Can Livdin manage my holiday let and its bookings?

No. Livdin Concierge is private-home care only: never let, never listed. We do not advertise properties, take bookings or host guests, in Yorkshire or in Cornwall. If you want a booking manager, you need a holiday-let agency. If you want the house cared for privately, or let to long-term tenants instead, both of those are exactly what we do.

When does a holiday let pay business rates instead of council tax?

In England, a self-catering property is assessed for business rates when it is available to let for 140 nights or more a year and was actually let for at least 70 nights in the previous 12 months. Otherwise it stays on council tax. Thresholds can change, so confirm the current rules on gov.uk before relying on them.

Has the tax treatment of holiday lets changed?

Yes. The furnished holiday lettings tax regime was abolished from April 2025, so holiday-let income no longer carries its old advantages and is broadly taxed like other property income. The detail depends on your circumstances, so take advice from an accountant before building projections on the old rules.

Can I let a few peak weeks and keep the house private the rest of the year?

You can, but you take on the full compliance, insurance and changeover load of a holiday let for a fraction of the income, and the house never quite feels private again once it is listed. Some owners make it work through a trusted agency. Most, in our experience, pick a side within a year or two.

Second homes and concierge

Second home care or holiday letting: which suits my home?

Q: Do I need safety certificates if my second home is never let?

The duties that attach to paying guests, such as a fire risk assessment for guest accommodation, do not apply when nobody pays to stay. Your insurer's conditions still do: most second-home policies require documented inspections of unoccupied properties at the interval set in your policy wording, or cover is reduced. We would service the boiler and test alarms regardless. Rules change, so check current requirements.

Last updated 4 July 2026 · Reviewed by Nick Thorpe, founder

The short answer

Holiday letting can earn income but turns your second home into a small hospitality business, with bookings, changeovers, safety compliance and guest wear. Private home care earns nothing and preserves everything: privacy, availability and the state you left it in. If the house exists mainly for your family, care usually fits better; if it must pay its way, letting can.

You own a house you love in the Dales or on the coast, and everyone at dinner has an opinion, usually “you should holiday let it, it would pay for itself”. Maybe. Cards on the table first: Livdin Concierge looks after private second homes and we do not manage holiday lets, so we have a side here. Here is the comparison played straight anyway.

What holiday letting actually demands

A holiday let is a small hospitality business, and it runs at hospitality pace. Guests book, arrive, message about the heating, leave and review, and between every stay the house needs a full changeover: cleaning, laundry, checks, restocking. Someone has to run the listing, the pricing, the calendar and the messages, either you or an agency taking a share.

The compliance is real too. Paying guests bring legal duties. A fire risk assessment is required for paying-guest accommodation in England, and gas appliances need annual safety checks under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. In England, a property available to let for 140 nights or more a year and actually let for at least 70 is assessed for business rates rather than council tax. The tax treatment changed as well: the furnished holiday lettings regime was abolished from April 2025, so the income is now broadly taxed like any other property income. Rules in this corner of the market change quickly, so check the current position on gov.uk and take proper tax advice before you commit. On anything we look after, we confirm the current requirements at the time.

What private home care preserves

Privacy, availability and the state you left it in. A privately cared-for home is never listed anywhere, never photographed for a booking platform and never occupied by anyone you did not invite. You can decide on Thursday to drive up Friday. Your books stay on the shelves and your wellies stay by the door. The wear is your own family’s, which is a different order of wear from a changeover every few days through August.

What it does not do is earn. Private care is a cost, and it is worth being unsentimental about that. What you are buying is protection of the asset and of the way you use it. Most second-home insurance policies require documented inspections of unoccupied properties at set intervals, or cover is reduced, and an empty house through a Pennine or coastal winter writes its own jobs list. There is more in our guide to unoccupied home insurance checks.

Side by side

The short version of the whole decision:

	Holiday letting	Private home care
Income	Yes, seasonal, before heavy costs	None; it is a cost
Your use of the house	Booked around guests	Whenever you like, no notice
Who else stays there	New guests most weeks	Nobody you did not invite
Wear and tear	Hospitality-grade, constant	Your own family’s only
Compliance	Fire risk assessment, gas safety, guest standards	Insurer inspection conditions, routine upkeep
Council tax or business rates	Business rates if letting thresholds are met	Council tax
The house online	Listed, photographed, reviewed	Never listed
Effort from you	A part-time business, or agency fees	A care plan and a monthly bill

The money question, honestly

Holiday-let income is real, and in the right spot it can be substantial, but it is gross, seasonal and heavily costed, and we are not going to invent a number for your house. Before the income reaches you it passes through platform commission or agency fees, cleaning and laundry on every changeover, year-round utilities, specialist insurance and the repairs that come with hospitality use. The quieter cost is your own summer: the weeks that earn the most are the weeks you most want the house, and owners who let “just the peak weeks” often find they have sold their own holidays.

There is also a third option nobody at dinner mentions: a standard long-term let. Steadier income, one set of tenants, no changeovers, but you give up personal use of the house almost entirely. That is our day job, and if the property is really an investment rather than a retreat, it is often the better trade. Our property management page covers it.

Which suits your home?

If the house exists so your family can use it, care suits it; if it exists to pay its way, letting might. Letting makes sense where holiday demand is strong, you rarely want the house in peak season, you can live with guests in it, and you or an agency can run the operation properly. Care makes sense where you arrive on impulse, you keep personal things there, the idea of the house on a listings site sits badly, or you would simply rather it cost a known amount each month than run as a business. If you are torn, decide who gets August. That usually settles it.

Where Livdin stands

Livdin Concierge is private-home care only: never let, never listed. We do not take bookings, host guests or put your home on any platform, in Yorkshire or in Cornwall. There are three tiers, priced after a short call and a visit rather than off a rate card. Essentials covers key-holding, regular inside-and-out checks and a photo report after every visit. Complete adds the running of the house: cleaning, gardening, maintenance and seasonal care. Premium adds arrival-ready preparation, heating on, beds made, fridge stocked, and a close-down when you leave. The detail is on the Livdin Concierge page.

And if you weigh it all up and holiday letting is right for your house, we will say so plainly and tell you what to check first. It is your home. The only wrong answer is drifting into one model because nobody laid out the trade-offs.

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