Like any family, we look forward to holidays. A chance to get away from it all and create some memories. Early on, we tried a variety of accommodation types as we explored the country. We’ve stayed in hotels and B&B’s and whilst they were good, our frustration was that when the children needed to go to sleep, we did too. Foodwise, we all had to be up and dressed for breakfast and the dog (so used to running around freely) needed to go on the lead whenever he needed to head out / satisfy his curiosity of the noise of other guests walking past in the corridor.
Hiring our first whole house holiday let was so simple and revolutionised our holiday experience. Children could go to bed without their routine affected, we could stay up and watch tv / read or play games without disturbing them. Breakfast was eaten in pyjamas allowing us start planning exploring our new area and the dog could come and go as he pleased in the enclosed garden.
Reflecting on this one evening, we looked at the house with our regulatory hat on. The staircase was missing some spindles, the boys room had a low level sash window, the smoke alarms were battery operated standalone. As we were both working in private sector housing enforcement at the time, we discussed the health and safety of the property and concluded it needed some tweaks to make it safer for its intended use. Since then, whenever we go away we can’t help but notice similar issues – fire safety concerns, a private water supply with no risk assessment / treatment, gaps in balustrades that I could fall through, never mind a young child, it’s clear that owners need advice.
In our experience, owners of properties aren’t willfully negligent. Most landlords that we’ve come across in our regulatory experience want to do the right thing, they’ve normally been badly advised or unable to come across the right knowledge. This is where Safe Stays comes in. Every property is different. Each property requires its own risk assessment and it needs to be undertaken by someone who can identify the issues and explain it to the owner as easily as possible. This is what we do for our clients.
Safe Stays aims to bridge the knowledge gap for health and safety in short term lets. We understand properties, unique character, risks and hazards, and we want to help you to identify and mitigate hazards so holiday homes are safe for your customers. And the reason we do this? We can’t help it! We’ve both spent so long inspecting properties it’s as natural as breathing, and why not pass that knowledge on?
Pete Gibson