# How much to pay cleaner/maintanence person to look after our rented holiday home?



## Antonia (Apr 20, 2009)

Hi,

We have a house in Granada that we are hoping to rent as a holiday home. Up to now we have rented it long term but we are now thinking of renting by the night/week.

How much should we be paying to whoever will do the cleaning between clients, welcoming and key hand-over, maintanence etc?

Some neighbours have offered to do this, they run a guesthouse in their own house so I think they will do a good job, but they are leaving it up to us to make them an offer...
Thanks for any advice!
Antonia


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## nigele2 (Dec 25, 2009)

Antonia

My first thought is can you pay them a percentage and thus get them to buy into the quality of service?

Or a retainer of some form?

If not I don't know how you handle the "it's 2am and the electricity has failed "

I had a mate with a block of 8 apartments in Cornwall. He lived 240 miles away. It wasn't the general cleaning and maint. that caused the problems and chewed the money. It was when a washing m/c or TV blew up.

The other worry I would have is using close neighbours and then it doesn't work out.

Sorry too many questions but how many guests might they cycle between your visits?

Sorry not very helpful but I guess if you can give a bit more info the helpful folk here may be able to do their stuff and assist.


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## Cazzy (Nov 23, 2008)

We look after holiday properties and charge 10 euros an hour, people seem happy with that!!


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## VFR (Dec 23, 2009)

Cazzy said:


> We look after holiday properties and charge 10 euros an hour, people seem happy with that!!


Yes that is a reasonable amount IMO.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Antonia said:


> Hi,
> 
> We have a house in Granada that we are hoping to rent as a holiday home. Up to now we have rented it long term but we are now thinking of renting by the night/week.
> 
> ...


whatever you decide be sure that insurance names them as a keyholder

paying them anything at all means they should be declaring the money - if they aren't declaring it & they aren't named as keyholders on the insurance, the insurance can become void if anything does go wrong

I know people this has happened to - the keyholders/maintenance couple running an unregistered & uninsured business - then when the villa was broken into & cleared out the insurance company refused to pay up - & the keyholders were in trouble too

as your neighbours run a guesthouse I dare say they are registered & all legal & above board, so this could just be considered an extension of their current business (I imagine), but if not you could be storing up trouble for the future


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## Leper (May 12, 2010)

The reality probably is you will have to pay a composite amount for each clean. We have a reliable local lady who cleans our apartment. No matter what she gets €60 from us for each clean.

But, our minimum rent is one week for anybody. Cleans for occupancy for say two nights well I cannot advise what should be paid.


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## Antonia (Apr 20, 2009)

Thanks everybody!
(not sure if I should be replying to each person individually, am new to this forum)

It is complicated and i think we are just going to have to sell the house soon as we can't even afford to visit it
The other option is to let an agency handle everything including bookings.


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## nigele2 (Dec 25, 2009)

Antonia said:


> Thanks everybody!
> (not sure if I should be replying to each person individually, am new to this forum)
> 
> It is complicated and i think we are just going to have to sell the house soon as we can't even afford to visit it
> The other option is to let an agency handle everything including bookings.


Antonia there is a great community here and a thanks everyone is sufficient (hope I speak for all) and also creates less clutter and duplication.

Sorry to hear of your plight. Times are hard and call for drastic action sadly.

But that said perhaps a final throw with an agency may be worth a try. At least that way the costs are fixed. Here in the UK (I flit between UK and Spain) there are signs of improvement. OK I live in the South but in the last two months we are seeing job ads for taxi drivers and bar staff. After a year of one client (these are big private and public sector organisations) at a time we now have 5 on the go (tiring me out I can tell you ) , and the son of my business partner has just had two job interviews in a week - over the last 6 months he has had 4 in total ).

I think Spain for the summer may see an increase in UK clients who perhaps before might have been off to Florida or wherever. 

But best of luck whatever you decide and don't forget bags of experience here to consult with


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## Antonia (Apr 20, 2009)

Many thanks nigele2!

You're right, times are hard...
By renting our house by the year we don't get enough to cover the mortgage and by renting it by the night/week we have more problems, expenses and wear and tear.
Either way we certainly can't afford Hacienda's huge tax on the rent received as non-resident owners...and we can't even afford to come out ourselves and stay in it!

It's a no-win situation. I think we just have to be realistic. If we can sell the house we can afford something modest here in the UK. (Right now we aren't even eligible for some benefits as we own the house in Spain!). We love our Spanish house and put a lot of care into it's rehabilitation.  but I think holding onto it just isn't realistic.

We are just not wealthy enough to enjoy the priviledge of living in the UK and owning a house in Spain 
Thanks again for your help and advice, this probably won't be the last you see of me...


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