You live close and have the hours
If you are ten minutes away and the messaging genuinely does not bother you, you are paying a percentage for something you would happily do yourself. Keep the revenue.
Should you run it yourself?
Plenty of landlords do, and do it well. This page sets out what each route actually asks of you, what our fee covers, and the cases where self-managing is genuinely the better call.
The honest version
Both routes work. They cost different things.
The choice is rarely about which one earns more on paper. Self-managing keeps every pound of booking revenue and spends your time. Management costs a percentage and gives the time back. The right answer depends on how much of that work you want, and how close you live to the door.
Side by side
The same month, two ways
Take one illustrative month at £3,200 gross booking revenue. The money is the easy part to compare. The column underneath it is the part most comparisons leave out.
Self-managed
Gross booking revenue£3,200
Management fee£0
Before your own costs£3,200
Cleaning, linen, consumables, pricing software and platform commission still apply. They are costs of running a short let, not costs of using an agency — self-managing moves them onto you to arrange and pay directly.
And the month's work is yours:
- Enquiries and messages, including evenings and weekends
- Vetting every guest and handling ID and deposits
- Setting and re-setting nightly rates as demand moves
- Booking and checking each changeover clean
- Restocking linen and consumables
- Check-in problems — lockboxes, late arrivals, lost codes
- Arranging repairs, and being there for tradespeople
- Chasing damage claims when something goes wrong
- Keeping listings, photos and calendars in step across platforms
- Staying on top of the rules that apply to your let
Managed by UnityStays
Gross booking revenue£3,200
UnityStays fee (20%)− £640
After the management fee£2,560
The same running costs apply — cleaning, linen, consumables, pricing software and platform commission. The difference is that we arrange and pay them, then recharge them at cost on one monthly statement, so you are not booking cleaners or chasing invoices. A one-off setup fee from £570 per property applies at the start.
And the month's work is ours:
- Every item in the column beside this one
- One monthly statement showing earnings and every deduction
- Payment to your account by the 10th of the following month
- Larger repairs and works agreed with you first
Figures are illustrative and for demonstration only. Actual income varies by property, location, season and occupancy. The 20% shown is the single-home, six-month rate — the full rate card runs from 22% down to 14%.
Straight answer
When self-managing is the better call
We would rather tell you this now than three months into a contract that suits neither of us.
You want a long-term tenant
If steady rent with one tenant and no turnover suits you better, a letting agent is the right call, not a short-let manager. We do not do long lets.
The numbers do not clear the fee
Some properties will not out-earn a standard tenancy once management, cleaning and voids are in. Our projection will say so. If that is the answer, you should hear it before you sign.
Useful either way
Six questions worth asking any management company
Including us. If a company cannot answer these plainly and in writing, that is the answer.
- What is the fee, and what is not inside it? Ask for the full rate card, not a headline percentage. Ask specifically about setup fees, software fees and cleaning. Ours is published in full.
- What is the notice period? A rolling agreement costs a little more and lets you leave. A long tie-in should buy you a lower rate — if it does not, ask why.
- Who pays when a guest damages something? Ask what cover is in place, who claims, and what happens if a claim fails.
- What does the monthly statement show? Ask to see a real one with the figures removed. Every deduction should be itemised.
- What does the quiet month look like? Any projection that only shows peak season is not a projection. Ask for the low month too.
- Can I speak to an owner you already manage for? A company managing real properties can arrange this. One that cannot is telling you something.
Common questions
Before you decide
It depends on what your time is worth and how close you live to the property. The fee buys back
the messaging, turnovers, pricing and compliance work. If you enjoy that work and have the hours,
self-managing keeps more of the revenue.
Yes. Cleaning, linen, consumables, pricing software and platform commission are costs of running
a short let, not costs of using an agency. Self-managing does not remove them — it moves them
onto you to arrange and pay directly.
Yes. Many landlords run a property themselves first and hand it over once the workload becomes
the constraint. Our rolling option has no minimum term, so switching does not require a long
commitment.
Between 22% and 14% of gross booking revenue, depending on commitment length and how many homes
you place. Most landlords start at 20% on a six-month term for a single home, keeping 80%.
There is a one-off setup fee from £570 per property, rising with the number of bedrooms and £15 a month for pricing software.
See the full rate card.
Across the UK. We run our own homes in London, Manchester and York, and manage properties for
landlords elsewhere through vetted local cleaning and maintenance partners.
Next step
Get the numbers for your actual property
We will prepare a projection for your address, including the quieter months, before you commit to anything. If the answer is that you are better off self-managing, we will tell you.