How should I rent to my Latvian friends?

Property rule number 1 - never let to friedns or family!

There's no reason why this letting should not follow the usual protocols and legal conventions. It should not sit outside of what is required.

You must deal with issues such as right to rent and all compliance.

Monthly rolling = meaningless.
Holiday let v AST - you should get some proper advice based on the actual facts. Anything on here will be a guess.

If its not their main home and they are only there a few weeks a year, then its unlikely to be an Assured Tenancy. More likely a common law tenancy. There are still some elements of tenancy legislation that would apply though and the forthcoming changes due to the Renters Rights Bill may mean that more apply. You should take some proper advice. I suggest you joint the NRLA or Landlord Law.

I think you should also insist on a different payment means to protect yourself. What you're doing now leaves you open to charges of criminal fraud.

Criminal fraud meaning money laundering for which there are harsh penalties

Reply to the comment left by Kizzie at 13/09/2024 - 11:04
Possibly, although I was thinking more of the potential for an accusation that someone else's debit card was being used illegally.

Clearly you have some concerns about this or you wouldn't be asking these questions, I suggest you get legal advice before you create an unwanted and unexpected event for yourself.

There is no fraud or money laundering that I am aware of. They are just nice decent people.
The concern I have is which type of Tenancy Agreement should I use?
A Common Tenancy or possibly a Fixed Term as I intend to move back in at some point?

Reply to the comment left by Godfrey Jones at 13/09/2024 - 14:35
Have you done the Right to Rent check? This is a legal requirement.

There is some confusion with your terminology. All residential lettings are covered by the Housing Act, so cannot be a common law tenancy. The vehicle to use is an Assured Shorthold Tenancy. This will usually be for a fixed term.

You could let outside the Act for holidays, but it doesn't sound you like oyua really creating a holiday let.

As I said before you need to get some professional advice based on all of the facts of the matter.

currently 2 of my properties I let to wealthy overseas tenants, one currently pays me cash up front for the year and I have a standard AST no deposit which now runs on a periodic, the other pays monthly on a standard AST with no fixed term no deposit. Ive had tenants like these in the past and one or two have just disappeared, left furniture, left the place in a mess, but haven't asked for the deposit back or have been paying a very good rent so Ive made good money out of them and had no hassle.
in theory you could let it to them as a holiday let but you would be opening a can of worms trying to abide by the rules and law.
I would do a standard AST on a rolling contract with minimal or no notice and if there like some of my tenants they just keep paying me the place isn't used all the time and I count that as a bonus !

It sounds like they’re not there all the time BUT if they’ve put their furniture in there and you don’t get the keys back between when they’re there and when they’re somewhere else then I don’t see that as being a holiday let.

It’s always good to have something in writing just to prevent any disagreements. The key thing is, if you want to get your property back, how much notice would you have to give them? And yes, you may not want it back anytime soon… but one day, you might… and that’s when the problems begin…