Holiday Lets versus Long Term Tenancy

Hello all,

Is it true that owners putting long term rentals on the market in the summer (CDS) are generally able to charge more per month than if they were doing so in the winter?

We are approaching the end of an 11 month tenancy & our tenants want to renew.

We are interested in renewing for 6 months, then trying holiday lets again next summer.  At least then we could get some enjoyment from the property for ourselves again. However, they are unwilling to accept 6 months, citing the reason above, and say (via the agent) that they could not therefore afford to move in the summer & will move out if we don't agree to 11 months.

I understand that people may feel they could charge more for a long term let if they thought they were giving up a consistent weekly income in the summer (being optimistic, obviously) but 11 months is surely still 11 months, covering all seasons, no matter what time of year it starts.  I also understand that there may be less supply for long term if a lot of owners move onto holiday lets, as we would like to do.  However, knowing what the over-build has been, the notion of under-supply seems a little unrealistic.

Any information will be gratefully received.

I know people who will only rent out their properties on a long term basis during the off-peak season only and then try and rent it out for holidays during the summer.

I think this was was possible to do a few years back but today it would probably be a lot tougher.  There is just so much competition for holiday rentals today.

We are seeing a big shift in people moving towards the long term rental market so that they at least get some money every month for their properties.

In terms of charging your tenants more during the summer, I don't think that is actually legal to do, but maybe Maria can confirm it, especially if they have a proper contract in place.

Justin

Long term is normally what i recomend, you know you have money comming in for 11 months and if on top of that you have good tenants that pay on time and treat the property right than i would renew the contract straight away.

Short term does give you the possibility of more money and also availability of the apartment to yourselves, nevertheless there is no gurantee you will rent for the price you want when you want, there are hundreds of free websites to advertise both long and short term and i find they worked very well.

Really it is up to you, i know many people that only rent 5 months of the year short term and make as much money as a long term all year round, i also know people who have ended up with empty apartments and a cash flow problem.

I can understand your tenants, if they sign for 6 months they are likely to find it hard to find a long let afterwards for a decent price!

Joan

Hi,

I have just started renting my apartment this June.  I was going to do the longterm let but had some enquiries from neighbours for short term lets over the summer - so decided to go this way.  I would be more in favour of short term lets and am pleasantly surprised.  You already seem to have good tenants for longterm which is a bonus.   At the moment if you get someone on a longlet in you are not guaranteed you will get your money and then have a hell of a problem getting them out while in the meantime they are using your water and electricity - the law favours the tenant in Spain.  Short term lets there is less ware and tear on your apartment and if marketed correctly you could make more money from the short term lets - see what other people in the vicinity are looking for - undercut that price and make yours stand out better.  Also over the winter try and get people in Finnish and scandanavians come over during the winter months to spain - you can let for a week up to two months. 

If you have good, reliable long term tenants - keep them! They don't grow on trees.....prices on long term properties are higher in Spring/Summer as there is far less availability, so they are right in what they're saying - purely supply and demand.

We are approaching the end of an 11 month tenancy & our tenants want to renew.

We are interested in renewing for 6 months, then trying holiday lets again next summer.  At least then we could get some enjoyment from the property for ourselves again. However, they are unwilling to accept 6 months, citing the reason above, and say (via the agent) that they could not therefore afford to move in the summer & will move out if we don't agree to 11 months.

Rosa Fay,

I would be extremely nice to your tenants.  There are thousands of other properties they could easily rent.  I think you should be thankful you've got tenants at all.  There's loads of rentals in our area of the CDS that haven't had a tenant the whole time we've been here (2 years).

They want to renew for 11 months, so that's a guaranteed income for 11 months.  Not to be sniffed at in the current dire climate.

Thanks to everyone for taking the trouble to reply.  All information/advice/opinions duly noted.

Best wishes to all,

Rosa Fay