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

[Gyongyi0]

Hello there, 

I am very worried myself as well. I am renting the whole house out and I really wasn't planning to stop doing Airbnb. What I wonder is, would it be difficult to get the planning permission? Does anyone know anything about it? 

Thank you, 

G 

[Zandra0]

@Gyongyi0 I'd expect it to be difficult because you'd be changing the purpose of the housing from residential to commercial. 

Best at start conversations with your local council if you're keen on listing for more than 90 days 

[Kitty11]

You have to contact the council and obtain a licence. Which borough are you in?

[Nick122]

go with spareroom 

[Jamie403]

Hi Gyongyi, Airbnb are the only listing company currently adhering to this rule so you could use a site like TravelNest to get listed on other listing platforms as well. https://travelnest.com 

[Zandra0]

@Susi7 My understanding is you get 90 days as a whole property listing and unlimited as live in. 

You could do both but not list the whole property for more than 90 days in the year ... 

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

The whole home can only be rented out for 90 days - you can list it for longer, it's bookings that count. AirBnB say they will notifiy you once you are approaching that number of nights booked with them. Letting rooms when you are on site is not covered by the 90 day rule. Not sure if AirBnB's platform will be sophisticated enough to be able to tell the difference between listings on the same profile for the same house. 

[Michael502]

Here is a reply from the Airbnb legal team to a question first put to Airbnb support about changes from Home to Room or vice versa, wh. suggests basically you can't without changing the whole listing [and not just the classification] - and also defines the possible penalty. All comments welcome. It's worth extended discussion.

"

Airbnb is committed to creating sensible and reasonable home sharing regulations around the world.

As indicated in the email you have received, and set out on the Responsible Hosting page related to the UK, there is a 90-day limit placed on hosting in London. For more information, please go to: www.airbnb.co.uk/

To understand how the law applies to you, some information is available on the Responsible Hosting page itself, but if this is unclear, we would advise that you check with your local council.

Responsible Hosting page: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/1379/responsible-hosting-in-the-united-kingdom

Business License page: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1477

When deciding whether to become an Airbnb host, it's important for you to understand how the applicable laws and regulations in your area apply to you. When you accept our terms and conditions, you represent that you will comply with these laws, and you are responsible for doing so.

Finally, if you wish to only rent out private rooms and no longer rent an entire home for more than 90 days, you may want to create a new listing(s) for the particular room with photographs of the room that the guest would be booking and any shared spaces (i.e. bathroom, kitchen, patio, etc.). For more information, please see: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/topic/207/listing-your-place

I hope you can understand that if it is found that you are booking an entire home as a private room - there may be repercussions such as deactivation of your listing to termination of your account (the most severe).

I hope this clarifies your question."

[Daniel-and-Marsio0]

Dear All

I'd like to encourage Airbnb to offer more support / promotion to those London hosts offering stays of 90+ nights (long-term stays).

A special section on the website and apps to make potential guests (and the wider public) realise that longer-term stays are available through Airbnb and that you don't have to rely on the 'traditional' rental market for this type of accommodation.

The points of difference that Airbnb could promote include (this list is not exhaustive, please add your suggestions):

- Flexibility: 90+ nights means anything over ninety nights, but you don't have to sign up to a 1 or 2 year contract, ideal for business travellers, people in transition periods, or even longterm tourists!

- Safety: robust reviews, super-hosts status and clear listings with good photos enable potential guests/tenants to make a very well informed choice on where to stay, evenfrom afar.

- Payout Confidence: for hosts, knowing that you wll get paid regularly is very re-assuring.

- Deposit Freedom: for guests, knowing that you don't need months' worth of dposit up-front plus rental fees makes renting more affordable and attainable

Airbnb could be a progressive 'new' entity in the longer-term rentals market in London and this would off-set any loss that they will incure due to having to enforce the 90-night rule on shorter-term lettings.

Having changed my bookings parameters to allow only stays of 90+ nights (to comply with London regualtions) I now need Airbnb to help by promoting that option so that I actually receive some bookings! Are you in the same position? Please comment and gives 'thumbs-up' if you agree...

