Hi Rachel - and many thanks for your report of last night's meeting, which I was unable to attend.
I wonder if you'd mind clarifying a couple of points?
airbnb have been clear in their communications to date that they will support the 90 day rule only in so far as entire homes are concerned.
I know that according to law, all paid-for temporary sleeping accommodation in excess of 90 days needs planning permission for a change of use, regardless of whether the accommodation is self-contained, private, shared, one room, two rooms, or a sofabed.
I would imagine that airbnb would have verbally supported the law last night as it was a public forum. But did they themselves explicitly state that their own 90-day capping of our properties on the site would apply to ALL types of accommodation and not just to entire homes? This would be a new development and would contradict their previous written communications on the subject.
When I rang airbnb last week, they told me that as I live in the house, and the apartment I let is part of my house, I would just need to move my listing to the private rooms part of the site to be safe from their new 90 day cut-off policy.
So I need to know whether they were just paying lip service to the law last night or whether they are themselves going to enforce the 90 day rule for every single listing on their site.
My other question regards planning permission. Mike (in this thread) who was also there last night, reported to me that there is zero chance of gaining planning permission in London.
I wonder if this is based on the anecdotal experience of the individuals who were there last night, who had been refused planning permission, or whether a senior airbnb representative had advised the audience of this fact, based on a larger body of knowledge.
Also, were any specific boroughs discussed? My property is in Lambeth.
Aside from being confused by apparently conflicting information, I, like you, feel unceremoniously dumped by airbnb. I am a fully badged-up superhost with 195 five-star reviews and a silly little red and yellow medal on my listing. I feel they have made monkeys out of all of us (and no offence to monkeys).
Thanks for you time, Rachel. Keenly anticipating your reply.
Best wishes,
Jon