Why we will not take a short let

Our lettings book has a single rule and it is the only rule that matters: twelve months minimum. No holiday lets, no seasonal lets, no exception for a tenant who offers more.

What it costs

In Ostmere, a harbour-front house let by the week in July and August earns more in eight weeks than it earns in a year on a long tenancy. We turn that business away, and we have lost instructions over it.

What it buys

• Buildings that are lived in rather than cycled through, and that therefore stay in condition.
• Neighbours who remain on speaking terms with the landlord.
• Tenancies that average four years, against a market average closer to eighteen months.
• A deposit dispute rate that has stayed under two per cent since 2014.

The last of those is mostly down to the inventory. Every let starts with a dated photographic record signed by both sides, taken by the lettings partner rather than by a clerk. It takes an afternoon and saves an argument two years later.