A pool in a short-term rental home: organization and safety

Rules for guests

Guests do not know the depth, the habits or the limits of your pool. Write the rules in plain phrases, in Greek and English, and put them both in the house guide and on a sign next to the water.

• No diving head first.
• Children swim only under adult supervision.
• Shower before using the pool.
• No glasses or bottles near the water.
• Quiet hours in the evening, for the neighbours.
• Do not open the plant room and do not add chemicals yourself.
• Put the cover back when you leave the pool, if there is one.

Equipment that copes with guests

Anything the user has to adjust will, sooner or later, be adjusted wrongly. The equipment in a rental home has to run on its own:

• A timer on the pump and the lighting, so the schedule does not depend on anyone.
• A locked plant room and a locked chemical store.
• Automatic dosing of pH and chlorine, which keeps the chemistry stable between the maintenance technician's visits. See automatic pH and chlorine control.
• A cover that opens and closes easily and safely; the types are compared under pool covers.
• Non-slip surfaces on steps and benches, such as class C SOPREMAPOOL membranes.
• Lighting on the steps and along the path to the pool, because guests often swim after sunset.

Which equipment suits your pool is discussed during the site survey.

Maintenance between bookings

Shock chlorination is not done just before the next guests arrive, because time has to pass before the water is fit for use; see shock chlorination. If you are not on the island or in the area, how to organize things with a local technician is described under remote pool maintenance. Also keep a simple record of the readings at each visit: if a guest complains about the water, you can see straight away what changed and when.

Signs and safety

A sign does not replace supervision, but it makes clear what the rules are. Next to the pool you usually need:

1. the depth, clearly shown on the edge, and a no-diving notice,
2. the pool rules in two languages,
3. the house address and 112 for emergencies.

Whether the house falls under more specific obligations because of its use is something your engineer and the competent authorities will clarify. See pool rules for holiday accommodation. Also check with your insurer that the home's third-party liability insurance covers the pool as well.

Tax: ask your accountant

The pool is declared on the E9 property return and counts towards deemed living expenses (tax presumption). When the house is let short-term, how the pool is treated for tax depends on the form of the activity. Discuss it with your accountant before construction.

Questions

See also