Guests love them, agencies photograph them, and they are the single most frequent action point in our holiday let assessments. Almost always for the same four reasons.
A wood burner in your own home is used by people who know it. In a holiday let it is used by someone who has never lit one, at midnight, after a bottle of wine, with a toddler in the room and the door propped open for the dog. The stove itself is rarely the problem. The problems are the things around it.
A carbon monoxide alarm is required in any room with a solid-fuel appliance. It must be an audible alarm to the current standard, mounted where the instructions say — not on the floor behind the log basket. Half the lets we see have one; a quarter of those have it in the wrong place.
Guests need to know, in writing, how to light it, how to close it down, that the door stays shut when lit, what the alarm means, and where the ash goes when cold. A laminated card by the stove is one of the cheapest actions in the report.
Combustible flooring or furniture too close, no fireguard where children may stay, and log baskets stacked against the stove. The manufacturer's clearance distances are the standard we hold it to.
No record of sweeping, no record of installation. A burner fitted after 2005 should have been installed under Building Regulations or by a HETAS-registered fitter, with a notice plate. We ask for the sweep certificate; annual is the norm for a let in use.
A stove in a single-room, single-exit timber or canvas structure is a different level of risk from one in a stone cottage. The exit is next to the stove, the walls are combustible, and the guest is asleep two metres away. It can be done safely — plenty of Pembrokeshire sites do — but it needs the right stove, the right flue shield, a smoke alarm as well as a CO alarm, a clear instruction card and a housekeeping routine that empties the ash every changeover. We assess a lot of these; the report says exactly what is needed rather than "consider removing the stove".
Ash goes in a metal bin with a lid, outside, away from the building. Not in the plastic wheelie bin, which is how a surprising number of let fires start the morning after. Firelighters and matches stored beside the stove are an ignition source we note; a small tin on a shelf is the fix.
We do not tell owners to rip out the burner. We list the specific things that bring it up to standard — alarm, position, guard, card, sweep record, ash bin — and most of them cost less than a night's booking. That list also answers the letting agency's questions and gives the insurer what they want to see.
Related: Holiday let assessments · Every certificate a Welsh let needs · Alarm grades explained
Yes. Any room used as living accommodation with a solid-fuel appliance needs a CO alarm, and the fire risk assessment will require one regardless. It must be a proper audible alarm, fitted where the manufacturer's instructions put it.
At least annually for a let in regular use, and the sweep's certificate kept with the safety file. Heavy winter use justifies twice a year.
Usually, if the stove and flue are appropriate for the structure, clearances and heat shields are right, there is both a smoke and a CO alarm, guests get clear written instructions and ash is dealt with every changeover. The assessment lists exactly what is needed.
Where children may stay, yes. It is one of the cheapest actions on the list and removes an obvious finding.
Tell us the building and we will give you a fixed price on the phone. Most assessments are booked within the week.