Flip Flops in the fridge, an entire room filled with pink balloons and and a twenty four inch machete are just a few of the belongings left in holiday home rental properties by punters guests according to a survey amongst Holidaylettings.co.uk members.

Holiday Home Owners and agents : I’m interested to know – What’s the strangest, best, or most annoying items that have been left in your property by your guests?. Please leave a comment.

Here’s a list of  the most weird and wonderful items left behind in holiday letting villas and apartments :

• Two foot long machete
• Hormone replacement instruction leaflet
• An expensive camera
• Dead snake
• A “She-Wee”
• A fridge full of food
• A bible in the bedside table and religious leaflets stuffed in all the books and furniture
• A book left by an American guest titled ‘Weird England’
• A crucifix
• Mountain bike
• Flip flops in the fridge
• A room filled with pink balloons
• 50 euro tip
• The bride’s wedding dress!
• A leather thong
• An air-conditioning unit
• A set of rubber ducks
• Box of chocolates
• False teeth
• A diamond
• Cash
• Four pairs of curtains
• 3 bottles of Champagne
• A pair of wet swimming trucks with sand found under the pillow they were sleeping on
• A real live tortoise (he now lives on the roof)
• Fluffy handcuffs
• An Internet router
• Talking gingerbread man
• A message and a tip in a bottle
• Painted stones

Spare a thought for the hoteliers too – budget hotel chain Travelodge reckons to find around 80 artificial limbs a year in it’s hotels and other items reportedly left behind in hotels have included a six foot stuffed crocodile, an inflatable sheep and how about this for guest from hell ? One hotel has reported that a guest left behind a wok. Doesn’t sound too bad until you hear that the wok was moulded to the toilet and the toilet was filled with charcoal!

The One Show – A prime time BBC One magazine style TV programme is hoping to make a 5 minute film to be aired roughly at the end of August about holiday villa scams, similar to the Moraira villa rental scam last summer and the one involving the Martin family who were in the papers today.

If anyone has been a victim of villa scams in any way, and are willing to appear on screen, please get in touch via my contact form and I will pass your details onto The BBC.

Found a few “interesting” holiday homes available for rental today:

• A nice looking London town house – Zone 1, great security, excellent for entertaining, this 8 bedroom property has space for very large families or groups of friends. http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/122593 for more info and photos.
• For anyone looking to really get away from it all, there is a very interesting property known as home tree, well located in the jungles of Pandora. This holiday letting would be perfect for anyone that wants to escape the modern world, perhaps learn a new language. Long lets recommended. More info at http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/122729
• Fans of the big apple may be interested in renting this tastefully decorated Manhattan apartment with walk in wardrobe. This looks like a great holiday rental for a girls shopping trip to NYC. More at http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/121892

Hot on the heels of this survey which highlighted ten things people hate about staying in hotels (inspired by a holidaylettings.co.uk survey), Travel Rants gives five reasons not to rent a villa including a highlight of the Morairaway scam. Travel Rants five reasons don’t apply to many holiday home rentals in the same way that the annoying things highlighted about hotels don’t apply to many hotel stays. They are:

1. No on-site support.
2. Remote Locations.
3. Lack of financial protection.
4. Paying for pool heat.
5. Damage Deposit.

I’m interested to hear what you, dear reader think about this debate? PR puff or is there a real tit for tat war between villa rental companies and hotels?

Here are a few tips on how to attract more holiday lettings based on marketing your holiday home rental as a competitor to a hotel.

UK home owners whose property includes a self-contained annexe could soon face an extra council tax bill. ‘Granny flats’ could soon end up being banded for the tax in their own right.

According to The Times, there are plans to revalue every property in the country, but this is not likely to happen until after the next election. In the meantime, local councils are “diligently” banding self-contained accommodation in order to raise revenue.

Planning departments and council building regulation surveyors should report any new buildings to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), which defines a self-contained unit as “a building, or part of a building, which has been constructed or adapted for use as separate living accommodation”. The unit, which may be rented out to paying guests on a self-catering basis, does not need to have a private entrance, or be used on a daily basis by the occupants of the main property. It can share electricity, water and gas supplies with the main residence.

A typical condition of planning consent when constructing such annexes is that it cannot be sold separately, which, the paper explains, means it has no independent value. Nevertheless, this is not taken into account for council tax purposes and the accommodation will be banded by the VOA.

Exemptions to council tax do exist, but it is believed that only one is likely to apply to home owners with granny flats – if the annexe is occupied wholly by dependent relatives aged over 65. These can be both blood relatives and those by marriage.

