29 Home and away Does it pay to rent out your house while you go on holiday? We add up the pros and cons

Renting out your house when you’re on holiday can pay huge dividends. But beware of the pitfalls, warns Jo Mcgivern

“Igot the idea to rent out our home for short-stay guests after friends revealed they were going to earn £1,000 just for a weekend. Theirs was a family house with kids’ bedrooms in a tiny village and until then I assumed only people in cities were able to make money that way.

We came home and immediately listed our house for New Year when we were away with friends. Within days we had a four-day booking, so decided to see if we could rent it out for Christmas as well. We then landed a five-day booking for the festive period and were set to earn enough money to pay for our family summer holiday.

But there are perils when it comes to having strangers to stay. The third time we rented out our home was over an Easter weekend. We were abroad and got a phone call at 9pm on Easter Saturday saying water was pouring out of a pipe in the bathroom.

I was lucky and managed to get hold of a plumber who’d done some work for us. He drove to a pub, collected a guy who owned a plumbing shop who opened up so he could get the part he needed before he went back to our house and fixed it. But if the stars weren’t aligned, the damage would have been terrible and we would have received a bad rating.

In fact, when I tell people we do short-term lets, most ask about the damage that could be caused.

To avoid any disasters, you need to ask the right questions before taking the plunge. Making money from your home is a “commercial activity” not normally covered by home insurance, so make sure you are properly covered.

I was referred to Guardhog, which, as well as now being my employer, provides cover for my home and guests. At Guardhog we have seen some big claims over the years – and the damage can be immense. our biggest was £90,500 for a party that got out of hand.

like many of our party claims, the damage ranged from wrecked soft furnishings and damage to fixtures and fittings as well as designer clothing, champagne, wines and spirits being stolen and the entire property needing to be redecorated.

It seems some people turn into party animals when they pack their overnight bag. We once paid out to replace a hob and worktop where a stiletto had got caught while a ‘guest’ was dancing on the worktop – filmed live on facebook. A ‘resourceful’ 15 year old also used someone else’s accommodation booking account, invited his mates and completely trashed the place.

People can do strange things when they aren’t in their own home. Another claim was where a guest thought it would be a good idea to put the showerhead, (that was turned on), down the loo. They flooded the property and the neighbour’s below. or there was the case where a guest stole multiple items of the host’s clothing, including worn pants, socks and vests.

New Year is one of our busiest times of the year, as are weekends. Saturdays and Sundays see three times as many claims made as the other days of the week.

from my own experience I’d always suggest taking a deposit and locking stuff away you don’t want guests using. My little study looked like one of those houses from the TV show Hoarders by the time I’d done this.

Preparing a busy family home with messy children for ‘guests’ is quite a lot of work. But don’t be put off by the horror stories or initial preparation. once you’ve bought the linen, written the manual and made sure you’ve got the right cover, it is definitely worth the financial return.

I’ll be off on holiday again this year, all paid for by letting my spare space.”

Jo Mcgivern is a mother of three, Airbnb host and marketing director at pay-per-stay home-sharing insurance specialist Guardhog.