In the U.S. a mortgage on a property that is not your primary residence will have a higher interest rate than the mortgage on your primary residence. This is because you have more incentive to not walk away from the loan on a property you live in as opposed to an investment property. If you move out of a residence that you have stated on the loan application is your primary residence you are supposed to tell your mortgage lender.
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Me too. I have a freehold property which I own outright.
So am I happy that I provided my views, from a standpoint of being completely legal in what I do.
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tough crowd 
i donāt really feel that I either need to defend myself nor explain things better but here it goes.
once again, all you can think whatever you may feel.
i originally posted this after great feedback from some of you on my very 1st post on this forum after not really knowing what to do with my first cancellation request
anyway ā¦
i live in one of the most expensive city to live in
whether you own your unit or rent, if it is in the high rise building (which 99% of downtown core) then you are under a building management - all of them do not allow short term rental (ie. AirBnB)
even then, we have more than 5000 listings in the city and in high demand (with being one of popular tourist city and limited hotel with high price tags)
legality wise, yes I have no problem admitting that I am breaking building management by-law.
thereās no regulation as far as my city goes
as long as I pay my income tax on this, my government couldnāt care less
now, am I a bad host?
my reviews say otherwise. i have tried to meet ALL of my guests in person to check them in and do my best to make sure they have everything they need in order to enjoy their stay.
Thereās been 2 guests so far that I couldnāt meet because I was out of town on business.
now with this guest
yes, i do feel bad for her that after her almost 20 hour flight and 5+ hours at customs/immigration, she had to deal with this.
but
i spent almost 4 hours waiting for her
she was in constant contact with me through free WiFi at the airport while she was dealing with customs and such
i had a business dinner meeting in other town to get to (otherwise i would have stayed)
she did follow all of check-in instruction except 1 (to message me as she was coming out of the airport - or Air message delayed - but most likely WiFi connection failed)
I am not sure what conversation she had with the hotel staff, however it was after me speaking with her directly that I am cancelling my meeting and driving back to let her check in as she is unable to get to the keycafe location - this is after she said she will go to the location)
whatever happened here, i guess I am guilty of not being able to provide easy hassel free check-in experience for this guest
had she followed the instruction properly, this would have not happened.
that being said, my biggest issue was for her not following very 1st (and every other messages that I had sent) that Air is very frown upon in this city and not to discuss with anybody.
sigh ā¦
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Zandra, are you fully legal and compliant with your mortgage holder/lord, city and state/province (or other) ordinance, and any HOA or other regulations? In other words, are you running your Airbnb completely legally or not?
James, yes, we are a tough crowd. Those of us who find issue with your situation (put yourself in the shoes of your guest, for crying out loud!) do our best to give our guests what they paid for ā a room or a home with a welcoming host in a city or country not of their own. Your guests are travelers. Traveling can be very stressful, even in the best of circumstances, but more so when one is in a foreign country. Travelers are often tired, sometimes hungry, and often in need of a restroom (toilet, for those of you who are on the other side of the pond). If you can imagine being all of that ā stressed, tired, hungry, and needing to pee ā and you canāt get into the frigginā apartment that you paid good money for (how much? US $100/night, $200/night? more?), how would you feel? My experience in Itally was after over two weeks being in Italy, already. Had we arrived at our first destination (Rome) after traveling for over 12 hours and couldnāt get into our accommodations, you bet I would have broken down and told whomever I thought would help me what the situation was. You should have been there for your guest and thatās the bottom line. You failed. Donāt blame you poor guest. But please do your best to make amends. Personally, I would offer her half of her total booking cost back to her, plus a nice bottle of wine. If this had happened to you (or ā your mother?), what would make it better for you, after the fact that you (or your mother) were left crying in a strange high-rise hotel lobby? Do what is right by your guest. If you canāt do that, donāt be a host. Simple as that.
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@Zandra - interested in your take that in the UK mortgage providers āgenerally donāt allow BNBā - I have friends who have mortgages with a variety of the large providers - banks and building societies - they have all allowed BNB - as long as the right insurance is in place.
Has your mortgage provider told you that you canāt let your property through BNB?
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And, I have to add this: what a typical āeasyā day of internal travel from the middle US to Europe is like, to put things in perspective: Luggage was packed the day before; travel to the airport ā 45 minutes (we are lucky to be close to our international airport). Get a coffee and then wait 20-30 minutes to go through security. Hang around the flight gate for an hour and a half. Boarding ā half an hour. Waiting for take-off ā another 20-30 minutes. Ten hour flight from Denver to Munich. Get coffee in Munich and hang out for another hour. Board flight ā half an hour. Waiting for take-off ā another 20-30 minutes. An hour flight from Munich to Rome. Disembark, try to figure out where the platform is for the train from the airport to the station in Rome. Arrive at the train station in Rome. Realize that you have to log into the stationās free wifi to contact host. Use a map to figure out your route in a very convoluted city to find your BNB, meet your host, take a shower, and then wander out into the night in a strange city to find a decent restaurant.
