Long term stay 3 months

[Leady0]

Hello all, we have been renting in Airbnb for about 9 months and have had only short stays.

We just got a request for a person wanting to stay for 3 months, he said he would be in the area for work. We have never hosted over 7 days so we are weary. What should we look for and what can we legally ask for? I know we can write up a contract, and both parties would sign. Would we do monthly maintenance and check in?

 PS- our house is on the mountains and we have service and cleaning company so we do not reside in the area.

[Brian1613 · Accepted solution]

@Leady0 You DO NOT want to do stays over 28 days in Florida. Your guest moves from hotel guest/transient, to TENANT.  That is a big legal change, that gives them all kinds of rights, that Airbnb can do a sum total of NOTHING to help you with. They can stay, longer, stop paying rent, prevent you from locking them out, and move into an eviction process that is very costly.

Other problems with long-termers: Degradation of the property. When you do short-turns, you can clean. You can repair damages. Long-termers don’t let you have any access, if it’s a private listing, at all, without their written (ON Airbnb DM) permission to enter.  You can lose the value of all kinds of fixtures, dishwashers, and other equipment, to neglect, that costs more than you make on the STRs.

If you want to do month-to-month, become a landlord, and do that with a different set-up. Here, in Florida, it’s very risky for short-term-rentals to do what Airbnb encourages, because of our bass-ackwards law.

[Jennifer1774]

We have done a couple of longer term stays with mixed results.  One was great.  One was Ok and one was a nightmare.  The last guy was a total slob and even though our cleaners went in every two weeks there was very little they could do because he was such a mess.  It was our cleaner who finally tipped us off to what was going on inside and we asked him to leave. We had to replace all the linens, both rugs, all of the cushions on the outdoor furniture and the repairs were in the thousands. He also caused some grief with the neighbors due to some of his behavior outside with his lady friends. 

Having said that, longer term stays can be profitable.  Would I do it again?  Not at this point.  But maybe once the pain of this last one fades.  

[Lorna170]

@Leady0   I do NOT recommend hosting long term via AirBnB.  If you want to accept a long term rental, have a real contract, run the guest through a rental check, take an ACTUAL deposit and KNOW THE LAW for long term tenants.

[Huma0]

@Leady0 

I have been hosting long term on Airbnb for years and have had only a few issues. To be honest, I had far more issues with guests when I did short term.

However, other posters on this thread are right in that it depends on the legalities where you live. It also depends on the situation. I host within in my own primary home and, in the UK, that means the guests are lodgers at best and do not get tenants' rights. I can ask them to leave at any time for whatever reason, providing I give them reasonable notice. 

That is not the case in many other locations. I would be very wary of renting out an Airbnb to long term guests if I wasn't sure I was covered by the law and definitely not if they could get tenants' rights, not pay, refuse to leave, trash the place etc.

Do a quick online search on the laws regarding this in your specific area. The information should not be too difficult to find.

[Karen3403]

Hello I hope you don’t mind me jumping in on the post, I have recently taken a booking for 3 months September to November, the people are moving from Hong Kong to England and they have bought a house which should be completed by the end of November. I’m now  getting a tad worried as reading comments should I have some other agreement in place if so what and where can I find this ? Also what happens with regards to payments do I get paid after ? Initially I thought it was a good idea as these could be my quiet months (Only started doing this in June) and now I’m not so sure as I feel it will be a lot of wear and tear on the property. I’m in the Uk can anyone help me with this? Thank you in advance Karen 😊  

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Karen3403 I wouldn't panic. you will be paid the day after check in as normal but only for the first month. after a month you will be paid for the next month etc. Do bear in mind that a 3 month stay will noncount toward the 105 days needed for Furnished Holiday Let status but should not create a tenancy as long as you are paying the utility bills. I would try to clean or change the linen weekly to check the property condition.

[Karen3403]

Thank you I was planning to do a linen change once a week, do you mean the 3 months will not count for the 105  needed ? 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Karen3403 correct. You can only count stays of less than 30 (might be 31) nights towards the 105 day FHL requirement. so no nights count once you have a stay of over 30 nights.

Also more places are bringing in additional requirements on nights booked with regards to being able to pay Business Rates. I haven't had to research these yet.....

[Wendy117]

The problem I have found with long term via airbnb  is that airbnb seems to collect the money every 28 days and allows free cancellation of the remainder of the Stay - say 2 months of a 3 month rental as long as the period to be cancelled is far enough away to apply your cancellation policy. So for a month you have had those 2 months blocked on your calendar.