London 90 day letting regulation 2017

[Susi7]

Hi all,

So I've received the email today from AirBnB saying that listings will automatically be stopped after 90 days hosting due to the new regulation in 2017 for London. 

I rent my whole house out now and then when I'm away, and separate rooms when I am there. 

Do you know if the regulation applies to single lodging rooms (which would presumably fall under the Rent-A-Room scheme rather than whole home letting?).

Thanks!

Susi

[Clare0]

@Susi7. This link should answer many questions about the rules in London (and Amsterdam where there is a similar law):

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1628/night-limits--frequently-asked-questions

[John498]

Has anyone else who hasn't reached the limit experienced a surge in requests? I think a lot of airbnber's in London has left the market. 90 days won't sustain you for a year. I bet this has whacked Airbnb in London.

[Andrew500]

What about us poor people out of London who have to suffer noise and nuisance from the Airbnb next door all the year round?

[John498]

You could always canvas for the 90 day rule to be extended to your area Andrew. Do you ever go on holidays yourself Andrew? I assume your car/boat/train/plane must cause some disturbance.

[Daniel-and-Marsio0]

@Andrew500 Why do you assume that Airbnb guests will be any noisier / more nuisance than any other type of neighbour? You could have neighbours with barking dogs, screeching children or those who play loud noise incessantly - which could be a permanent / long-term problem, whereas, short-term guests will be gone soon (if they do turn out to be problematic). 

[Michael17]

Has anyone at Airbnb thought their limit is hurting their business? They do not allow the limit to be reset until January 1st. This is short sited as it doesn't allow guests to make bookings in advance. Surely they should allow guests to book for next year? And so add those booking to next years quota. 

If Airbnb haven't thought about this, then I'm sure their developers would have no trouble in ammending this.

[Michael502]

Hi Michael

You're misinformed. Yes, the 90-day limit has v. much hurt my 2017 biz, but the system does allow 2018 bookings - I'm already 46 day booked - and it's quite pos that I'll hit my 2018 limit before the end of this year.

[Clare0]

@Michael17 as @Michael502 said, guests can book now for dates in 2018 so long as you have not reached your limit.  This article backs up what he said: 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1628/night-limits--frequently-asked-questions

[Michael502]

Hi Clare

V. helpful, Clare. Thx. But this raises another question, if we can go off at a tangent here.

My situation is that I may well hit the 90 day limit with bookings to July, 2018 say.

How do I *flag up* my availability for 90 day PLUS bookings which are still permissible ? (Esp for rest of year).

Some hosts I know from one of these discussions focus exclusively on the 90 day plus market - and, apparently, successfully. And though I can't remember how, this was immediately clear on their listing.  It's nowhere clear on my listing.even though I long ago set my max availability at way past that.

Perhaps what I would need to do is - as soon as I hit the 2018 limit - turn the listing over exclusively to 90 day plus? But how does one do that?

[Clare0]

@Michael502. Yep, that's tricky, but you can designate in your Availability settings which period of time you only allow 90 night stays.  But, that would depend on whether the 90 nights would cross over into 2018 where you have bookings in, say January. 

From reading the article, my guess is that you would have to do the following in this example:

You reach your limit for 2017 on November 15 but have short term stays booked in January so you couldn't require a 90 night minimum because you have reservation conflicts.  In that case I suppose you would have to block all the remaining nights in 2017.  

If guests are booking for 2018 and you reach your limit then you would have to change your availability to minimum stays of 90 nights assuming of course that there are no conflicts with other reservations.  For example, let's say you have bookings in January, March, May and a booking in July that takes you up to your limit.  You would then need to change your minimum stay to 90 nights beginning in July after the confirmed reservation.  

To set a minimum stay requirement for a specific date range, go to your Availability setting and Edit Trip Length.  You will then see "Add a custom rule for seasons or specific dates" where you can enter a date range for the 90 night minimum to be in effect.  In the example above you would enter the date after the last reservation in July with an end date of January 1, 2018.  

Does this make sense to you?

[Clare0]

@Michael502. Yep, that's tricky, but you can designate in your Availability settings which period of time you only allow 90 night stays.  But, that would depend on whether the 90 nights would cross over into 2018 where you have bookings in, say January. 

From reading the article, my guess is that you would have to do the following in this example:

You reach your limit for 2017 on November 15 but have short term stays booked in January so you couldn't require a 90 night minimum because you have reservation conflicts.  In that case I suppose you would have to block all the remaining nights in 2017.  

If guests are booking for 2018 and you reach your limit then you would have to change your availability to minimum stays of 90 nights assuming of course that there are no conflicts with other reservations.  For example, let's say you have bookings in January, March, May and a booking in July that takes you up to your limit.  You would then need to change your minimum stay to 90 nights beginning in July after the confirmed reservation as well as block dates in between the 2018 reservations. (Ugh! So glad I don't have this problem in California!!)

To set a minimum stay requirement for a specific date range, go to your Availability setting and Edit Trip Length.  You will then see "Add a custom rule for seasons or specific dates" where you can enter a date range for the 90 night minimum to be in effect.  In the example above you would enter the date after the last reservation in July with an end date of January 1, 2018.  

Does this make sense to you?

[Michael502]

Yes - many thx - it makes perfect sense. I'd already come to exactly the same conclusions after my last posting. So (your dates were a little confusing) - if I hit the 2018 90 day limit by say Jan. - and still have Jul/Aug -Dec 2018 free - I do exactly what you recommend.

The only remaining question is whether this action will clearly flag up  the min 90 day booking period at the top of the listing. But that can be sorted one way or another.

Another tip here may be to block out Jul-Dec 2018 even if one hasn't hit the limit yet, so as to avoid conflict bookings. (I get a good few guests booking up to 8-9 months ahead). If by say Feb-Mar one still hasn't hit that limit one can always unblock parts of the rest of the year. But I'm confident of hitting the limit before then.

Many thx again.

[Clare0]

@Michael502. Sounds like you have got it figured out, despite my confusing dates.  Sorry about that!  Not sure what you mean by "flag up".  Must be a British term I'm not familiar with.  🙂

[Michael502]

It means "prominently display" - the reader has to see the 90+ period immediately and clearly.

[Clare0]

@Michael502 Ah!  Actually, your listing will say that your minimum stay varies and if a guest enters dates in search that don't meet your minimun stay requirement for the period that you require 90 nights, your listing won't show in results.  But, to your point, you might describe the London requirements and that once you have met your limit your minimum stay will change to 90 nights.  This might be confusing to those who are not familiar with it (like a Yank like me!) but it is an option. 

I truly sympathize with all the hoops you and those in Amsterdam have to jump through!