Has the boiling summer driven demand for UK holiday lets?

A few weeks of Mediterranean weather doesn’t suddenly make Britain the Med, but it does remind people why owning a place by the coast is so appealing. We’ve certainly seen buyers looking at UK holiday lets through both lenses — somewhere they can enjoy themselves and an asset that can generate an income when they’re not using it. The key is not to let the sunshine do the due diligence: a holiday let still has to stack up financially in February, not just look attractive in August.

The UK may feel like the Med this summer, apart from the bracing reminder when you actually step into the sea. Heatwaves do tend to sharpen interest in coastal holiday lets, because people start imagining rental income as well as their own escape route. But buyers should not mistake a sunny August for an investment case. Holiday lets are more heavily regulated, more tax-sensitive and more operationally demanding than many second-home dreamers expect. Mortgage costs, seasonality, cleaning, maintenance, platform fees and local restrictions can quickly take the shine off the sea view. There is still demand for well-located, professionally run properties, but the easy-money era has gone. A beach house can be a lifestyle asset, but it should be stress-tested like a business.

Mediterranean weather gets people looking at cottages by the sea, and some of those enquiries reach me. More of them are framed as an investment now, and more start with a second home by the coast. I've no national figure, and what reaches an accountant comes long after the estate agent's viewing. The weather is the least important thing to happen to holiday lets in the last two years. The furnished holiday lettings rules were scrapped in April 2025. An individual owner now gets tax back on the mortgage interest at the basic rate only, even if they pay the higher rate, and the capital gains breaks on a sale have gone for anyone who kept letting past that date. Run the test before the photos do your thinking: could you make it available to let commercially for 140 nights and actually let it for 70? Miss that in England and it stays on council tax, not business rates. A hot August helps you hit 70 nights. It doesn't change the test.