It’s time once again for our holiday home and holiday letting news round-up, the format has changed but the content is as useful as always…

The summer holidays are traditionally a period when overseas property sales increase, as those with dreams of owning their own place in the sun travel abroad.

However, buying overseas can be problematic and those buying abroad often get carried away in the moment. Before you sign on the dotted line, follow these 10 golden rules to avoid your overseas dream turning into a nightmare.

But how much should you pay for an overseas holiday home? which are the best value sun spots? Help is available following research by international estate agency Savills that compares properties 36 locations, calculating their price per square metre.

For example, the most expensive are holiday homes Monaco £44,400 at per square metre and Marrakesh is the most affordable at £1,265. In the current climate I think some of the prices are unrealistic – haggle.

Some Google news now as they move into travel by adding hotel prices to its Google Maps service. They are hoping to target travellers who use search engines for trip information. Should travel agents be worried?

Google have also added residential property listings to its Google Maps service. Searchers can view “hundreds of thousands” of homes for sale and rent added by agents and property websites. I have speculated in the past that holiday rentals could be next, what do you think?

Which is the most expensive holiday destination? If you guessed France then you are right, according to research which compared the cost of paying for various typical items – food, accommodation, car hire etc. in 30 different countries.

If you got the answer wrong then you are not on your own as many of those surveyed were also way off the mark when it came to predicting which countries were the cheapest or most expensive.

What can be taken from this survey? If your holiday home is in a country that is perceived or is expensive (according to the survey), highlight how guests can save money; eat at local cheap non-touristy restaurants, use public transport, advertise special offers at your holiday home etc. Likewise if costs are low – promote this.

Bad news for overseas holiday home owners as visits abroad by UK residents fell  by 15% in 2009. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) a total of 58.6 million trips were made last year, 10.4 million fewer than in 2008.

Visitors to the most popular foreign destination, Spain, fell by 2.2million to about 11.5million last year. Other falls included France, which was down 1.1million visitors to 9.8million, Italy, down 760,000 to 2.6million, and Portugal, down 720,000 to 1.8million.

For many, the deciding factor was the fall in the value of the pound against the euro and the financial downturn. Many families opt for so-called “staycations” at home – good news for UK holiday home owners. How have your holiday rentals been affected?

If you own or are looking to buy a holiday let in Paris then you should familiarise yourself with the letting laws. Although there is confusion about the laws, authorities are enforcing fines of up to 25,000 Euros on holiday lets who aren’t compliant. The rules state that letting out a property for less than a year is illegal in Paris unless you have it classified as commercial property.

Vat news for holiday homes – HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has announced that value-added tax (VAT) associated with conversion and construction of holiday homes is now recoverable under the DIY Housebuilders and Converters Scheme, and that any VAT incurred over the past four years can be reclaimed. Seek professional tax advice if this concerns you.

If you sold a property in Spain between 1997 and 2006 then you may have been over charged capital gains tax. If so, you should immediately begin the process of reclaiming the tax as the deadline is the end of October 2010. August is considered a holiday month in Spain and the claim process can take up to three months – act now.

Overseas holiday home owners in Europe can now benefit from cheaper mobile phone charges. Under new regulations, travellers to Europe will be charged a maximum of 32p per minute to make and 12.5p per minute for receiving calls. Mobile phone operators are now obliged to place a €50 cap on all data roaming charges, which is good news as many travellers have returned from their holidays to receive bills for thousands after using their phones to browse the internet and send email whilst abroad.

There have been some significant developments in the holiday rental portals of recent, mainly news that holidaylettings.co.uk has been sold to Expedia-owned TripAdvisor. Hopefully this should be good news for holiday let owners as both holidaylettings.co.uk and the dominant player in the sector, HomeAway, compete and develop improved products.

But are the sites getting too crowded, are there too many properties listed?

There is also speculation that Homeaway are working on a payment, booking initiatives following the appointment of a PayPal executive as chief operating officer.

“We do believe there is a significant opportunity to improve the simplicity and safety of financial transactions in the vacation rental industry,” says HomeAway CEO Brian Sharples. “As such we continue to work on a number of initiatives that hopefully will benefit both suppliers and travelers from a payment and booking perspective.”

This could be an interesting development for holiday rental owners who want to offer a facility to take credit card payment. Owners are often prohibited due to the excessive credit card charges, so payment by cheque is still the norm in the industry. Online payments should also reduce the amount of holiday letting fraud and scams. I watch this development with anticipation.

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