into tourism n day trippers. Weve a thread on this.

Terminology,as Pols ,journos and councillors get them muddled -

FHL - Furnished Holiday Let. A house bought to let out, according to -

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/furnished-holiday-lettings-hs253-self-assessment-helpsheet/hs253-furnished-holiday-lettings-2022

2nd Home - A 2nd residential home, bought by someone to use in addition to their main residence.

Short Term Let (STL) - A thats let out for much smaller periods that assured tenancy limit of 6 months.

- - - - - -

STL

Pre AirBNB STL used to mainly corporate leases where youd get shoved in a  flat for a few months. Cheaper than a hotel and you wont run up a massive bar bill. Youd barely have noticed a STL before AirBNB.

Since AirBNB theyve turned cites and holiday areas into hell holes.

The rules n regulation and taxes are  murky, at least the new entrants understanding.

No planning or registration is required.

If you own as an individual then youll have to pay income tax on the income.

STL is a cluster fuck of unpaid tax with lax tax bill pending.

AirBnB has driven STL around the globe. Its a fucking curse.

https://openjaw.com/newsroom/other-news/2021/09/27/barcelona-first-city-in-eu-to-ban-airbnb/

AirBNB is nothing more idiots jumping into regulation arbitration.

Id be very surprised if AirBNB survives the regulation thats being put on it.

In time, AirBNB will be nothing more than BnB site.

 

 

2nd homes come and go with the economy/lending.

They appeal to fckwits who go - Hey, why dont we buy a house in [coastal] and spend the W/E there.

LAs used to allow 2nd home owners to pay 50% ctax.

However the area is full of murky fuckwittery

Most start as 2nd home, then they are let to other family members for cash in hand. then they end up on holiday let or AirBNB.

Ive not noticed a huge change in 2nd home owners. However I suspect that many FHL are actually FHL.

 

FHL - The rules on these are complex. I cannot quite work out what HMRC  are intending.

FHL are businesses so dont pay ctax (resi tax). They ay business rates. However due to small business rate relief most FHL pay fuckall nadah.

The SBRR changes were n 2016, just at the same time as S24 kicked off.

A lot of people how 'missed' the BTL bang wagon, jumped onto FHL. There was a quite of lot of advisors doing the No tax! properdee investment pitch.

FHL have reached plague portions in the areas affected by them

Whitby has gone from sub 5% of property to 30%+. All in ~10y.

This is driven by fuckwits who go - property = investment, low rates and loose lending.

------

Where does the money come from?

All the big bank banks *hate* FHL lending. They got so burnt in the late 80s that FHL was basically banned, outlawed.

Local tome, the FHL lending is done by two banks -

Cumberland B and Leeds BS.

Cumberland is a funny one.

Years ago, it would only lend to property in Lakes. This rule prevented it from fucking up, the Lakes being a relative safe bet for holiday lets.

Let all banks, theyve chased riskier lending. Theres a loon round the corner from my Mum who's borrowed over 3m from Cumberland. Shes a LtdCO, so I can see the charges.

Leeds BS are just nuts. Theyve been outcompeted out of mainstream lending so are touching the stuff noone wants.

I reckon both BSes will blow up.

 

- - - - - - - - - - -

 

Whats going to happen?

FHL is very pre-cyclical lending. Everyone piles in when its good, then tries to sell when it goes bad.

UK holiday tend to be 2nd homes.

Come a recession, then UK holiday goes out of the window.

Even in the bets of times, the cash low from Sep to May is pretty dicey.

I personally dont think you can make money from FHL with any sort of leverage/debt.

In the 90s recession the losses on FHL were much higher than resi houses - 50%+.

This time itll be fun cos a lot of locals have joined in too, which i so fucking nuts in terms of risk reduction/diversification.

Im also expecting SBRR to be removed from FHLs.

Pols, jonros and hte locals have woked up to how liitle (none) tax FHLs pay.

The issue with any FHL or 2nd home is that the less FT resident in an area, the less public spending.

A 2 parents + 2 kids family attracts ~40k in public spending.

A FHL pays 0, yet requires a lot of public services - police, rubbish clearing, problems ithe LA.

 

 

2nd homes. Same as FHL, just tends to be less leveraged. Banks dont like 2nd homes.

2nd homes and FHL are very pro cyclical - go up a lot when its good, go down like a brick when its bad.

Both end up having to sell to resi borrowers on much lower incomes, so limited mortgage debt.

