By the Unity Stays directors, Marcus Chong & Gadir Al-Khatib · Last updated 12 August 2026
In short: Yes — owner use is normal, and the cost depends on which nights, not how many: two weeks in February costs little, while peak weeks carry a disproportionate share of annual revenue. Block dates in the booking system early in the year, allow a changeover either side, and note that personal use counts against business-rates thresholds and needs expenses apportioned.
Owner use is normal and expected
A great many short lets are second homes that the owner uses. Blocking dates for your own use is a standard part of how these arrangements work, and any manager who makes it difficult is worth questioning.
What matters is how it is done. Dates blocked far in advance cost almost nothing. Dates blocked next week, over a bank holiday, after bookings have been taken, cost a great deal — and can mean cancelling a guest, which carries penalties and a review saying the host cancelled.
Under our agreements, withdrawing a property after bookings are confirmed makes the fee on those bookings payable, which is standard and worth knowing before you plan a trip.
The cost is in which nights, not how many
Two weeks in February costs you very little. The same two weeks in August, or over Christmas and New Year, can be a substantial share of the property's annual revenue.
This is the calculation owners most often skip. The peak weeks carry a disproportionate share of the year in most short lets — in some markets a single New Year week is the highest-value block on the calendar.
If you want peak weeks, take them deliberately with the cost understood, rather than discovering it in the annual figures. Ask your manager what a given week would have earned before you block it.
Block early, and block properly
Put your dates in at the start of the year, before the calendar fills. Forward bookings arrive months ahead for peak periods, and a date blocked in January is free while the same date blocked in June may already be sold.
Block in the system rather than by asking someone to remember. A verbal arrangement is how a double booking happens, and a guest arriving at a property you are staying in is the worst version of this.
And allow a changeover either side. A property needs cleaning after your stay as much as after a guest's, and a same-day turnaround into a booking is a risk you do not need.
Leave it as you would want to find it
The awkward part, said plainly: an owner using their own property mid-season is a changeover like any other, and the next guest is paying full price.
That means the property is cleaned, linen changed, consumables restocked and anything broken reported — at your cost, because it is your stay. Owners who treat their own visit as informal are the most common source of a poor review nobody can explain afterwards.
It also means not leaving personal belongings in wardrobes and cupboards. Storage is one of the things guests notice most, and a locked owner's cupboard is much better than three drawers that cannot be used.
The tax and threshold consequence
Owner use is not letting, and it counts against you in two places that are easy to miss.
For business rates, the tests are days available for letting and days actually let. Personal use reduces both, and in Wales the thresholds are high enough — 252 available, 182 actually let — that heavy owner use can push a property back onto council tax with a premium.
For tax, expenses generally need apportioning between the letting and private use. Take advice on how your own use is treated rather than assuming the full running costs remain deductible. Our rates guide covers the thresholds.