New to the site ? New to renting properties directly from the owner ?
For those that have not used our site before or are new to renting holiday properties directly from the owners, the following guidelines should help you.

Finding a Property:
Search our property listings either by using the various ‘Search’ boxes or ‘Map’ location icons on the Property page. Complete the search criteria boxes for a more streamlined accurate result. Please remember that often you will find extra sleeping accommodation in the form of sofa beds, so a 1 bedroom apartment may sleep up to 4. It is also worth looking at accommodation with a larger number of bedrooms, these are not always more expensive.

Verified Label:
Any rental property displaying the “Verfied” label – rental listings that have had previous bookings and received reviews on the site and/or have current reviews on TripAdvisor and/or it has been established by HOD that the rental listing and/or the listed owner actually exists.

Shortlisting the Properties (add to ‘favorites’):
Whilst browsing through the properties, you will see the option to add them to your ‘favorites’. Appropriately add as many as you wish, you can then later do a direct comparison by selecting the properties of your choice.

Contacting the Owner:
Initial communication is done directly through HOD’s own internal website mailing system. This makes for a safer more reliable mailing system and enables the users to keep copies of emails without the need of third party mailing systems etc.

In order to contact any owner, first you need to complete the simple signup process Signup

Remember that these are private owners and that they may possibly be away from their e-mail for a few days. Most will respond immediately but if you do not get a response within a couple of days, try again, just in case your mail ended up in their trash bin!

Making a Booking:
Each property owner will have their own way of processing a booking but, if appropriate, you may use our included standard booking form which offers both renters and owners a way of exchanging essential information. As a guideline, you should expect to pay a deposit to secure the booking of between 10% – 50% of the total rental. This is normally paid either by cheque or by bank transfer and the owner should confirm the booking and receipt of your payment by letter or by e-mail. The balance is normally paid around 8 weeks before the start of the holiday. Often a breakage deposit is required with the balance, and this is refundable at the end of the holiday less the cost of any breakages and metered charges for gas/electricity/telephone if they are not included in the rental rate. Please check the cancellation terms with the owner at the time of booking – deposits are often non-refundable and they may have a sliding scale of charges for last minute cancellations after the balance has been paid. We recommend that you ask for any terms and conditions in writing.

Arriving at the Property:
Make sure that you have the address and directions to the property. These are normally sent to you on payment of the balance. Some owners will send you a key in advance, some may live on site and be there to welcome you, whilst others may have a local representative or neighbour who will meet you (in this case please make sure that you have the telephone number of the owner or their representative so that you can call to let them know if your arrival time is delayed).

Any Problems:
All owners should leave instructions at the property for contacting either themselves or their local representative. If you find that you have a problem or an item of equipment breaks down, please call them straight away. Either they or their representative will probably have the local knowledge to put things right. It is essential to air any difficulties on the spot as this gives the owner the chance to ensure your holiday or rental is not spoilt. Please do not save up complaints until after you return home.
Please also remember that H.O.D. do not own and are not responsible for any of the properties or accuracy of any information given on the site. As a result, the quality, safety or legality of the properties advertised, the truth or accuracy of the listings (including the content thereof or any property or guestbook review), the ability of members to rent property or the ability of renter’s to pay for any type of rental property are solely the responsibility of the users.

Enjoy your Holiday or Stay!

Initial communication is done directly through HOD’s own internal website mailing system. This makes for a safer more reliable mailing system and enables the users to keep copies of emails without the need of third party mailing systems etc.

In order to contact any owner, first you need to complete the simple signup process Signup

All transactions and dealings regarding property listings found on this site are carried out directly between the “owners” and “guests”.
H.O.D. do not own any of the properties listed, nor have any connection, relationship or business interest whatsoever in any of the parties or properties concerned or listed on this site.
As a result, the quality, safety or legality of the properties advertised, the truth or accuracy of the listings (including the content thereof or any property or guestbook review), the ability of members to rent property or the ability of guest’s to pay for any type of rental property are solely the responsibility of the users.

Owners = person or company who is legally entitled to display their property for rent.
Guest = person or company who choose to rent the listed property advertised for rent.

As a rental accommodation owner it can be expensive and cumbersome to promote and market your own property effectively. Many property owners have individual websites but getting traffic to these sites can be a difficult task. Home-Owners-Direct provide one website for people who are looking for privately owned rental accommodation of all types and it is our aim to increase your rental property income through effective online and offline advertising giving you greater presence in the property market.

Most of the advertisers on our site are private owners who let out their property for either some or all of the year. They receive booking enquiries from our site either directly to themselves or to their representative/agent who is managing their property.

Each advertiser gets a full colour page advertisement, including placement of up to 12 photographs allowing them to showcase their property.

The site has an availability calendar, which can be updated to show live availability. There is also an added iCalendar feature which offers a way to synchronize your rental listing reservation data with other websites like airbnb or VRBO.

There is a contact form on the site so that booking enquiries can be forwarded by email. Any enquiries can be changed into a confirmed booking and the system will automatically update your availability calendar.

Owners are provided with log in details specific to their rental property and they can make changes to their page whenever they want and as often as they want.

We provide basic listing packages for advertising on Home-Owners-Direct but can also provide a tailored package to suit the individual (details upon request).

Latest listing prices are located in the “My Subscriptions” page, available from the user’s dashboard, after creating an account:

(1 Listing – 12 Months Package – GBP 29.99)

Create an Account >

50% OFF Introductory Offer 12 months package – £19.99

All rental property owners can place their rental listings on the site.
The main purpose of Home-Owners-Direct is to give rental property owners access to the Internet, allowing them to reach a worldwide audience.

Maybe you have a rental but no website ?
Maybe you have a website but want to increase your Internet presence ?
Maybe you only have a small advertising budget ?

Then this is where to advertise & promote your rental.
Even if you have a Motor-home, Boat or Caravan you would like to rent – this is the place to advertise it.

To add your property rental, simply click on Signup from the top of the website, choose “I want to rent my property”, agree with the website T&C and hit the “Create an account” button. Check your emails for your user password which will then allow you to login in to your new account dashboard. Select “Add property” from your user drop-down menu and complete all the relevant fields.

We appreciate that not everyone is a “computer genius” right? So we also offer any owner a FREE listing service. Simply email us all your details (inc. photos) and we will place it for you. You can then log in to your account at any time after and make any necessary changes.

Allow yourself around 30 – 40 minutes to add your rental property, don’t skimp on the details, especially the description. Remember, first impressions count, this could be your only chance to impress a potential guest.

The ads will only become live after being reviewed by admin, normally within one working day, to make sure they are in compliance with our standards. If you need any assistance during the listing placement process use the “contact us” page on the website.
You can deactivate and activate your property rental listing at any time from within your owners control panel.
Once your property is activated, we strongly recommend that you review it to ensure that all the details are accurate and correct.