 

AirBNB - will blow up and HMRC have all the AirBNB owners contact details.

Banks wont lend for a AirBNB. Theres lot of people lying about their loan, which will bite them in the arse.

We had holiday home lets in Porth, Newquay. No mortgage. Turned over nearly £90K a year. Great cash business at the time.  Hard work though as my OH ran his parents' hotel and was unable to help too much so basically 4 hours help from OH on Saturday and one cleaner and I did everything else. I always say Ebb-Tide caused my osteoarthritis.  1996-2007.

[spygirl]

4 minutes ago, Onsamui said:

We had holiday home lets in Porth, Newquay. No mortgage. Turned over nearly £90K a year. Great cash business at the time.  Hard work though as my OH ran his parents' hotel and was unable to help too much so basically 4 hours help from OH on Saturday and one cleaner and I did everything else. I always say Ebb-Tide caused my osteoarthritis.  1996-2007.

Even in  Newquay Id have to be cynical on those figures.

FHL are lucky to get 20 weeks let.

2k is pushing it for a weeks let.

Average turnover is ~30k/y.

 

 

[sancho panza]

we need to start tracking some psotcodes where there are a good proportion FHL so we cna see if the invetory there is rising faster than elsehwere.Lieceteshisre is now 50% above where it was last august.I wodner whats happenign in palces like whitby?

[spygirl]

Oh, and tehres daft cunts with beach huts.

Britain's most expensive beach huts go up for sale: Five wooden cabins are all on the market for a total of £2.1m despite having no toilets, running water or mains electricity

• Five of the sought-after beach huts have gone on the market at the same time
• The timber cabins sit on the exclusive Mudeford Spit in Christchurch, Dorset
• No running water, mains electricity or toilets with washing in communal block

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12016031/Britains-expensive-beach-huts-sale-2-1m-despite-having-no-toilets.html

Unusually, five of the sought-after huts have gone on the market at the same time - two for £450,000 each and the other three for £440,000, £430,000 and £395,000.

Now I have been to Mudeford spit a few tiems with the kids. Its a lovely place. Mind you you qnt to get other side of harbour, get way from the Cockernees whove bought park homes.

 

Do you know what we do?

Park the car up, put all the beach crap into an Ikea bag,  get the Bmout-Xchurch bus, get off back end of Stanpit, walk along the Xchirch harour - which is nice, get the ferry ove, plonj down with our Ikea bag in front the daft cunts whove dropped almost half a millon on a shed.

 

[spygirl]

• Agents back compulsory national registration for short lets

https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2023/4/agents-back-compulsory-national-registration-for-short-lets

Why wouldn't they! Airbnb cuts them out.

30 days or less ... no planning.

30+ planning n registration.

 

[One percent]

Anecdotal but I was talking to someone yesterday who has a holiday let or two in port mulgrave.  Dead. Everyone is saying how empty their fhl is. She’s selling up. Can’t make the figures work anymore.  Her view is that the market is beyond saturated and the weather has made people rethink domestic holidays.  

[spygirl]

8 minutes ago, One percent said:

Anecdotal but I was talking to someone yesterday who has a holiday let or two in port mulgrave.  Dead. Everyone is saying how empty their fhl is. She’s selling up. Can’t make the figures work anymore.  Her view is that the market is beyond saturated and the weather has made people rethink domestic holidays.  

Yeah UKs weather is shit and variable and cant be relied on.

Which is bad. Then throw in lack of things to do when it rains and the expensive of eating out in the UK compared to Turkey.

Muthas plumbers said the same, un prompted, when he came to service her boiler.

Normally the logistics are difficult- he has to do the services during change over period or off season.

Hes been able to carry on working thru easter, which is first for him.

FHL is very procyclical - prices go up more in boom periods. Then fall more in slowdowns.

The only difference this time. compared to the 80s, is the number of locals whove got into FHL, which probably shows how slack the lending has been.

 

[One percent]

6 minutes ago, spygirl said:

Yeah UKs weather is shit and variable and cant be relied on.

Which is bad. Then throw in lack of things to do when it rains and the expensive of eating out in the UK compared to Turkey.

Muthas plumbers said the same, un prompted, when he came to service her boiler.

Normally the logistics are difficult- he has to do the services during change over period or off season.

Hes been able to carry on working thru easter, which is first for him.

FHL is very procyclical - prices go up more in boom periods. Then fall more in slowdowns.

The only difference this time. compared to the 80s, is the number of locals whove got into FHL, which probably shows how slack the lending has been.

