Article for owners
The costs of running a holiday let, and who pays for what
A short let earns night by night, and it costs more to run than a standard rental (AST). Here is every cost you can expect, who pays each one and how often, and which of them a manager handles for you.
The short answer
- Every stay: cleaning, laundry and linen, and guest supplies
- Every month: energy, water, broadband, and council tax or business rates
- Every year: insurance written for short lets, and the gas safety check
- Every few years: the electrical check (EICR) and other safety reviews
- As they come: repairs, and replacing things that wear out
- On each booking: the booking site's fee, and the manager's fee
Costs that come with every stay
Every stay ends with a clean, fresh sheets and towels, and a top-up of the basics such as toilet roll, soap and washing-up liquid. These are the costs that rise and fall with bookings: a busy month has more changeovers than a quiet one.
The cost of cleaning can be built into what guests pay, so the booking covers it. Linen can be bought and washed, or hired from a linen company that delivers it fresh for each stay.
The home's running costs
A tenant on a standard rental usually pays the household bills. With a short let, the owner pays them: energy, water and broadband, plus a TV Licence if you need one for the TV. Guests expect fast Wi-Fi and a warm home, so these bills run all year, booked or not.
Then there's council tax or business rates. In England, a home available to let for at least 140 nights a year and actually let for at least 70 pays business rates instead of council tax, and small business rate relief can bring that bill down a long way.
Insurance is the other fixed cost. Ordinary home or buy-to-let cover often doesn't cover paying guests, so the government's guidance is to have a holiday let policy with public liability and buildings and contents cover for short lets.
Safety certificates and compliance
Some checks are the law for any home let to paying guests, and we ask for some others in every home we manage.
The safety checks a short let needs
- Gas safety check
- Every 12 months, by a Gas Safe registered engineer, wherever there's gas
- Electrical check (EICR)
- Usually every 5 years: we ask for one in every home we manage
- Fire risk assessment
- Required by law: anyone charging guests to stay must carry out a fire risk assessment and keep a record of it. The government's guide for small paying guest accommodation shows how
- Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
- The government's fire guide says smoke alarms should be mains powered and linked together, with carbon monoxide alarms wherever there's a gas or solid-fuel appliance
- Energy certificate (EPC)
- The government says to check whether your home needs one
- Registration (England)
- A national register of short lets is expected from March 2027
Every certificate, in one guide
Our safety and compliance guide lists each certificate, how often it's due, what it covers and roughly what it costs.
Repairs and wear
More guests means more wear than a standard rental. A kettle, a towel or a sofa cover wears out sooner when the home is in use most nights, and small repairs come up between stays, so set money aside for them from the start.
The home also needs furnishing to a good standard before the first guest. A home that looks cared for photographs better and earns better reviews.
Booking-site fees
Booking sites charge for every booking they bring. On Airbnb, most hosts now pay a single fee of 15.5% of the booking, taken from the payout, and VAT may apply to the fee (Airbnb's help pages, checked 7 November 2026). Booking.com charges a commission on each booking, at the rate in the host's contract with them.
Each site charges differently, so a mix of sites changes what you keep. Bookings taken on a manager's own website don't carry a booking site's fee.
The management fee
Our fee is a share of what your home earns, from 15% of booking income: 15% on a 12-month agreement, 18% on a 6-month agreement and 20% on a 3-month agreement. The fee is at least £100 a month, so in a very quiet month it's £100 rather than less. Nothing else is charged monthly.
Set-up costs such as photography and safety certificates are listed before you sign. If you’d rather not pay them upfront, we can spread them over your first three months’ payouts.
Who pays what
When HOMEHOSTS manages your home
- Cleaning
- Paid from your home's income, with its cost built into the nightly price, so guests' payments cover it
- Linen
- Hired from a professional linen company, so you don't buy or wash any; it shows on your statement
- Bills and broadband
- You pay them. We keep guests sensible with heating and hot water
- Council tax or business rates
- You pay. We tell you which applies to your home
- Insurance
- You arrange a policy written for short lets
- Safety certificates
- You pay the contractor's own cost. We track the dates and arrange renewals, with no charge from us
- Repairs
- Below the spending limit you choose, we get them done and they show on your statement. Above it, we ask you first
- Booking-site fees
- Taken from each booking and shown on your statement
- Our fee
- From 15% of booking income, at least £100 a month
What a manager takes off your plate
Running a short let also takes time. Every stay brings messages, a changeover, a check of the home and a payout to reconcile, and we take that work on.
- Pricing changed daily from live demand, local events and what neighbours charge
- Your home listed on 35+ platforms, including corporate portals a single landlord can't join
- Every guest message answered by our own team, early till late, seven days a week
- Photo ID checks before every stay, and damage protection on every booking
- Cleaning after every stay, checked and photographed
- Safety certificates tracked, and renewals arranged before anything lapses
- A statement itemising every booking, every cost and our fee, paid by the 15th of the following month
The honest downsides
- A short let has more running costs than a standard rental (AST), and you pay the bills yourself
- Bills, insurance and council tax or business rates stay the same in a quiet month
- Income moves with the seasons, so some months are busier than others
- The home needs furnishing well at the start, and things wear out faster
A well-booked short let can carry these costs and still earn more than a standard rental (AST), and with a manager the work behind them is done for you. Run the numbers for your own home to see where you'd stand.
Run the numbers yourself
Put in your nightly rate, occupancy, cleaning and bills. Our holiday let calculator takes off the booking sites' fees and shows your profit and the occupancy you need to break even.
If your home is in Wales
Wales has its own rules, and some of them add to the costs. A home pays business rates only if it's available to let for at least 252 days a year and actually let for at least 182. Otherwise it pays council tax, and councils can add a premium of up to 300% on second homes.
Anyone in Wales who takes bookings of 31 nights or fewer must register with the Welsh Revenue Authority by 31 March 2027, whether or not their council charges a visitor levy. Cardiff's levy applies to stays from 1 April 2027, at £1.30 a person a night for a whole home, and other councils may follow.
Short-let management in Cardiff
Who stays in Cardiff, from match days to hospital visitors, and how the Welsh rules apply there.
The bottom line
A short let costs more to run than a standard rental, so know every cost before you start. Most of them are predictable. With the right manager the work behind them is done for you, you keep control of your home, and every pound shows on your statement.
Ask for a free valuation: we'll show you what your home could earn as a short let, set against a standard rental, with no obligation.
Find out what your property could earn
Send us the postcode and a few details. We’ll call you with figures we can stand behind, and no pressure either way.