Have anyone tried to rent for a year?

[Katherine956]

I love Airbnb and I was doing so well with it, but I have a condition of renting for a year and running a background check.

Could I make this possible? How may this work or not?

[Lorna170]

@Katherine956  AirBnB is set up as a short term rental platform.  If you wish to rent your property for a year, you would be better suited to find a local realtor who would facilitate finding a long term renter, would have a background check run and would have the renter sign a legal contract.  

AirBnB does not run background checks or have a place for you to submit a long term lease for a guest to review and sign.  I would not recommend using AirBnB for a year long rental.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Katherine956 Another CC member once pointed out that a Realtor is cheaper than Airbnb commission once you go above about 2 month long stays. They also do, as @Lorna170 says, a far more comprehensive job. 

[Lorina14]

@Katherine956,

Hi, Airbnb is a short term rental platform and what you are asking does not currently exist on their platform (background check and long term lease contract).

I’ve known other people who do a background check on their own through a different platform, have the guests sign a lease (for cities that require it for stays over 28 days and to protect you as a landlord as different rules apply for short term vs long term renters - long term renters have tenant rights), and even collect a deposit through a third party website (for longer stays and/or large home rentals).

I know some platforms like Zillow provides background checks as part of the service when you list with them but Zillow is a long term renting platform. That said, Airbnb will bill the guest monthly for longer stays and you will get paid monthly as a host. We had a 2 month guest once and got paid a few days after the day after check in (I have it set up for bank ACH deposit) and one month later on the same day.

There are some websites designed for landlord forms and support that you could check out too. One did background checks and provided forms (it had forms specific for all states in the US) for a small fee or pay a monthly subscription for more benefits. 

[Lorina14]

@Katherine956,

I just read the on another post the following below; so I guess the hosts charging a security deposit on another platform were breaking Airbnb rules unless it was the API software discussed below. It’s always good to search the help center for the terms and conditions section of Airbnb to see what their rules are.

Security Deposits

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/140

"Hosts aren’t allowed to charge guests a security deposit through our Resolution Center or outside the Airbnb platform. Instead, we inform guests at the time of booking that their payment method may be charged if they cause damage during a stay.

There is one exception: Hosts who manage their listings with API-connected software can set a security deposit using our offline fees feature. If a Host has done this, the deposit requirements will be clearly communicated during the booking process."