 

There is currently a trickle of b&bs coming on the market at stupid, inflated rates. Wessies no longer living the dream. It’s gonna be painful. 

[spygirl]

2 minutes ago, One percent said:

There is currently a trickle of b&bs coming on the market at stupid, inflated rates. Wessies no longer living the dream. It’s gonna be painful. 

BnB and guest house needed a lot of maiden aunts or early (50s) retirees to make them viable.

Oh,. and cheaper property.

In the 80s n 80s most BnB were miners retired early for their health.

Then you started to get down shifters, looking to escape the rat race i.e. made redundant.

They sort of worked as both lots were given lumps of money to fuck off and could cash in more expensive housing.

You are not going to get many early retires, well the ones with a several 10k payoff.

People will have to keep working right up to SPA. Pay off their house, save for pension.

The only barely working are scratters who are not going to be lent the money for a BnB.

In 10y time most BnB will be converted to self catering flat, which is not something Ive not got a massive problem with - as theyll be paying rates. and the places are too big and weird (no garden) for a family.

 

[One percent]

2 minutes ago, spygirl said:

BnB and guest house needed a lot of maiden aunts or early (50s) retirees to make them viable.

Oh,. and cheaper property.

In the 80s n 80s most BnB were miners retired early for their health.

Then you started to get down shifters, looking to escape the rat race i.e. made redundant.

They sort of worked as both lots were given lumps of money to fuck off and could cash in more expensive housing.

You are not going to get many early retires, well the ones with a several 10k payoff.

People will have to keep working right up to SPA. Pay off their house, save for pension.

The only barely working are scratters who are not going to be lent the money for a BnB.

In 10y time most BnB will be converted to self catering flat, which is not something Ive not got a massive problem with - as theyll be paying rates. and the places are too big and weird (no garden) for a family.

 

They are all going for above half a million.  Some three quarters of. Figures don’t make sense when you will be constantly decorating to keep it looking spick and span. Then the washing, the damage, the times when rooms aren’t let.  Looking at a few random ones, they have no mid week bookings. At all. Yes, weekends (some of them) might be busy but that’s not going to generate much of an income. 

[spygirl]

4 minutes ago, One percent said:

They are all going for above half a million.  Some three quarters of. Figures don’t make sense when you will be constantly decorating to keep it looking spick and span. Then the washing, the damage, the times when rooms aren’t let.  Looking at a few random ones, they have no mid week bookings. At all. Yes, weekends (some of them) might be busy but that’s not going to generate much of an income. 

In the 70s people would book next years holiday - and put a deposit down - on the last day of their their holiday.

The cash flow of Bnb was great back then - and caused problem when the owner fucked off it.

People put 10% down, so the owner had a sizeable cash float over the down season. Paid for any refurbs and redecoration.

Today people look at the weather on Thurs night then decide to ring up for a place for the WE.

If the weather shit then they dont book and got a a long weekend in London instead.

Typically, UK weather is shit for 1/3 of summer.

 

[Onsamui]

On 24/04/2023 at 08:22, spygirl said:

Even in  Newquay Id have to be cynical on those figures.

FHL are lucky to get 20 weeks let.

2k is pushing it for a weeks let.

Average turnover is ~30k/y.

 

 

We had 7 holiday homes, sleeping up to 5/6, running from Easter to October, Xmas and New Year.  Generating about £12 - £13K a year each, electricity meters, plus a few short term lets, November, January, February.

[spygirl]

10 minutes ago, Onsamui said:

We had 7 holiday homes, sleeping up to 5/6, running from Easter to October, Xmas and New Year.  Generating about £12 - £13K a year each, electricity meters, plus a few short term lets, November, January, February.

Thats sort of what Id expect in the UK.

Most of the ones I know average  ~15k-20k.

If youve got finance on them and then have to pay rates (3x c tax) then its a not viable.

 

 

 

[Wight Flight]

11 minutes ago, Onsamui said:

We had 7 holiday homes, sleeping up to 5/6, running from Easter to October, Xmas and New Year.  Generating about £12 - £13K a year each, electricity meters, plus a few short term lets, November, January, February.

Seems very low.

Wouldn't you have made more doing conventional letting?

[spygirl]

In case @sancho panza missed it - 

 

That thread was started ~4y ago as the numberof FHL in Whitby have gone nuts over the last ~10y, going from the odd ones in he yards (a funny msal terrace  Whitby thing) to moving into the the new residential areas.

