Livdin Concierge · Yorkshire

Second Home Management in Yorkshire

Private care for second homes from our Holmfirth office: key holding, logged property checks, maintenance and pre-arrival preparation, across the Holme Valley and north to Keighley, Ilkley, Skipton and the edge of the Dales. Never let, never listed.

Arrange my home care review See a sample visit report

What you get after every visit

A report you can read in two minutes

Date, what was checked, photos, anything found, what was done about it and what happens next. It arrives after every visit, and it is a dated record if your insurer ever asks.

The report on the right is an example we made up to show the format. It is not a real visit or a real home.

Example visit report

Monthly check · stone cottage, Yorkshire

Visit: 09:40 to 10:25 · Report sent: after the visit

Outside: Roof line, gutters, downpipes, render, windows and doors, fences and gates, oil tank
Inside: Every room walked; damp, leaks, pests, windows and locks, alarms tested
Services: Water on and running, stopcock checked, heating cycled, fuse board, smoke alarms tested
Post and deliveries: Post collected and scanned; one parcel brought inside

Three photos sit here in the real report: the rear gutter before and after, and the stopcock and meter.

Found

Rear gutter blocked with leaves and overflowing onto the render below the bathroom window. No water inside yet.

Done today

Photographed for the record and flagged to you the same morning.

A quote from a roofer we use, for your yes or no, before anything is ordered. If you would rather we clear it ourselves on the next visit, say so and it goes on the list.

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 to agree before a Yorkshire home-care visit

Tell us the postcode first so we can confirm coverage from Holmfirth. At the property review, show us the stopcock, heating controls and any areas that have needed repairs. For a stone cottage, note gutters, exposed walls and places where damp has appeared. Your policy wording determines the inspection interval; the package determines which seasonal and maintenance work we coordinate. If you need extra visits beyond the monthly base, we agree those in the written scope.

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.

Dry-stone walls and Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales — From the Holme Valley north to the Dales fringe, run from our Holmfirth office.

Three packages

Priced per home after a short call and a visit. No long contracts: change package or stop with a month's notice.

Essentials

The fundamentals, handled

Key holding with logged access, a monthly check of the whole house inside and out, a photo report after every visit, post dealt with, alarm and emergency response, and one named contact who knows the property.

Enquire about Essentials

Complete

The running of the house

Everything in Essentials, plus cleaning and gardening coordinated, maintenance arranged with vetted local trades, utilities and bins managed, seasonal care such as gutter clearing and drain-downs, and a check after every bad storm.

Enquire about Complete

III

Premium

Ready when you are

Everything in Complete, plus pre-arrival preparation: heating on, beds made, house aired, fridge stocked to your list, up to two prepared arrivals a month with extra arrivals quoted, and a close-down when you leave.

Enquire about Premium

The full service picture is on the main Livdin Concierge page. We run the same service at the other end of the country too: see second home management in Cornwall.

Which package, in one table

Start from what you need. If none of these is quite right, say so on the form and we will tell you plainly which one fits.

You want to	Essentials	Complete	Premium
Main need	Check the house and give me a local point of contact	Coordinate the running and maintenance of the house	Prepare the house around our visits
Base checks	Monthly, inside and outside, with a photo report	Same monthly checks	Same monthly checks
What is included	Logged key-holding, photo reports, post handled, alarm and emergency response, one named contact	Essentials, plus cleaning and gardening coordinated, maintenance with vetted trades, utilities and bins, seasonal care	Complete, plus arrival preparation (up to two prepared arrivals a month) and a close-down when you leave
After a storm	An extra visit after bad weather, as agreed	Included: a check after bad weather without being asked	Included, as Complete
Price	Quoted for your home	Quoted for your home	Quoted for your home
Pick one to prefill the form	Enquire about Essentials	Enquire about Complete	Enquire about Premium

What moves the monthly figure

Every home is quoted on its own after a call and a visit. These are the things that make one quote higher than another.

Where the house is and how far the visit is
The size of the house and grounds
How often you want it checked beyond the monthly base
How much preparation you want around visits
How much coordination the house needs: trades, deliveries, cleaners, gardeners

Charged separately, always agreed first

The monthly figure is for our time and coordination. Other people's work and the things we buy for the house are on top, passed on as invoiced, with your yes before we commit. Larger jobs carry a project fee, agreed in your quote.

Third-party labour and materials: cleaners, gardeners, trades and repairs are passed on as invoiced, agreed with you first. Larger jobs carry a project fee, agreed in your quote.
Shopping and supplies for arrival preparation, charged at cost
Extra visits beyond the package, agreed in advance
Holiday letting, guests or bookings of any kind: the house stays private

A property check is a dated record of the visit. Your policy wording decides your cover. If your policy asks for more frequent visits than the monthly base, extra visits can be added and are quoted separately.

What happens after you enquire

An enquiry is a conversation, not a booking. Nothing is agreed and nothing is charged until you have a written scope in hand.

1
You tell us about the house

Town or postcode, how you use it, what worries you. Two minutes on the form or a phone call.
2
We confirm we can cover it

Coverage depends on where the house is. We say yes or no before either of us spends more time.
3
A short conversation

Fifteen minutes on how you use the house and which package fits. Nothing is booked yet.
4
We visit and agree the plan

We walk the property with you or your keys, note how you like things done, and put a written scope and a monthly figure to it.
5
Keys, then the first report

Keys coded and logged, checks begin, and the first photo report lands after the first visit.

Who is looking after the house

The team behind Livdin Property: 12+ years letting and managing homes in Yorkshire, 200+ tenants in managed homes, Client Money Protect member, redress through The Property Ombudsman. The person checking your cottage has stood in it before, knows which window sticks, and works minutes away rather than promising a visit next week. One named contact, not a rota.

Frequently asked questions

Do you ever let or list the property?

No. Livdin Concierge is private home care, not a letting or holiday-let service. We never advertise the house, never take bookings and never put guests in it. Nobody goes through the door except you, the people you choose and the trades you approve.

Which parts of Yorkshire do you cover?

We work from our Holmfirth office across the Holme Valley, Huddersfield and Harrogate, and north through the Aire and Wharfe valleys: Keighley, where we already care for a second home, Ilkley, Skipton and the edge of the Dales. If your house sits a little beyond that, ask anyway; distance is often less of a problem than owners expect.

Where are you based?

Upperbridge House, 24 Huddersfield Road, Holmfirth HD9 2JS, the same office our lettings team works from every day. Whoever holds your keys should be close enough to reach the house in the sort of weather that damages it.

How often is the house checked?

A monthly check of the whole house, inside and out, is part of every package. Visits are logged and photographed, and we can match the schedule to your insurance policy wording where it asks for more frequent inspections.

Will your visits satisfy our unoccupancy insurance conditions?

Many policies restrict cover once a home is empty beyond 30 or 60 consecutive days, and second home policies often require documented inspections. Every visit is logged and photographed, so you hold a dated record. Check your own wording, as conditions differ, and we will match the visit schedule to it.

What does second home management cost in Yorkshire?

Each home is priced individually after a short call and a visit, because a stone cottage checked monthly is a different job from a large house prepared before every arrival. There are three packages and no long contracts; change package or stop with a month’s notice.

Tell us about your Yorkshire home

Where it is, how you use it, and what worries you. We check we can cover the house, then one of the team comes back within one working day to talk it through.