Looking for advice about owning and running a holiday home?
Alistair Handyside, Executive Chair for The Professional Association of Self-Caterers UK, discusses how PASC UK can help potential holiday home owners in their new venture. S o, you’ve decided to take the plunge, leave the rat race behind, and become your own boss by acquiring a holiday cottage complex? COVID we started sending out weekly newsletters to help owners navigate the rapidly-changing environment, as well as writing the Self-Catering Cleaning n Operating Hot Tubs n Music Licensing n CCTV n Guest Damage n Marketing Platforms
Protocols, which gave Government the confidence to allow the sector to re-open earlier than other parts of the hospitality sector. We also sponsor The Pink Book – the “bible” for legislation on the sector. PASC UK provides advice, education, and information to operators in the sector with the free weekly newsletter giving updates on changes in the operating landscape; and for members, we also provide individual advice, hold regular (online) member meetings, write papers and host webinars on a wide variety of topics of interest to owners of cottage complexes. These cover a broad range of subject matters and include areas such as: n Statutory Registration n Cleaning Protocols n Welcome Hampers and The Law n Guest Comms n Third Party Suppliers n Data Handling n ICO Registration
PASC UK is run by highly experienced, hands-on self-caterers, who cover all aspects of the industry - even down to best practice planning for exiting the sector and we were delighted to collaborate with Ed Thorne from Stags recently in putting on a webinar on how to best prepare your business for sale. The strength of our lobbying work and our partnerships – from DCMS at Government level (Department of Culture, Media and Sport, which includes Tourism) to UK Hospitality, the Tourism Alliance, legal partners and many more, means that we can provide owners with authoritative and timely guidance on running their business. Receiving the newsletter is free (just email chair@pascuk.co.uk and request to be added to the list); However, if you are interested in becoming a member, our membership fees are very modest (from £70 for a single cottage owner), and enable us to continue to deliver high quality information to the sector. For details see https://www.pascuk.co.uk
Congratulations – this can be a wonderfully rewarding move. However, the “lifestyle” choice also comes with a whole heap of responsibilities and regulations that you might not have thought about. Indeed, there are 72 separate pieces of legislation that are relevant for the operators of holiday cottages, from the major (such as the new legal requirement for a Fire Risk Assessment for every property) to the seemingly minor (for instance, the requirement under Natasha’s Law to provide your guests with a full list of ingredients for those lovely home- made scones you put in your welcome basket). As an owner with a legal responsibility to keep your guests safe, you need to be on top of them, and of changes, as they arise. PASC UK – the Professional Association of Self-Caterers – can help you navigate these tricky issues. Formed originally purely to lobby Government on behalf of the sector, PASC UK’s remit has grown over the past three years. During
n Improving ROI n Business Rates
n Fire Safety in Holiday Lets n Electric Vehicle Charging
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