Make a profit by renting out your home for short lets

Unlike most rental agencies, Onefinestay.com allows homeowners to offer their houses and flats out for just a few days, and provides a full management service. Chief executive Greg Marsh claims its customers are “sophisticated travellers who can afford a boutique hotel, but seek a more unique experience”, whilst hosts are “people who haven’t ever let their homes before.”

So far listed properties include homes in Mayfair, Primrose Hill, Westminster, Highgate and a Thames houseboat. Onefinestay promises homeowners they will return to find their property “exactly how they left it, but cleaner” - it replaces bedding with hotel-style linen, and brings in guest toiletries, plus a cleaner. It also insures the building and contents.

The earnings potential depends on the home, with info available via a questionnaire at www.onefinestay.com/hosts/questionnaire. Onefinestay takes a cut that depends how long guests stay, but they claim net earnings are equivalent to the long-let rental value of a home.

Marsh says a family renting out their three-bedroom, family home in Holland Park for a month each year make around £4000, whilst those who are away far more, through working overseas or renting their London pied-à-terre make around £40,000 a year.