FULLY MANAGED PROPERTIES

About Weekly Home

Weekly Home is a well-established company providing top-quality short let accommodation in Oxford and the surrounding area. Our customers include visiting academics, corporate visitors on short-term contracts, and holiday visitors.

Our short lets vary from a minimum of one week to several months or more, but two weeks is the average length of stay.

Despite the credit crunch, our business has grown significantly in recent years and we are looking for new properties to meet the demand from enquirers.

Owners with Weekly Home have three options. You can manage your own property, in which case our rental commission is 15%. The property can be fully managed by us, for a rental commission of 35%. Or you can lease the property to us on a shorthold tenancy for us to shortlet through Weekly Home. This document explains our arrangements with owners who want us to fully manage their properties. Owners who choose this option are usually unable to do their own management because they do not live near enough to the property or are too busy.

The owner’s responsibilities where the property is fully managed by Weekly Home

• Owners have to ensure that properties are very well-presented in order to be taken onto our list. They must be well-furnished, smartly decorated and well-equipped to a standard which executive visitors would be happy with. This includes all the kitchen appliances and equipment required for a self-catering stay, good hot water and heating systems, comfortable beds, etc.

• Everything in the property must be fully functioning and in good repair when Weekly Home takes over the management of the property.

• The property must have functioning wi-fi Internet connection.

• The owner remains responsible for all utility bills and must ensure payments are kept up to date. This includes water, gas, electricity, telephone connection and council tax. Outgoing phone calls are the exception: guests must pay for these and this payment is usually taken from the security deposit after their stay.

• The owner will be contacted by Weekly Home for permission to carry out any repairs or purchases for the property on their behalf and must respond promptly.

Weekly Home’s responsibilities

Marketing and bookings:

• We advertise the property on our website and elsewhere. We ensure that the property is marketed as effectively as possible. We have an extensive and growing customer base, with many repeat bookings from customers who are very happy with the quality of the accommodation and the level of service we provide.

• We deal with the large amount of enquiries that come in by email and phone, doing our best to convert these into bookings.

• We process the bookings and take all payments, sending out all necessary documents to guests and owners using up-to-date software designed for short lets.

• We liaise with customers to tailor the booking to their needs and organise the check-in meeting between the owner and the guest.

• We ensure owners receive payment several days before the guest arrives.

• We take a security deposit with each booking to cover damages and other costs (e.g. extra cleaning). Such costs are deducted from the guest’s deposit before refunding, and paid to the owners.

• We charge a commission of 35% for fully managed properties, which is low compared to other local agencies. At present we are not registered for VAT.

Managing the properties:

• Weekly Home is responsible for all check-ins and check-outs.

• Weekly Home provides all linen and is responsible for the weekly linen change and cleaning between guests.

• Weekly Home is responsible for maintaining the property in a good condition.

• Weekly Home will carry out a regular inventory of the property and its contents.

•  Weekly Home will carry out  any purchases or repairs required to keep the property up to the necessary spec for our customers. Owners will be charged for all costs that arise. We contact owners for their permission to proceed  before spending more than an agreed sum, such as £50.

Why choose short lets?

It is worth bearing the following points in mind when considering short lets.

Rental rates are much higher than for long lets (but still compare favourably with hotel rates, from the guest’s point of view). However, on the other side the owner has to allow for utility bills, council tax and agency commission when making a comparison. Look at our website to get an idea of the rates we charge for different-sized properties in different areas: www.weeklyhome.com.

Occupancy is the key factor in how profitable it is to short let a property. Unfortunately it is difficult to predict and we cannot guarantee a specific occupancy level.  Properties need to achieve approximately a 65% occupancy level in order to match the income owners could get from a long let. Where the occupancy starts to go above 70% and higher, short let becomes more profitable than long let and many of our properties achieve this. Obviously, good occupancy depends on the quality of the accommodation and the location. Bookings are also very price-sensitive, especially at the moment, and as a general rule, cheaper rates and good value for money produce higher occupancy.
 
The clear advantages of short lets over long lets include the following:

• better rental return for the right property in the right location;
• the owner keeps much more control over the property than is the case with a long let;
• there is less wear and tear on the property;
• owners can have access to the property if they want to use it at certain times of the year;

We aim to offer an excellent service to both owners and guests. We'd certainly be interested in talking to you and viewing your property. This is actually a very busy time of year for us so if you are interested in joining us, the sooner the better.

Please get in touch by email, info@weeklyhome.com, or phone our lettings team on 01993 811711. The best time to phone is a weekday morning, 9am-1pm.