Vacation Rental House Rules Template

There is a significant increase in holidaymakers staying at vacation rentals. They prove a popular option with more flexibility, affordable pricing and space than hotel rooms. With the ability to stay longer than a hotel stay and at a reasonable rate, it’s no surprise they are an appealing option. As well as being a desirable form of accommodation for holidaymakers, they are also an attractive choice for those who have a property they want to rent out to guests. After all, it’s a profitable business opportunity with the short term rental market thriving post-pandemic. Once you have regular guests who leave great feedback, you will soon build your profit from your vacation rental. 

However, owning a vacation rental does come with its complications. Firstly, it’s your responsibility to make sure it remains in tip-top condition between bookings. You need to arrange a cleaning schedule to ensure that the vacation rental is spotless. After all, you do not want to receive bad reviews for your vacation rental which will stop others from booking. Also, you need to ensure it’s fitted out with the best furnishings and appliances. You want the guests to have an enjoyable time at the rental and have everything they need to feel right at home. Of course, there are some risks to having a vacation rental. You are letting out your property to people you do not know. They could cause breakages, anger neighbours or steal from the property. Therefore, it’s important to make some house rules for your vacation rental. Here is everything you need to know about vacation rental house rules so that you can feel rest assured when you rent the property out to guests. 

What are vacation rental house rules?

Before we start going through examples of rules you should add to your list, the first thing you need to know is that vacation rental house rules are a list the owner makes to help avoid issues on their property. It tends to be rules of things they don’t feel are reasonable at the property and help to keep some order and cleanliness to their property. 

Having rental house rules helps to reassure the owner that everything will stay in good condition on their property. And if the worst did happen and there was a theft or breakage, they have rules which the guest should have followed. So they can use this to make a claim. You should always consider the guest when making the rules, after all, you don’t want them to have a bad time because of strict rules. But if you are fair and clear with the rules, most guests will be understanding. They often prefer knowing in advance what they can or can not do during their stay. Therefore, they will make other arrangements and plan around the rules of the owner. 

While the owner will have specific preferences, the rules will be made with safety in mind. Having rules in place makes it a lot easier to deal with any complaints that arise and if you do encounter problems with guests. After all, you can refer back to the rules and take further measures if necessary. But ultimately having rules in place acts as a deterrent for bad behaviour and also stops any misunderstandings from occurring. 

Vacation rental house rules 

While rules will differ depending on location, type of accommodation and the number of people staying, you do need to make these clear for the vacation property. Here is a template for your house rules to ensure they work effectively for you and your guests.

Put the vacation rental name and address

The first thing you should always do in these documents is to state the address of the residency. First, this will help you when it comes to a large property portfolio. You then know exactly what rules are for which property. But additionally, it makes it clear to the resident you are talking about that specific property. If there are any issues, you need to make sure you have a document with the name of the property on it. You have a better chance of claiming if something did get broken during their stay if the address is on the document 

State the requested time for check in and check out

You must make it clear that you are strict on the check in and check out times by including them in the house rules. It’s fine if they contact you in advance and have a conversation about leaving later or arriving earlier. After all, you can charge them extra for this if you agree to it. But they might take advantage if you haven’t included them in your rules. Therefore, state exactly what time they should arrive at the earliest and the time to leave at the latest. That way, guests can make arrangements based on this. It also leaves you enough time in between guests to prepare the home if there is a significant amount of cleaning to do. It’s important to ensure they don’t stay longer than they have agreed upon so you don’t end up with guests arriving when the old ones are still there.

Make it clear the number of people that can stay

You would be surprised how many guests try to bring an extra person to their vacation rental. Therefore, to stop this from occurring, you need to make it clear exactly how many people are allowed to stay at the property on the rules. At the end of the day, you should have a specific number of beds. So there should be no additional guests turning up who might end up staying on the sofa. You need to clearly state the number of guests allowed so that they know if they do go higher than this then they are breaking the rules. After all, you don’t want additional guests sleeping on the sofa and end up causing a breakage. It’s different if they have had an agreement from you about extra guests staying. But if not, they must stick to the rules for the safety of your accommodation. 

Clarify whether groups are allowed

Another thing you should add to your house rules is whether you allow groups of people. Some hosts prefer to stick to families or small groups of friends. After all, they are less likely to cause a mess and any breakages in the property. So a lot of owners prefer this and state this in their house rules. You should also mention parties and whether they are allowed. If you have allowed a group of women or men on their hen or stag dos, they need to know what exactly they are allowed to do. So if you don’t want big parties, make this clear in your house rules so they downscale their plans. You might even want a separate point for no parties so you can make this clear to all guests. 

Check the noise at night time

You also want to protect yourself and your property from aggravation from the neighbours. You don’t want to end up with letters of complaint due to noise from your guests in the vacation rental. Therefore, you should make it clear about noise in your house rules. For instance, you might want to make it clear noise should be reduced at the property and in the garden area after 11 pm. That way, you can ensure guests are respectable to the neighbours, especially during the late hours and early mornings. Therefore, make sure this is clear in the rules so they know they should reduce the noise past a certain hour. This will stop hassle from your neighbours and could stop a potential run-in with the police if things escalate.

Inform about breakages 

Another thing you should put in the house rules is breakages. You want the guest to know they need to tell you straight away if something breaks on the property. This will enable the owner to purchase another one before the next guests arrive. Additionally, if it’s significant damage, the owner can take the right steps to decide on the best point of action. It might be the case you can provide them with something else until the original item is fixed. To make things extra safe, you could also add a list of the items on the property. You can check this after they have gone and it also makes them aware of what exactly is on the property at that time. You could write a replacement cost next to the item so they know how much to pay if it did break during their stay. 
 

Decide on animals

Another important rule you should clarify in the house rules is the situation with pets. You need to decide if you are going to allow guests to bring them and state this clearly if you do not. If you do, you can then talk about what animals are allowed. After all, there are certain pets you might be prepared to stay at your property and others you would rather not. Allowing pets can have advantages so it’s worth considering this in the long run.