Dear Mary…
Q. Last year my husband and I bought a house on Exmoor which came with two cottages superfluous to our needs. We have been renting these out as holiday lets. Out of six recent lettings three of the punters, all of whom appeared happy while they were in situ, complained retrospectively and asked for money back and/or free weeks in the future. One complained of having been kept awake by an owl, another complained that she had been disappointed by the cottage because of the amount of Ikea furniture. We are sure that punters are just ‘trying it on’. How can we outwit future chancers?
Name and address withheld
A. Landlords should try to furnish their holiday-let properties from country auctions rather than from Ikea, as the McDonald’s-style ubiquity of Ikea furniture in such cottages is understandably depressing and rather defeats the point of hiring a country ‘retreat’*.
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