Should you charge friends to stay at your holiday home?

1.

The honest answer: probably yes

Most people who own a holiday home discover this the hard way. You start by offering the house for free — “just come whenever you like!” — and six months later you're quietly resentful. The electricity bill is higher than you expected. Someone left the heating on. The place needed cleaning between every stay and nobody volunteered. You're paying for other people's holidays.

Charging isn't about profit. For most holiday home owners, it's about sustainability. A contribution towards running costs means the house stays available to everyone — rather than you quietly deciding it's too expensive and too much hassle to keep sharing.

2.

What you're actually paying for

People who've never owned a second property often underestimate the costs. It helps to be clear (at least with yourself) about what the house actually costs to run:

• Mortgage or loan payments
• Insurance (building and contents)
• Utilities — electricity, gas, water, internet
• Cleaning between stays
• Ongoing maintenance — plumbing, electrics, garden
• Local taxes or community fees
• Seasonal costs — pool maintenance, heating oil, winterising

When you add it up, even a small cottage costs thousands a year. A villa abroad costs significantly more. Asking people to cover some of that isn't extracting a fee — it's sharing the load.

3.

Family vs friends: different conversations

This is where it gets nuanced. Your sister and your university friend are not in the same category.

Close family often have a shared sense of ownership — even if they're not on the deed. Parents, siblings, adult children. Many owners charge family less (or nothing) but ask them to help with the house: handle the cleaning rota, deal with a plumber, stock basics before the next guest. The contribution is labour, not money.

Friends are different. They don't feel ownership. They're grateful for access. Most friends actually expect to pay something — and feel uncomfortable when they don't, because they know it's not free to run. A clear cost per night removes the awkwardness for everyone.

4.

How to bring it up without it being weird

The awkwardness almost always comes from ambiguity. If you don't mention money, people don't know what's expected — and then it's weird for everyone.

The simplest approach: state it upfront when you first offer the house. “We ask for £X a night to help cover running costs — cleaning, utilities, maintenance. It's not about making money, just keeping the place going so everyone can use it.”

When it's framed as a contribution to a shared resource rather than a transaction, most people respond with relief. They wanted to offer something anyway. Now they know exactly what's expected.

The people who react badly to being asked for a reasonable contribution are — honestly — the people you didn't want staying anyway.

5.

How much to charge

There's no universal answer, but here's a useful framework:

At minimum: cover your variable costs. Cleaning, laundry, extra utilities during the stay. This might be £20-50 per night for a cottage, more for a large villa. This is the “we're not making anything from this” rate.

A fair middle ground: variable costs plus a contribution towards fixed costs (insurance, maintenance fund, local taxes). This is the most common approach. It means the house isn't losing money when friends stay.

For comparison: look at what a similar property would cost on Airbnb, then charge a fraction of that. Your friends are getting an incredible deal either way — a private home, no platform fees, no reviews, and someone who actually cares about their experience.

6.

What about deposits?

Deposits feel transactional — and between close friends, they might be unnecessary. But for anyone outside your innermost circle, a small deposit protects both sides.

It doesn't need to be large. Enough to cover a cleaning fee or a minor repair. The point isn't that you expect damage — it's that having something in place means you never have to have the conversation about damage. It removes ambiguity.

Frame it the same way: “We ask for a small deposit that comes straight back after the stay. It's the same for everyone — keeps things simple.”

7.

The alternative: what happens if you don't charge

Some owners try the free-for-everyone approach and make it work. But it usually requires one of two things: either the house is used very rarely (a few weekends a year), or the owner is genuinely wealthy enough that the costs are irrelevant.

For everyone else, free access leads to a predictable sequence: the house gets used more than expected, the costs mount up, the owner starts feeling taken advantage of, and eventually they stop offering. The house becomes private again — and everyone loses.

A small, fair charge keeps the arrangement sustainable. And sustainable means your friends can keep coming for years.