Preparing for holiday guests

Posted 11 December, 2024 Jeremy Rochow

The welcome mat is at the front door ready for summer guests to arrive. But have you remembered some of the finer details?

About 135,000 Australian properties were available as short-stay accommodation in 2023, according to a Real Estate Institute of Australia report. Despite these numbers not yet bouncing back to pre-pandemic levels, plenty of people are still looking to rent out their property to summer holidayers. If you’re one of them, here are a few tips to consider.

Choose who’ll manage the property

You can choose to manage the property yourself or outsource the task to a third party like a real estate agency. If you manage the property yourself, you need to organise cleaning after each visitor’s stay and consider keeping the garden tidy, and restocking items such as tea, coffee and toilet paper.

You’ll also need to look after customer service, which can be labour intensive. Tasks might include responding to guest enquiries and being on-call to handle any problems.

If you have a full-time job and several properties, this could be tricky to juggle, so consider approaching a real estate agency to manage the property instead.

Keep it clean and safe

Keeping the space clean and safe for guests should be a top priority. Consider hiring a professional cleaning service to give the property a clean after each tenant leaves the accommodation.

Undertake regular maintenance checks to address any issues quickly and ensure you have smoke detectors installed and other fire safety measures in place.

Find the right guests

You’ll want guests who look after the property during their stay. A property manager may take a deposit and check the property after the tenant has left. If you’re using a house-sharing platform, you may be able to set certain parameters for guests, check their profiles and read reviews from other property owners.

Provide clear rules for tenants

You may want to set some ground rules for guests but take a balanced approach. You don’t want to be overbearing, but it’s important to set clear boundaries.

Consider including rules about extra guests, gatherings and parties, smoking, pets, and keeping the property clean and tidy.

Consider short-stay insurance

If you’re renting your property for short-stay guests, consider getting short-stay insurance. Landlord and short-stay insurance may cover things such as loss of rent if damage occurs to the property. Not all short-term landlord insurance products are the same, so make sure you check all the details.

Landlord and Short Stay Insurance is issued by RAA Insurance Ltd. AFSL 232525. Limits apply. Consider the Product Disclosure Statement and Target Market Determination available from the RAA website when deciding whether to purchase this product.