Should your self-contained unit be banded for council tax, it is not easy to get it delisted. The VOA says that removing facilities, such as cookers or showers, or superficially changing the use of rooms will not affect its decision.

The agency stipulates that “any alterations must be significant, extensive and change the character of the room completely, so that it can no longer be used in its original form without substantial works of reinstatement”. For enquiries on the matter, the VOA helpline is 0845 6021507.

This story was brought to you by holidaylettings.co.uk. To find out more about advertising your holiday home property with holidaylettings.co.uk and get more information on their rental enquiry guarantee please click here.

As holidays at home become more popular this year due to the credit crunch, the UK has jumped from 7th to 5th most popular country searched for on Holiday-Rentals.co.uk, overtaking the Canary Islands and Portugal, with the number of booking enquiries up some 90% year on year.

Based on booking enquiries received via the popular holiday home rental website, London is currently the top destination worldwide, with Cornwall and Devon also among the top 10 and the Lake District at number 20.

In the UK, the top 10 destinations on Holiday-Rentals are: Cornwall, Devon, the Lake District, Edinburgh and Lothians, Dorset, Gloucestershire, East Sussex, the Scottish Highlands and Islands, Somerset and Bath, and Norfolk.

Courtney Wylie, MD for Holiday-Rentals comments,

“Apartments and cottages in Devon, Cornwall and the Lakes have always performed exceptionally well on Holiday-Rentals, but there has definitely been a marked increase in interest in the UK as a whole this year, as people look to cut the costs of their holiday by staying closer to home.”

“In addition, more and more travellers are realising that private holiday rentals provide great value for money when compared to hotels, which is also fantastic news for UK holiday home owners.”

Holiday-Rentals Top Countries Q1 2009

1. Spain

2. France

3. USA

4. Italy

5. UK

6. Portugal

7. Canary Islands

8. Cyprus

9. Greece

10. Croatia

11-20: Germany, Turkey, Switzerland, Austria, Barbados, Ireland, Malta, UAE (Dubai), Canada, Morocco.

Holiday-Rentals Top Countries Q1 2008

1. Spain

2. France

3. Italy

4. USA

5. Canary Islands

6. Portugal

7. UK

8. Cyprus

9. Greece

10. Germany

11-20: Switzerland, Croatia, Austria, Turkey, Ireland, Malta, Barbados, UAE (Dubai), Belgium, Morocco

Holiday-Rentals Top UK Destinations

1. Cornwall

2. Devon

3. Lake District

4. Edinburgh & Lothians

5. Dorset

6. Gloucestershire (Cotswolds)

7. East Sussex

8. Scottish Highlands & Islands

9. Somerset & Bath

10. Norfolk

11-20: Isle of Wight, Derbyshire (Peak District), Kent, Yorkshire & Humberside, West Sussex, Snowdonia, Oxfordshire, Perthshire, Pembrokeshire, Hereford & Worcester.

A tax break designed to boost investment in grass roots UK tourism will soon be taken away as it was deemed in breach of European Union common market rules.

From the start of the 2010 / 2011 tax year furnished properties in the UK available as holiday lettings will no longer be able to be classed as business assets.

There is now a window of opportunity for overseas holiday home owners to apply for a rebate of tax paid on holiday letting income to put against running costs. To be eligible the property must have been let out for ten weeks a year and be available to let for at least 140 days a year.

Seems as if the credit crunch is hitting the highest in British society !

A new listing on holidaylettings is described as follows :

“A gated property with secure parking and armed guards, this is the perfect property to relax in complete luxury. Exquisitely furnished with many priceless antiques, royal collections and rare artefacts. 400 people work at the Palace to cater to your every need, including domestic servants, chefs, footmen, cleaners, plumbers, gardeners, chauffeurs, electricians, and two people who look after the 300 clocks.

The palace consists of 19 state rooms, 600 bedrooms and 78 bathrooms. There is an adequate sized banquet hall to entertain your guests in the evening and a throne room which is an unusual but popular additional feature.

The owners do reside in the property but are discreet and are available should you require any assistance. They also own other properties throughout the United Kingdom. Please contact them for further details.”

Looking at the guestbook Cherie and Tony would highly recommend a stay at the palace, and Mr Bush could “sure get used to having his newspaper ironed every morning”.

The listing says they will consider stag and hen parties as well as house swap. I’m sure they will get some enquiries for the latter !

If you would like to join high society and advertise your holiday home for let on holidaylettings, you can now take advantage of their rental enquiry guarantee. If you sign up for the annual option and get less than 20 enquiries in a year you can apply for a full refund.

Photo of “security” courtesy of holidaylettings.