What do you need to know? Do you intend to rent short term or long term?
I rent an apartment out on a long term let.
Managed it myself first year but tenants started missing rent payments and not paying bills so I had to evict them. What a nightmare and a very stressful time. Very difficult to manage when you are in the UK.
We had a rental agreement drawn up by my lawyer, which was in Spanish and a copy translated into English.
I now use a good agent who was recommended to me and yes it costs money but believe me I dont have the stress.
Check the prices and availability of similar properties in your location and pitch your prices to compete.
Hopefully between the agent and your own listing you will book at least the main holiday periods.
On your chosen website/s make your place look and sound good and use well chosen pictures.
Be flexible regarding changeover days especially in mid and low seasons
Consider long lets from Nov-April
Check out the competition on the websites, from the availabilty charts see what properties people are booking and ensure your facilities and prices are at least comparable, at the end of the day would you rent it?
No need to re-invent the wheel if you find something that seems to be working copy it!
Thanks JB, I’d like to let as a holiday place, short terms. Had a bit of a nightmare renting over here once, so I know what you mean. I’d rather pay for someone to manage it. What sort of percentage do they charge over there? I’m in Javea.
I pay an annual management charge of 600 euros and they take 10% of the rent collected.
Not sure how that compares with other agents.
They also inspect the apartment every 2 months.
Hi, We are starting to rent out our self contained apartment here. What I want to know is how to make it all above board and legal…someone point me in the right direction please!!!
Was intended for for friends and family but as it will be empty most of the year it seems a waste!!
Be prepared that you wont get a lot of rentals. You dont say what kind of property you have, but villas in Javea tend to go well. There are a couple of holiday companies that specialise in Javea and Moraira. They come and look at your property, put it into their brochure and rent it out for you. If they accept it they will give a uarantee as to the rentals achieved. Basically what they do is rent it from you for a fixed period (usually mid june to mid September) at an agreed rate. They give you 30% when they agree, 30% half way through and the rest on completion. They will also make good any damage andleave it as good (usually better) that they received it.
One of the companies is called James Villas and the other one I cannot remember. But there are quite a few in Javea area. A friend of mine rents hers out every year – she has a 3 bed villa with pool which sleeps 6-8. She gets £12,000 for the 12 weeks.
Clearly they make a profit (I believe it is about 25%) but you dont need to worry about anything – they do hand it back better than you gave it (my friend had her villa repainted as some guests made an horrendous mess) if need be.
If you have an apartment then the going is tough because you are competing against a market that is in reality a villa type of place (although there are thousands of apartments in Javea it is typically or traditionally an upmarket type of place)
As Jim says take a look at what others are renting out for in the same area and what facilities you have to offer compared to them and price slightly under what they do.
As this is your first year you will be lucky to get more than 12 weeks especially as a lot of people have already booked up for summer (many more have not mind you)
Dont discount the Spanish Market because they are willing to pay highly for the right kind of property and they will book it for the whole of July or the Whole of August. Also more importantly a lot of families from Madrid will book places for a long weekend and pay almost the same as a weeks rent (normally you can charge five days rent for a Friday to monday break)
There are more but these will do for now. If you need a more comprehensive list then drop me a pm and I will send it on to you
You may also consider putting an ad in UK papers (if you live there of course and I am assuming you do) in Exchange and Mart, Loot, Daltons weekly, and even try Ebay. It does work and although people on Ebay are generally looking for a bargain you can auction off your out of season weeks. But if it is a desirable property in a great location you may be surprised just how much you can get.
I would NEVER rent a property to spanish solely for short term let. Everyone I know says the same. If it sleeps 6 they will bring 12, plus all their friends who are down at the same time to spend the day. At the end you will be faced with extra cleaning charges, maybe the TV won’t work and thats only the least horror stories!
I guess opinions differ. I rented my place out to Spanish people without problems except one family who did what you said (ie they brought 7 people to a place that sleeps 4-6) but on the whole the people from Madrid I was referring to are young couples and look after the place well.
On the flip side I have seen Brits here (not in my place) and French who have trashed the owners apartment.
Also my friend who does rent her villa out in Javea (as mentioned above) did have one rental party (Brits) who basically had parties every night, annoyed the neghbiurs and left the place a complete tip. Fortunately for her the rental company made good the damage.
I think a lot also depends on the quality of the place you have and the type of renter you are after. If you do what most people do wiuth rental apartments and put in cheap furniture – these are the sort of people you will attract. If you put in half decent furniture then people DO tend to take more care of it.
Just my opinion of course but based on 3 years of renting out my property to Spanish French, German, Italians and Brits.
There are good and bad in every walk of life – not just the Spanish.
Not sure if there was a question there or a point to make but I will try and answer it.
You are right I do feature in the article, and yes I do dislike rentals – but that doesn’t mean I cant offer advice
The long term renters I mention were French (not Spanish) and the short term rentals are a pain. changeovers, cleaning, renters not turning up, having to come out in the middle of the night to resolve a situation, and trying to find renters int he first place in a market which is crammed with holiday rentals, people willing to take your money for little or nothing in return, – and I have often stated not to buy a property for rental in Spain – and nor do I advocate it now. (quite the reverse because the yields are so low you can get more by putting your money into a bank account) But when someone needs or wants to rent out – then they will do so anyway and it is best to try and maximise your rental income and reduce your risks.
However Blue was asking for advice on how to get rentals – and I gave that advice based on my previous experience (personal and professional) as well as sites where he can list his property for free and appeal to the Spanish market (which in certain areas is a large proportion of the market). Even though my own experiences have been bad that will not stop someone from wanting to rent out their property – and I appreciate we live in a free world and not everyone has the same view as I do.
It isn’t something I particularly wish to do myself but rather than state categorically do not rent out, when someone asks for advice I will try to give a balanced picture – my experience although bad – isn’t the only side of the story and it would be folly only to appeal to UK clients when by appealing to a larger market you may get many more rentals.
I know of others (my sister for example) who never has a problem renting out – when she wants to, and rents to Spanish, English, Dutch etc. So as I say my own experiences aren’t the only ones – I hit bad luck on the tenants I have had and it has put me off but it doesn’t mean every renter is a bad person.
Hope this clears things (if there was anything to clear of course)
Good grief Vince…there was nothing to clear!!! I did not think you of all people were so “delicate” 😉 I was just commenting on you contributing to it, that’s all! 🙁