Thanks

Daniel

P.S. "Stay Longer in London" / "Linger Longer in London" / "Love London Longer" / "Live London Longer" / "Live Like a Londoner"

[Michael502]

Sounds great in principle - but what's the market for 90 + day rentals? Thoughts off top of my head are that people *don*t* associate airbnb or others with such rentals. I have airbnb friend who has had good few 30-60 day bookings. (I've had maybe 3/4 around 30 days), but none for longer. 

Can s.o. who's reached 90 day limit (like me & lots of others) switch to 90 day +  minimum?  In that case there's nothing to lose by trying.

Otherwise I would think there is.

More comments welcome.

[Daniel-and-Marsio0]

Hi @Michael502

Thanks for your reply.

The market for 90+ night stays in London must be enormous and it is still untapped. Yes, I agree that people don't associate this type of booking with Airbnb which is why I'm calling for Airbnb to put more promotion into it, especially as it is now the only legal option left for everyone who rents entire properties and who has already reached their 90 night limit (that is, if they wish to continue using Airbnb) Switching to other platforms to achive further bookings within the same calnedar year would still be breaking the law in fact...

My experience of longer-term bookings is excellent. I have been solidly booked - I really mean it! - for the last couple of years. Just a couple of days gap between each booking to deep clean and do maintenance. At some points I have had several potentials all trying to book for the same periods and I've been able to *choose* my guests! In my expereince, people who travel for these extended periods tend to be forward-planners (not lastminute.com merchants!) so, your get your bookings WELL in advance and you can really plan your calendar carefully. These people don't tend to mess around, so you end up getting really top-notch guests.

Imagine all the people who need to come to London from overseas or outside London for a fairly long period, but who don't want to sign up to a regular house rental (minimum 1 year, in some cases much longer - and requiring a huge deposit) and don't want to fork out hotel prices for such a long stay. Business travellers, students, medical travellers, tourists (yes, I've had many people use my London place as a base from which to explore mainland Europe) work exchange travellers etc. etc.. I've had all sorts. I've had THREE lots of couples who have come to London to have babies and therefore stay for a couple of months. Every year I am inundated with requests from the people who work at the Christmas Fair in Hyde Park and need to stay in London for quite a while. There are so many examples.

Three months isn't that long when you think about it. But three months in a hotel whould costs a bomb.

Airbnb are actually encouraging hosts to switch to 90+ night-only bookings if you look at their responsible hosting advice page. So, yes, to answer your question, you can switch and you SHOULD switch if you have already reached your nights 90 allowance because you will NOT be getting any more bookings for short-term stays via Airbnb this year if you've reached your limit.

London really is "OPEN FOR BUSINESS" - thousands of people come here every year for reasons other than short holidays. If Sadiq Khan has really caused this tightening of the enforcement of the laws, then he (with Airbnb's help) should also help with promoting places where you can stay affordably for longer periods. #StayLongerInLondon #LingerLongerInLondon

Kind regards

Daniel 

[Michael502]

Thx Daniel for such detailed, helpful reply

[Michael502]

Hi again Daniel,

Well I'm 89 days booked this year, and the reply from airbnb help desk is that the airbnb system will NOT accept a booking of 90+ days for me this year (or indeed 2 or more nights). And presumably that applies to all similar airbnb hosts.

Do you already have 2 units of   90days bookings this year? Has the system allowed that? Have you had any disucssions with airbnb help about this? Or are you just continuing on from doing this successfully for the last two years?

It's an excellent idea, regardless. And if there is a way to make it work for me and similar hosts, I'm certainly willing to try. It would be very convenient at the moment, since I have a 3 month end-of-year slot free

Best

Mike

[Ronan8]

Hi Guys

Interesting conversation , and ex estate agent i have a little knowledge about this , i dont think its essentially a bad idea to appeal to 90+ night guests but surely the pricing structure will need to be revised , ie cheaper ? its woudl essentially become a short let not a holiday let , there was a company that briefly came to the London market called Nestpick which was airbnb meets short lets , it didnt workout as i had predicted becuase their format was wrong and i think there was holes in it from the landlords prespective, but airbnb community has an element of trust and i feel if i go on the principles that i accept at the moment i would not have a problem with taking people for longer periods, but we must remember that they still do not have tenancy agreemnts in place i t might be an idea to introduce something even basic to keep us covered. ?

Regards Ronan