And its no surprise that the FT chose to illustrate the issue.

Area that have had FHLs - Cornwall, Devon, Dales, IOW - and areas that have become 'in' have been swamped by new FHL tawts. 

Partly due to ZIRP, partly due to slacvk lending, partly due banks being morons and partly due to AirBNB,

AirBNB have brough the FHL hell people in tourist areas get to most large towns and cities, sharing the misery.

FHL sit in a strnge legal/regualtion blackhole, not being resi or haivng to pay uisiness rates due to SBRR.

The Gove leveling UP changes are goign to be fun.

Frankly, FHL will be on the way with higher rates.

Chuck in higher taxes and poof!

 

 

 

 

 

[One percent]

13 minutes ago, spygirl said:

In case @sancho panza missed it - 

 

That thread was started ~4y ago as the numberof FHL in Whitby have gone nuts over the last ~10y, going from the odd ones in he yards (a funny msal terrace  Whitby thing) to moving into the the new residential areas.

And its no surprise that the FT chose to illustrate the issue.

Area that have had FHLs - Cornwall, Devon, Dales, IOW - and areas that have become 'in' have been swamped by new FHL tawts. 

Partly due to ZIRP, partly due to slacvk lending, partly due banks being morons and partly due to AirBNB,

AirBNB have brough the FHL hell people in tourist areas get to most large towns and cities, sharing the misery.

FHL sit in a strnge legal/regualtion blackhole, not being resi or haivng to pay uisiness rates due to SBRR.

The Gove leveling UP changes are goign to be fun.

Frankly, FHL will be on the way with higher rates.

Chuck in higher taxes and poof!

 

 

 

 

 

It’s still quiet in whitby. Got parked round royal crescent ay 10.00. Got back to my car 15 minutes ago and still spaces to be had. Fhl must all be empty. 

[sancho panza]

2 hours ago, spygirl said:

In case @sancho panza missed it - 

 

That thread was started ~4y ago as the numberof FHL in Whitby have gone nuts over the last ~10y, going from the odd ones in he yards (a funny msal terrace  Whitby thing) to moving into the the new residential areas.

And its no surprise that the FT chose to illustrate the issue.

Area that have had FHLs - Cornwall, Devon, Dales, IOW - and areas that have become 'in' have been swamped by new FHL tawts. 

Partly due to ZIRP, partly due to slacvk lending, partly due banks being morons and partly due to AirBNB,

AirBNB have brough the FHL hell people in tourist areas get to most large towns and cities, sharing the misery.

FHL sit in a strnge legal/regualtion blackhole, not being resi or haivng to pay uisiness rates due to SBRR.

The Gove leveling UP changes are goign to be fun.

Frankly, FHL will be on the way with higher rates.

Chuck in higher taxes and poof!

 

 

 

 

 

You msut be pyshcihc I was jsut about to come on and psot up on ref IO mrotgages and FHL

I've been runing over the cumberlands books a couple of times the last week and have to say soem 'surprising' omissions to the point where Ive had to go through them again to see if Ive msised anythign.I prob wont get on it till wed/thur but no data on the breakdown of BTL/FHL as a %age of the mrotgage book and it's a £2.7bn balance sheet.

There was also no stage 1/2/3 data for the mrotgage book.

If you could have a look I'd be grateful as I keep runnign voer it wondering where it is?

It's going to be one of thsoe psots where we talk more about whats' not in the report than what is.

Weird really,If they had shareholders that some of the msot importantn info they need to know and its no theere

https://www.cumberland.co.uk/about/results-archive

anyway ehres the piece on IO in FHL.I'd love to know the size of thsi market.Have you any idea who else is a big lender in it?

 

 

From Jan 2022-I honsetly dont know what could go wrong with a 75% IO FHL mortgage

https://www.money.co.uk/mortgages/guides/holiday-let-mortgages

[spygirl]

Always always always be cautious when an advisor pitches on tax benefits.

Fhl rules are long out if date and are were designed for people letting out grans old cottage rather than entering into a leveraged business.

Even then FHL is a very hard game to operate thru a credit cycle.

Basically, imho you cant run a Fhl with any sort of leverage. You have to be debt free to stand a chance.

And again banks hate fhl. Tty googling and see eho offers them.

Fhl are repayment only- none are daft to offer io for fhl.

They also require chunky LTV.

 

 

[spygirl]

Two things you need yo be aware of -

1) UK weather has been really crappy this year.

