Listing and checking contents

It is essential that you take the time to produce an inventory of all of the items in you property. This is not a job that can be done in half an hour and you would be wise to set aside a good few hours of your time to list all the items accurately.

An inventory will not be used by your guests but it will contain valuable information for you and your housekeeper. You may well walk into the living room of your property and know instantly if something has been moved or is missing, but your housekeeper will probably need several weeks on the job before she is as familiar with the property as you are. Providing her with a detailed list of items for each room will enable her to check things off quickly and easily, and notice at a glance if anything has been damaged, broken or stolen. In my experience, very few things are taken from holiday properties by the guests, not least because it would be easy for you to trace them at a later date. However, things will invariably get broken from time to time and, by having an inventory, you or your housekeeper will be able to see immediately if anything needs to be replaced.

It may not always be possible to check every item against the inventory after each changeover, as time will be of the essence, and the essential duties are to ensure the cleanliness of the property for the new guests. However, you or your housekeeper would be wise to make a through check of items against the inventory once a month. It is possible to overlook missing items and you many not notice that something has been broken for several weeks, so a thorough check periodically is necessary.

Most guests will inform you or your housekeeper if they have accidentally broken or damaged something, but a few may just hide the item or, worse still, throw it away and hope that you do not notice.

If you are marketing your property through an agent, they may well furnish you with an inventory for your kitchen. The kitchen is definitely the most time-consuming room of the house to compile an inventory for, and a pre-prepared list from an agent will be beneficial.

Although the initial compilation of the inventory will take time, you must also remember to update you list as and when you change or add to the contents of your property. Leave a copy of the inventory for your guests to peruse, should they so desire, furnish your guests to peruse, another copy, and keep a third for your own reference. Instruct your housekeeper to make a check of the contents once a month and to inform you sooner if she notices that anything is broken or missing.

An inventory should look something like this:

Inventory-kitchen

Your inventory for the kitchen will be most comprehensive, as this room will contain many more items of equipment than any other in the house. Ask your housekeeper to make notes on her inventory of things the may need to inform you about. For example, if she thinks the tea towels are looking worn and need replacing or the saucepans have seen better days, these are the things she needs to be informing you of. You could ask her to post her completed inventory to you on a monthly basis, if you can’t always get to visit the property yourself, so that you can see at a glance what you need to be stocking up on or replacing. Furnish your housekeeper with a new copy of the inventory on receipt of the completed one and update this as and when necessary.

The inventory for your bathroom may look like this:

Inventory – bathroom

An inventory for the bedroom may include:

Inventory – bedroom

It is probably true to say that an inventory need only contain those items which are small, easy to break or can be easily removed from the property. It is not necessary to include items of furniture in the inventory unless you are intending to use your list to note down wear and tear, etc., so that you have a written record of everything in your property.

Inventories can be invaluable if you need to make a claim on your insurance in the event of a fire of flood. Owners of holiday properties have been known to experience thefts from their property by holiday-makes, and although this has never happened to me personally, if you do encounter this type of problem it is essential that you contact your letting agency immediately, as they are sure to have are letting the property yourself, depending on the nature of the object which you think has been stolen, you may prefer to put the situation down to experience and make note not to allow those particular guests to re-book with you. If you are intending to contact the guests, be very careful how you tackle them. It is important to remember that:

• 1.They may well have had an accident and broken the object. It would be terrible if you contacted them with all guns blazing and accused them of stealing something when they had genuinely broken the item. They may have intended to inform you and simply forgotten.
• 2.The missing object may have been moved to avoid breakage. For example, guests with a lively dog or way and forget to replace it when they leave. Before contacting anyone over an item you consider is missing, make sure you have a good look all over the house first.
• 3.The object may have been missing for several weeks and could have been broken by guests holidaying in the property previously. Do not assume that the last guests in are the ones to blame, unless you are certain that you have methodically checked your inventory after every guest has left.

Breakages

This is rather a difficult matter to address. On the whole, my own experience has taught me that few holidaymakers will abuse your accommodation, and that if any breakages occur they are usually accidental rather than malicious. Anyone can have an accident and, with this in mind, it seems rather unfair to expect guests to pay for replacements. After all, running a holiday let business will incur costs from time to time, and this is something you should expect and be willing to cover the losses yourself. That said, some holiday let owners insist on guests paying for damage to their property, whether this is intentional of accidental.

Recouping costs for damages

There are a number of ways you can recoup money for damage or breakages, and you may like to consider the following:

• 1.Ask your guests to pay a small deposit or bond, refundable at the end of their stay. Bear in mind though that this additional request for money may alienate potential guests and limit your bookings. Insisting that guests pay a bond also conjures up thoughts of past holidaymakers. Potential guests may well consider you property attracts the wrong kind of holiday-maker and this can be very off-putting.
• 2.You may like to leave a note in the information folder setting out your policy for breakages. Some owners request that guests leave a note informing them of any breakages and ask that they either replace the broken item themselves or leaves sufficient money to cover the cost of a replacement. Bear in mind that not everyone will read your information folder, and those that do may ignore your request.

Broken wine glasses, cups and plates are par for the course in everyday life, and guests holidaying in your property will not be immune to this kind of accidental damage. I would recommend that you seriously consider the implications of trying to recoup your losses for small items of everyday equipment. Chasing up guests, confronting them and finally extracting money from them all seems like a lot of hassle for a £3 wine glass. The trick here is to make sure that you equip your property with standard, reasonably priced equipment, particularly with regard to everyday items, and refrain from trying to impress with cut-glass crystal champagne flutes; that way any breakages can be easily replaced without breaking the bank.

Any major damage to your property that appears to be non-accidental must be dealt with appropriately. Depending on the nature of the damage, you may like to consider making a claim on your property’s household insurance.