Legal Aspects of Running a Bed and Breakfast

Many of the areas where there are legal aspects to running a B&B are covered in separate articles in this section, such as insurance and liability, the business structure and health and safety. There are other areas where you need to stay abreast of the law and those are covered here.

Our Advice – Put Solid Terms and Conditions in Place

It's important to make sure that guests are aware of your terms and conditions surrounding bookings. Decide on a policy for deposits and whether they can be returned, probably not if a guest cancels within a fortnight of their arrival, ten per cent if they cancel three months before, and a range of figures in between these too. If a guest cancels the week before and you only took a ten percent deposit, then you will need to persuade them to pay the rest.

Legally you're on very strong ground here on paper, particularly if you posted your terms and conditions to them once the booking was made. The reality is that if they don't pay then you would have to take legal action to get the money back. Always take legal advice before doing this but it is likely that it will come down to whether or not you think it's worth the time and aggravation to get the money back, which is basically a business decision. If it's going to get in the way of running a successful business then it may be wiser to back down and write off the loss.

Guests Behaving Badly or Running Off

If guests behave badly then you may have to call the police to eject them. Obviously it's best to try and sort it out before it get's to this point, but if that doesn't work, you will have to call the police, that's the only legal recourse that you have. Try and keep the action discreet and away from other guests if possible.

If guests have caused damage to the room or facilities, or perhaps run off without paying, and you cannot get them to repay you, then again the legal advice will be to sue. Consider first whether taking legal action might get in the way of running a B&B or perhaps might damage your reputation. Weigh up the time and money aspect against the cost to the business of the damage before proceeding.

Aspects of Small Claims

If the advice you receive is that you should sue to get your money back, for relatively low amounts (currently under £5,000), a claim can be pursued through the small claims court. Details of this can be found on government websites.

It can be done without legal advice as the process is fairly simple, but it might still be worth taking that advice to make sure you're on solid ground before submitting a claim. The legal advice may also allow you to claim back more in damages than you had considered possible as they will know the system better than you.

Ensure Customers Understand Your Terms

The main thing to remember with anything like this is that you must have made the situation completely clear to whoever it is who is causing the problem. So make sure that people who answer the phone and take bookings are aware of things they must say before taking the booking and follow up with copies of your terms and conditions in writing.

For behaviour, make sure there is an acceptable behaviour policy on display somewhere, perhaps on the wall of the room with the fire regulation notices, or in a small booklet in the room along with other information. It's not a good idea to draw attention to a long list of rules and regulations but make sure people are aware without pushing it in their faces and you should be covered.