Thinking of airbnb'ing a house

[Bobbie72]

Hi, i have a tenant leaving my property, its a full house with a garden, I'm thinking of letting out to Airbnb. Have you ever had the problem of not being able to get guests out, what are my rights, what have you done ?

[Gillian166]

the only time i had tenants stay too long was actual "normal" tenants who had a lease, and then kept on promising to leave "soon" once the lease was expired. they stayed about 2 weeks over their lease, left the place ok but in needing of a deep, deep clean. 

for airbnb i've only had 1 person who thought he had a 2 day booking and we had to text and phone him numerous times to get him to return from some tourist attraction to pack up and leave. 

you might want to hit up youtube (there's videos about this exact topic, and more), and watch some stuff about hosting, and don't let those whizbang millenials boys scare you off, they make everything seem very complicated but that's cos they are selling training courses. 

[Elaine701]

@Bobbie72 

Never had any problems with overstayers.

But you should limit bookings to 28 days. That seems to keep it under the "long term tenancy" threshold in most places in the world. And that means you can always legally force them to leave. 

Second, if it's a "whole house", I'd make the minimum booking at least 3 days, maybe 5. All of your costs of preparing for each guest are consumed in the first night. It's the following nights that you make profit.

So, the longer the stay, the better you make out. Up to a point, anyway. Most guests will expect clean bedding every week or so. Also, more than 2 weeks stay is really enough. You need to get back in the house and make sure everything's still ok every couple of weeks or so. Those longer bookings are rare anyway. 

If you stay wise, you'll do well. But just be smart. Read up on other host experiences here. It's very valuable information. 

Good luck! 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Bobbie72 the 28 days may probably be sensible but it doesn't apply in the UK. Key in the UK seems to be who pays the utility bills etc. but I have never found the definitive legal definition. If you go down the STR route then research Furnished Holiday Let rules on gov.uk.

[Alexandra199]

Hi Bobbie,

You have already had some good advice above. I just want to add though that please be fully aware that hosting is hard work! If you are going to do it well you need to understand that it is not a 9-5 job, you are almost 'on call' all the time. Most hosted stays go fine, guest checks in, has a lovely stay and checks out. Everything works perfectly and when you go to clean there is nothing damaged and everything is wonderful. You lock up with a smile on your face and chuffed at what a wonderful Airbnb host you are and how lucky you are to earn money in this way.

BUT..... then there are the guests who don't know how to unlock a front door. The guest who takes a shower with the screen outside the tray and they flood the bathroom and downstairs room. The dishwasher that decides to stop working half way through a stay and my personal favourite, the almost brand new boiler that packs up....on Christmas Eve.

All these things and more have happened to me at varying times of the day and night. You cant just sit back and say 'oh well that's their problem because I have dinner plans tonight'. 

Before becoming a full time host I was a Detective in the UK Police. Tragedies happened and I had to drop everything to deal with it, cancelling plans and even personal holidays. It is that part of the job that I didn't lose when I became a host. I'm very lucky as I am very handy, i can fix most plumbing issues, mend stuff, do anything DIY based. If I had to get tradespeople in I would be stuffed and my guests would be cross.

There are lots of great things about hosting and compared to policing its a doddle, but please be sure you are ready for the unexpected to happen because it often does. Oh, and then there are the reviews.....

[Sarah977]

@Bobbie72  Airbnb was set up as a short term rental platform, and as such works pretty well. But even though they are now promoting long term stays, there are none of the safeguards in place that a landlord would normally use in order to protect themselves and I would never use Airbnb for more than a 28 day stay. 

So if you are thinking about finding tenants through Airbnb, as opposed to moving  from long term to short term rentals, that isn't a great idea unless Airbnb comes up with protections for long term stay hosts.

[Helen3]

@Bobbie72  do some market research and put together budgets for STR and LTR to see which might give you the best profit levels once you have taken into account your time in managing your listing/cleaning/utilities/council tax etc

You can estimate demand by using Airdna and your local tourist board footfall figures. 

Yes guests can refuse to live but it would be unusual. 

But as an established SH yourself...I'm sure you already know this 🙂