Fhl profits tend to be in the 2 months either side of summer hols. You need the summer hols fully booked to cover your costs.

Crappy weather... no profit.

And next years will bookings will be crap.

You need a v good summer to forget the crappy ones.

 

2) £ is ~20% stronger against the $

That opens up Florida, n Turkey.

Spain n Med continue to crash as ECB put up rates.

Tgr med will really need to discount holidays to get currency. 

I'd doubt there'll be many Chinese this year - rebuilding balance sheets for 24 months.

And Americans, whive made welcone return to Europe after 15y of weak dollar, just dont travel in big enough numbers outside the US.

Oh, and no Russians ...

 

[spygirl]

https://twitter.com/resi_analyst/status/1641357751715602434/photo/1

 

[sancho panza]

who the f### buys a holiday let seven horus from where they live???????????

you can see the suckers looking and thinking that easy moeny

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/buytolet/article-12028273/Will-crackdown-holiday-lettings-wreck-returns.html

Will the crackdown on holiday lettings wreck your returns? Owners face tougher rules amid fears that boom is harming local areas

• Government wants to restrict holiday lets amid local affordability concerns
• Holiday lets are taxed as a business,  buy-to-lets are taxed as an investment 

For years, holiday lets were a lucrative investment – often more profitable than traditional buy-to-let properties. And they offer landlords somewhere to go on holiday in between rentals.

Popularity has soared with 2,500 limited companies established to hold holiday lets last year, compared with 1,323 in 2019, according to estate agency Hamptons. Owners have profited from rising demand for UK staycations since the pandemic.

But, the Government is seeking to restrict holiday lets amid concerns local residents are struggling to afford a home in popular tourist hotspots. So are they still worth investing in?

Great for mini-breaks... as well as tax breaks

A holiday let is a property that you own in addition to your own home, which you rent out to short-term tenants.

They are taxed as a business, unlike buy-to-let property, which is treated by Revenue & Customs as an investment.

That means owners enjoy far greater tax benefits than buy-to-let landlords. They can deduct more costs, including full mortgage interest, the cost of replacing fixtures and furnishings and ongoing expenses such as cleaning costs and utility bills.

Holiday lets are also subject to business rates rather than council tax, which can work out cheaper. However, business rates only apply to properties let for a minimum of 140 days a year.

Wales recently increased the holiday let occupancy rate from 70 days to 182 days, which means holiday home owners face higher tax bills if they can't meet the minimum occupancy rate.

Owners also face a lower tax burden when they sell a holiday home. They pay just 10 per cent on any profits made on the sale, under the Business Asset Disposal Relief. Buy-to-let landlords pay capital gains tax at 18 or 28 per cent, depending on whether they are a basic or higher-rate taxpayer.

Furthermore, income made from a holiday let can be paid into a pension, which helps owners save for retirement and reduce tax bills.

So how do the numbers stack up?

Holiday let owners turned over £24,000 last year on average, according to holiday rental agency Sykes Cottages. This is a 59 per cent increase in just two years.

However, costs will significantly eat into those returns. Average overheads are £7,400 a year, including cleaning, bills, maintenance, tax and marketing.

Sharon Olivero-Chapman, 46, used to be a buy-to-let landlord. But after she had a few bad experiences with tenants and spent thousands restoring properties that had been damaged, she switched to holiday lets. Since then, her rental income has ballooned. 'I would get around £700-£750 a month if I was renting a one-bedroom flat to a long-term tenant,' she says.

'But I get around £2,500 by having it as a holiday let. Obviously I have to pay the bills out of that, but even so the income is phenomenal. You hear horror stories of party animals and guests who trash a place, but I'm really careful about who I let in.'

Sharon owns 17 holiday lets in West Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire and also advises other landlords through her management company, SD Property Group.

Victoria Paterson, 48, bought a cottage in South Ayrshire, Scotland, two years ago. Although she earns a good rental income, she has found managing the property a challenge.

'It's been harder work than my husband and I expected but overall it's been a positive experience,' she says. 'It's a seven-hour drive from us in Lincolnshire and we can't just nip up if something goes wrong. You need a good network of people close to the property.'

Paterson, a soft tissue therapist, lets the cottage through Airbnb and Booking.com. She charges £85 to £120 a night and it has an occupancy rate of around 75 per cent.

Paterson bought the property for £185,000 with an interest-only holiday let mortgage, which is fixed at 6 per cent and costs her £643 a month.