Everything Landlords Ask Us

Based on current Milton Keynes market data, most properties earn 40–80% more gross income as a short-let compared to a traditional long-let. A property currently renting at £1,200/month long-let typically generates £1,700–£2,100/month on short-let, netting £1,400–£1,700 after Grid Stays' 20% fee and platform costs. The exact figure depends on property size, location, condition and occupancy. Our free valuation gives you property-specific numbers.

Full management is 20% of gross rental income + VAT. Co-Host (digital only) is 13% + VAT. Corporate Let is 17% + VAT. A one-off onboarding fee of £250 covers photography, listing setup and safety audit. Maintenance and cleaning are passed through at exact cost with no markup. No other fees exist — we are 100% transparent.

None whatsoever. Our philosophy is complete fee transparency. Management fee, onboarding fee and any maintenance/cleaning costs passed at actual cost with receipts. You'll never receive an unexpected invoice from Grid Stays.

We collect all booking income, deduct our management fee and any pass-through costs, and pay you by bank transfer monthly — typically on the 5th of the following month. You receive a full itemised statement with every payment showing every booking, every income item and every expense.

Absolutely. You can block out dates for personal use at any time via a quick call or message to your account manager. Just give us reasonable notice (48 hours minimum) so we can manage the calendar accordingly. Your property, your rules.

In England, properties let for fewer than 90 days in any rolling 12-month period generally don't require planning permission. Stays totalling over 90 days may require a Change of Use application to your local planning authority (Milton Keynes Council). Grid Stays guides every new client through current regulations during onboarding. We recommend also checking your mortgage T&Cs and landlord insurance policy.

Yes — you should notify your mortgage lender and ensure your property insurance covers short-let use. Most standard buy-to-let mortgages don't cover short-let, though some do. We recommend speaking to a specialist mortgage broker. For insurance, we recommend a dedicated short-let policy. We can recommend trusted brokers for both.

For short-let properties you need: a valid Gas Safety Certificate (annually), an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR, every 5 years), working smoke alarms on every floor, and a carbon monoxide alarm in rooms with solid fuel appliances. We check all of these during onboarding and can arrange any missing certificates via our maintenance team.

Yes, short-let income is taxable as rental income in the UK. However, you may benefit from HMRC's Rent-a-Room relief (up to £7,500/year tax-free if you live in the property), the Property Income Allowance (£1,000/year for other properties), or Furnished Holiday Letting (FHL) status which provides additional tax advantages. We strongly recommend speaking with a property tax accountant. We can provide referrals.

We manage studios, 1–5+ bedroom flats and houses, serviced apartments and entire developments. The property must be within our 25-mile coverage radius, furnished, and meeting basic safety standards (which we audit during onboarding). We don't manage caravans, boats or tents.

Yes — all short-let properties must be fully furnished. This includes beds and bedding, sofa, dining table and chairs, kitchen equipment (pots, pans, crockery, cutlery, appliances), bathroom supplies and adequate storage. If your property needs furnishing, we offer a managed furnishing service as a one-off project.

We conduct a photo inspection after every guest checkout. All Airbnb bookings are protected by Airbnb's AirCover programme (up to £2.5m host damage protection). For bookings on Booking.com and Vrbo, we collect a security deposit at booking. Any damage is documented, photographed and claimed against the appropriate guarantee or deposit. Serious damage is extremely rare with our guest screening process.

We install a smart lock (Yale Linus or similar) on every property we manage. Each guest receives a unique access code that is automatically generated when they book and expires at their checkout time. No physical keys, no lockout risk, no midnight key handover calls. We manage the smart lock remotely.

Our own Urban Gate Property Solutions maintenance team handles all property issues. Unlike every other MK short-let agent who outsources maintenance to unknown contractors, our team is employed, vetted and trained by us. Emergency response within 24 hours. Routine maintenance coordinated within 48–72 hours. All costs passed through at actual cost with zero markup.

No. We operate on a rolling 30-day notice period. We're confident enough in our service that we don't need lock-in contracts. You can cancel at any time with 30 days notice, with no penalty fees whatsoever.

From signing the management agreement, we typically go live within 5–7 working days. This covers: professional photography (2–3 days), listing creation (1 day), smart lock installation (1–2 days), safety certificate check and welcome guide creation. On rare occasions where the property needs significant prep work, it may take up to 2 weeks.

All properties are listed and synchronised across Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo as standard. We also list on our own direct booking website (gridstays.co.uk) and, for properties suitable for corporate bookings, we conduct direct B2B outreach to local businesses. All calendars are synced via channel manager software to prevent double bookings.

Yes, and it's straightforward. We can either take over your existing Airbnb listing (transferring it to our co-host management) or create a fresh listing optimised by our team. We'll audit your current listing, pricing and review history and advise which approach gives you better results. Many self-managing landlords come to us burned out from guest enquiries and maintenance — we take all of that away immediately.