Second homes and concierge
How does second home management work in Cornwall?
Last updated 4 July 2026 · Reviewed by Nick Thorpe, founder
The short answer
Second home management in Cornwall means a local, insured team caring for your house as a private home: holding keys securely, visiting on a regular schedule, reporting on its condition, arranging maintenance, and preparing it before you arrive. Livdin Concierge does this on three tiers, and the house is never let and never listed.
Most of the year, a second home in Cornwall sits empty. Nobody hears the drip under the sink, notices the slate that lifted in the last storm, or clears the post from behind the door. Second home management exists to fix that: a professional, insured team that treats your house as exactly what it is, a private home, and keeps it safe, sound and ready for you. Ours is called Livdin Concierge.
What does second home management cover?
Four things, in the main: key-holding, regular documented home checks, maintenance handled from first call to finished job, and preparation before you arrive.
Key-holding. We hold a set of your keys securely, coded rather than labelled with the address, and signed in and out so there is always a record. Trades get let in and let out, and nobody has to wait on a neighbour being home.
Home checks. Our insured team visits on a schedule agreed with you and walks the whole house: security, damp, leaks, heating, alarms, gutters, post. You get a report after every visit, so you always know the state of the house without driving the length of the country to look at it.
Maintenance. When a visit turns something up, we tell you what we found and what it will cost, then instruct trusted local trades and check the work before anyone calls it finished. Small faults get caught while they are still small.
Pre-arrival prep. Tell us when you are coming down and the house is ready: heating and hot water on, rooms aired, cleaning arranged if you want it, and reasonable requests handled so you arrive to a home rather than a job list.
How does the service work, step by step?
It starts with a walkthrough and a plan, then settles into a quiet routine.
- Walkthrough. We meet you at the house and learn it properly: stopcock, fuse board, alarm, oil tank, the door that sticks.
- Care plan. We agree the tier, the visit schedule and what matters most to you.
- Keys secured. Coded, logged and held safely.
- Routine visits. Checks on schedule, a report each time.
- Problems handled. Flagged to you first, then fixed and checked.
- Arrival prep. You tell us the date; the house is warm and ready when you get there.
What are the Livdin Concierge tiers?
There are three: Essentials, Complete and Premium. Pricing depends on the property and the tier, so we quote after a conversation rather than publishing a single figure.
| Tier | Who it suits | What it broadly covers |
|---|---|---|
| Essentials | Owners who mainly want security and peace of mind | Key-holding, scheduled checks with a report, and a call the moment something is wrong |
| Complete | Owners who want the house looked after, not just looked at | Everything in Essentials, plus maintenance arranged and overseen, and pre-arrival preparation |
| Premium | Owners who want to arrive and do nothing | Everything in Complete, plus housekeeping coordination and personal requests handled around your visits |
The exact inclusions are confirmed when we quote, and the current detail is on our Concierge page.
What does never let, never listed mean?
It means your house stays private. We never advertise it, never list it on any booking platform, and never put paying guests in it.
Plenty of firms will manage a Cornish second home as a holiday let. That is a different business, built around bookings, changeovers and strangers with the gate code. Concierge is deliberately not that. If you are weighing the two models, our guide comparing private second home care with holiday letting sets out the honest trade-offs, because letting can make sense for some owners. It is simply not what this service is for.
Why does an empty Cornish home need professional care?
Because coastal weather, unoccupancy insurance conditions and long gaps between visits are a poor mix.
Salt air, wind-driven rain and winter storms work on a house all year, and a small fault found in week one costs far less than the same fault found in month four. Insurance matters too: many policies restrict cover or attach conditions once a home is empty beyond a set period, often including regular documented inspections. Check your policy wording, because an inspection that is not documented might as well not have happened. On top of that, councils in England can charge a council tax premium of up to 100% extra on second homes, so the cost of owning one has risen in much of the country. Rules change, and we confirm current requirements on every home we care for, but your own council’s policy is the one to check.
Livdin Property Ltd has let and managed homes in Yorkshire for over 12 years, with redress through The Property Ombudsman. Concierge brings the same systems, reporting and insurance to private home care in Cornwall. If you would rather talk it through than read another page, get in touch and tell us about the house.