A local team, not a patchwork
Most Yorkshire second homes are watched over by an informal arrangement: a neighbour with a key, a cleaner who comes when asked. It works until the one week nobody goes in is the week the pipe lets go. Livdin Concierge replaces the patchwork with one accountable team. We hold the keys, check the house on a schedule, arrange repairs with trades we trust, and have the place warm and ready for the moment you arrive. The house is never let, never advertised and never listed anywhere. If income is the priority, a holiday-let manager is the right call, and our guide to second home care versus holiday letting plays that comparison straight.
Where we cover
The service runs from our office at Upperbridge House, 24 Huddersfield Road, Holmfirth, where our lettings team has worked for years. From there we cover the Holme Valley, the villages around Huddersfield, and Harrogate. We already care for a second home in Keighley, and the corridor north through the Aire and Wharfe valleys, Keighley, Ilkley, Skipton and the Dales fringe, is served by the same team. If your house is a little beyond that, ask anyway. Distance is often less of a problem than owners expect, and we would rather say no honestly than stretch past what we can do well.
What a Yorkshire second home is up against
Pennine and Dales weather works fast on an empty building. Hard frosts split pipes. Storms test older roofs. A blocked gutter pushes water into solid stone walls for weeks before anyone notices, and a drip found in week one is a plumber's visit while the same drip found in March is a new ceiling. Second homes are common enough here that the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority counts second, holiday and empty homes as 22% of the Dales housing stock. The bills have grown too: Kirklees, Bradford and North Yorkshire councils have all charged a 100% council tax premium on second homes since 1 April 2025, which doubles the bill on a house nobody is watching. Regular, documented care is how you protect the asset that bill is attached to.
What we handle
Logged property checks inside and out, with a photo report after every visit. Key holding with keys coded rather than labelled, signed in and out. Maintenance coordinated from first call to finished job. Seasonal care before the cold: gutters, drain-downs, frost checks, covered in our guide to winterising a second home. Storm checks after bad nights. Urgent issues handled while they are still small, flagged to you first. And pre-arrival preparation, so you walk into a warm, aired house rather than a to-do list.
Insurance and the empty house
Many home insurance policies restrict cover once a house is empty beyond 30 or 60 consecutive days, and second home policies often require documented inspections at set intervals. Our logged, photographed visits give you the dated record insurers ask for, and we match visit frequency to your policy wording. What insurers typically require is covered in our guide to unoccupied home insurance checks. Check your own policy; conditions differ between insurers.
