Live-in tenant wants me (the owner) to airbnb his room while he goes on holiday to cover his rent

[Marina1009]

I'm sorry if this has been discussed elsewhere, I couldn't find a thread that dealt with my particular situation.

I am the owner of a 2 bedroom apartment. I live in the apartment and nowadays rent the spare room to longer-term tenants/housemates. I used to rent the spare bedroom on Airbnb, and still do every now and then when I am between tenants . My long-term tenants get the same benefits as my airbnb guests - fully furnished room, linen and towels, etc. but at a long-term local rental market price and with certain expenses shared (electricity, gas, water, internet). My current tenant's lease ends 31 January 2020. He approached me and stated that he wishes to go on holiday for November and December, and asked if I would rent the room on Airbnb to save him the two month's rent.

I am feeling conflicted by this prospect ... my gut-feeling is discomfort but I'm not 100% sure why, or whether I should be..

My first thought is, sure why not - if I can cover his rent and make some extra cash, what's the problem?

But what if I don't get enough bookings to cover his rent? Does he then expect that income should still go towards covering part of his rent whilst I had to do all the admin?

The whole reason I changed to longer-term tenants is because it can be hard work to play host all the time and the income is irregular.

I would not be hosting because I had planned to do it, for my own benefit alone.

I'd be doing it because my tenant has created the situation.

He's off having a nice holiday and getting me to organise how and whether his rent is covered.

What if I get more than enough bookings to cover his rent? It's my place, my furniture, my linen, me hosting, me that has to share the space with strangers - why should he get anything?

What amount of profit would make it worth my while? Should I offer him a discount on his rent with certain conditions? For example: If I get enough bookings to cover his rent and make x amount profit, then he gets a 50% (?) discount?

Has anyone been in this situation? Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

Hi @Marina1009 I've never been in that situation but if your tenant has a contract I would refer to that first noting the details about giving notice. Either he needs to give notice to you, or you to him. You rent your room to him for your benefit and he pays you for that based on your agreement. In order for him to return to that room when he returns from holiday he needs to pay you for it. If he doesn't want to return then he needs to end his lease, lose whatever deposit might have been paid, and clear out his stuff.

You will then be able to decide what you want to do and on what time scale. You may still decide to let the room on a full time basis but to another tenant instead.

[Marina1009]

Thank you for your response Ian.

The lease agreement does allow for either of us to give 30 days notice in in spite of the end date being 31 January 2020, so he wouldn't have to lose his deposit if he gave notice.

He wants to pay the rent, but his theory is that I would earn it back with airbnb bookings, re-fund him, and keep the profit... which creates this weird  situation where I am leasing my spare room to him, then I am leasing it from him. So those cancel each other out.

And then I'm again subletting it to someone else but not making nearly as much money as I would've if I did not have a tenant ... 

The more I talk through it the worse of a deal it sounds, hence my thinking this might perhaps be worth my while if I offered him a discount on his rent, rather than his idea of re-funding him.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Marina1009 

It is simply up to him to pay you his rent, and not for you to act as his agent. If you lease YOUR room you keep all the money, but that won't happen whilst he's still there and you have an active lease.

Tell him, great idea but no. You're not getting involved in any further letting arrangement. Like anybody else, if he goes on holiday he still needs to pay his home expenses. That way, he'll have all his belongings still there when he gets back.

[Chris232]

@Marina1009 

I'm with @Ian-And-Anne-Marie0  on this one,

It sounds like your tenant wants his cake and eat it at same time whilst you do all the hard work.

So he wants you to work to get guests in to pay for his rent whilst he goes off on holiday ... Really ?

And where does he put all his belongings cloths etc whilst all this is going ? and then he expects to return to a secure room waiting for him to move back in ...

If my lodger came to me to ask for this my reply is sure.

End the tenancy, move out vacate the room and they can find somewhere else when they return from their holiday.

In the meantime you have the option to either AirBnB the room for yourself or find another tenant. (which you will be doing so anyway at the end of Jan 2020)

[Mark116]

@Marina1009   If you want to do it, do it, but be aware that you are doing your current tenant a huge favor, and IF you do it, make sure to get in writing that the tenant is responsible for any money that is not recouped by airbnb.  Or you could just say no, it is fully within your rights to say no, the tenant is responsible for the rent, if he/she wants to travel for 2 months, it's up to him to have the rent.

[Anonymous]

@Marina1009 It does sound best to utilize that 30-day notice agreeement and let the tenant's contract expire the the end of October. That also gets him time to remove his belongings from the space before his vacation, so that you aren't also saddled with being his free storage. 

[Marina1009]

Thank you for all the responses, especially given it's not strictly speaking an Airbnb issue!

I didn't even think about who'd be responsible for his stuff, whether and where it would be stored etc...  I've decided it's gonna be a no. 

I carried on reading on other forums and encountered another potential problem to anticipate with me saying no to his idea: with the room standing empty he might try to argue he shouldn't have to pay his share of utilities for the months he is away..

That's also going to be a no. It's not like I can choose to use only half the fridge, heat half the water, use half of the communal lights, only activate the alarm for my side of the house. And if he wants out of paying for those months, then I should be refunded for the utilities I paid all the times I was away this year.