Let someone else take charge of the house letting hassle "Popular UK destinations for holiday lets are Devon and Cornwall, as well as the Lake District," said Derek Kewley, of the new Westbeach development in the Devon seaside village of Westward Ho! Properties within easy reach of tourist attractions are usually popular, though you may also like to consider property near venues which host special events, such as sports or music concerts. There are obvious advantages to having a holiday let close to the major UK airports or good road links, too. The Haulfryn Group has a popular holiday let development at Edgeley Park near Guildford, which is close to the M25, as well as Finlake Park on the edge of Dartmoor National Park. "Knowing you can be sat on your lodge's decking in just 35 minutes of landing with a fresh, proper cup of English tea has been a great draw to owners on Edgeley Park," said Rod Tucker, CEO at the Haulfryn Group. Being 15 minutes from the M25 and a short train ride away from central London, means commuting and visiting families is made even easier when back visiting the UK. We have a number of expats currently residing on this site for portions of the year to suit their individual needs. Some of these owners look to sublet their homes in order to cover running costs, keeping their property lived in and best maintained. If you need finance to make the purchase, you must tell any potential mortgage lenders that the property is being bought as a holiday let. Some lenders and insurance companies will flatly refuse to lend on such properties or any second home, while others will charge a premium. But with with the ongoing eurozone crisis, the UK seems a more attractive prospect in many cases than locations in Spain or Greece. Currency experts Moneycorp report that the number of UK owners enquiring about selling eurozone homes this year is up 191 per cent on the same period in 2008, while figures from estate agents Knight Frank shows there are now 245,750 homes across England that have been brought as holiday homes or lets. Buying property in sterling can, however, be problematic if your main source of income is in euros or another currency - you are vulnerable to fluctuating exchange rates, especially if a sale takes a while to go through. Some developments, such as Westbeach, have a "try before you buy" option, offering a weekend or midweek stay at the resort, which will let you decide if it's worth the investment. If you do choose to use a sublet management service, it should offer continuous maintenance of the home, including cleaning, co-ordination of bookings and tending to those renting out your property. "It gives invaluable piece of mind that bookings are being organised, and that the property is being kept up to a certain standard ready for their return," said Mr Tucker. "We also offer a concierge service to make the owners" arrival back into the UK as welcoming as possible. So if guests on our sublet scheme want champagne, fresh flowers or their home cleaned for when they touch down, we can co-ordinate and make that trip back easy and stress-free. Finally, you need to weigh up costs against potential return. The cost of running a property from a distance varies widely and you need to consider the type of home you might like to buy. Older properties need more money spent on maintenance but, at the same time, new developments often involve extra costs for ground rent and service charges. "Your management company should be able to advise you about commission level and marketing exposure - for example, there is little point advertising a contemporary holiday apartment situated in a city centre location with an agent that specialises in advertising quaint country cottages," Mr Kewley said. Luckily, there are many "packaged" holiday let investment products on offer, with guaranteed returns to take the guesswork out of the calculation. "Financially, we find positive experiences across the board," said Mr Tucker. We guarantee at least six per cent ROI. Some of our customers have bought rental lodges that have come up for sale, enabling them to hit the ground running and straight away see the return on their investment. Westbeach offers similar reassurance. "We offer a guaranteed fixed net return of £12,000 at Westbeach for the first 12 months and then a 50/50 profit share thereafter, so all income received by the investor is net with no unwelcome bills," said Mr Kewley. As always with an investment, read the small print. If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.