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Beware British Freeloaders! - 13 September 2007

A study by Barclays Buying Abroad has revealed that British holidaymakers are taking advantage of their friends and family to the tune of £4 billion per year, by using their holiday homes instead of paying for hotels and apartments themselves.

The research also shows that in using these properties, many visitors do not offer much in the way of thanks to their hosts – only seven per cent of those asked in the survey spent the same amount of money as they would have on the holiday on gift and treats for the owners of the property they have been using. In fact, over half only leave a small token of their appreciation – a bottle of wine, a box of chocolates, or some other small gift.

The use of holiday homes owned by friends and family is much more widespread than was previously thought. Over 40 per cent of respondents in the survey regularly take advantage of an overseas property owned by someone they know. Worse still, some 13 per cent admitted that, to some extent, they stayed friends with the owners because of the holiday property.

And if you thought that allowing friends and family to use your home abroad for their holidays would mean that it was better looked-after than with anonymous short-term tenants may also face a nasty shock. The fridge is raided for your provisions by up to 44 per cent of visitors, likewise the drinks cabinet by 36 per cent of guests. Possibly the least pleasant of the figures produced through the Barclays report is that 27 per cent of ‘friends’ leave the borrowed property overseas without even washing the bedsheets!

 

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