Holiday lets on the North Norfolk coast, where a let that misses 70 nights pays double council tax

When the three Norfolk districts announced the premium in January 2025, North Norfolk expected about £1.7 million extra from it, King's Lynn and West Norfolk around £950,000 and Great Yarmouth about £240,000. Norfolk County Council said it would give 25% of its own extra income from the premium in 2025/26 back to the districts for affordable housing and homelessness.

We're not lawyers or accountants, and nothing here replaces one. Upbridge won't apply for business rates, register a let or fill in a tax return on your behalf.

Destination Research's report for the council counts 9.36 million trips to North Norfolk in 2024, and almost all of them, 8.76 million, were day trips. Self-catering accounted for 113,700 staying trips and 424,000 nights, which works out at nearly four nights per stay. Static caravans had more nights, 578,000, but self-catering guests from overseas spent £3.67 million, more than any other kind of overseas visitor in the district.

Stays that short mean a changeover roughly twice a week in a busy cottage. A cleaner who does Cromer in the morning and Wells in the afternoon spends the middle of the day on the A149, so the order of the jobs matters as much as the number.

The Bittern Line runs one train an hour each way between Norwich and Sheringham, stopping at Hoveton & Wroxham, North Walsham, Cromer and West Runton on the way. Guests who come by train arrive at one of those stations with their bags, and the walk or taxi from the platform to the door is the part they'll ask about.

Each departure on the calendar becomes a cleaning job with that cottage's own photo checklist, kitchen to back door. The calendar syncs with Hostaway, Guesty, Uplisting and Lodgify, or with any iCal feed, so the nights you count for the 70-night test and your cleanings come from the same calendar.

A guest stepping off the train at Sheringham opens the guest guide on their phone and finds the way to the cottage and the key safe. With inventory per property the logs, firelighters and loo roll are counted down after each stay, so a cottage doesn't run out halfway through October half term.

Your clients' cottages are strung out along one coast road. Put every owner's bookings side by side in the cleaning-company account and you can plan a Friday from Sheringham to Wells in one run, and each client stays yours.