At any point, if something goes wrong, the average traveler (who doesnāt go abroad but a few times in their life), will experience a lot of stress ā especially if traveling to a country where you donāt speak enough of the language to get beyond ordering a glass of wine. When things really go wrong ā such as, you canāt get into the apartment you rented, itās all too much, especially if you are traveling alone.
Have a heart and please be sympathetic and caring to your guest.
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Unnecessary, and not in the spirit of a forum supposed to help people.
Why would you want someone to be evicted or homeless? My father was killed in a car accident, would I wish a speeding driver be thrown off the road or hurt for not driving ālegallyā? I bet most of you making very harsh and holier than thou comments about the ālawā have plenty of driving infringements, I have none, ever. Donāt be so judgemdmtal to people here asking for help.
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Another thing to add from previous comment eliel - With most listing sites in U.S., the owner of the rental fills in the amount of tax to be collected when getting the listing set up. The same way you would fill in your rates and cleaning fee. And the owner submits the tax, not the listing site.
For example - with every guest transaction I collect hotel tax from the guest. No matter if they book me through Booking.com, Flipkey, Homeaway, etc. I used to collect it in cash upon arrival with Air. But now Air does collect tax in my state. And now Air turns in the tax for me.
So on the 20th of the money I have to figure out how much I owe my county and how much I owe the state for hotel tax. Well, now I have to total sales and then subtract the portion that Air has turned in. I submit the balance of taxes.
So Air still refuses to put a tax line for those areas where they do not collect tax. But they are going around making agreements to collect tax on behalf of owners. This is not normal.
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Hello again. Firstly I rentā¦ But Iām in a very unique situation where I donāt have a contract. Iāve done Airbnb since the beginning as a live in host. When I needed to rent the whole property (off travelling) I spoke with my landlordā¦ More out of politeness because I was worried something could go wrong. No problems. My landlord also happens to be the freeholder. I have the right insurance too, I got that a few weeks in when I realised I needed public liability insurance. At first my insurers said no: I had to explain it wasnāt quite a traditional b&b setting and they finally accepted.
What could potentially have been an issue is the building managementā¦ Iād been worried about but I didnāt issue any warnings to guestsā¦ I just tried to minimise any involvement they might have with management staff. Well I soon learned itās impossible to keep these groups separate - at some point someone wonāt follow the instructions youāve given them. And thatās when I found out they werenāt bothered. They just sent my guest up to my front door no problems. Itās happened a few times since, absolutely no issues and when I left for a long trip I actually went down and left the name of the guest with them. No problem suprisingly but I mostly hear stories of the absolute opposite.
With regard to insurers, freeholders and mortgage providers; one of them usually says no. Thatās three different organisations to go through. A friend wanted to Airbnb the whole property in Barking and Dagenham and couldnāt because the council has rules about multiple occupancy, and her mortgage company said no. Sheās a very up front person and was blocked from the get go so she never got off the ground with it. on the other hand I know someone who has decided to go with Airbnb and wait until they get caught at which point they will plead ignorance. I donāt judge her for that - sheās a grown adult who understands the risk sheās taking. Iāve seen a fair few posts from people saying: Iām not allowed to do Xā¦ Thatās clearly because, even though theyāre home owners they too havenāt told who they needed to tell.
So yes Lost has done things wrong but Iām pretty sure heās not the only one.
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I donāt think youāre right on your understanding of this Yana ā¦ Mortgage lenders definitely care.
Exactly. And what normally happens is then your mortgage terms are changed and you pay a higher rate of interest. A much higher rate usually ā¦
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I did and many times, and not once my interest rate was changed. When interest rate is fixed bank can not just change it because owners situation changed.
Initially it will have higher interest rent if you buy it as investment property not after when situation changed for the owner. I had my house to become rental few times and my interest never became higher. Insurance is a totally different issue, I would myself want a higher insurance if property becomes rental.
You are in a different country, how do you even having a saying here I donāt understand?
We have different laws here for every town, and you are telling me that I donāt have correct understanding when I live in US and you do have clear understanding of US laws living in UK?
I was in a situation few times not once and never my interest was changed. Itās a process to change interest rate, both parties have to sign papers, itās not going to happen because bank said so.
And yes, bank knew it became rental as we were applying for a second house, and first was becoming rental unit so we could show it as income producing property. And it was the same bank for second property.
Emily, OP came here to complain on his guest . But the fact is that he is doing illegal activities, he is sneaking on everyone around him just to make a buck. Not only that he is careless as a host and totally clueless on how to treat a paying guest.
OP us looking for compassion in his " crime", which is not going to happen here, and rightfully so
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Yeah but you knew she would not get in since she never texted you from airport. You STILL took off to your business meeting and left her stranded
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Hi @Zandra
Sorry your friend had that experience.
With mortgage companies they are normally fine as long as you let them know - they normally just charge more (see Nationwide link) http://www.nationwide.co.uk/support/support-articles/manage-your-account/letting-your-property/letting-your-property-overview
It sounds like the issue with the Council was that they thought she wanted to create an HMO rather that let out a whole property which probably would have been fine.
Potentially we can make a lot of money from letting our homes through BNB - so I donāt mind investing in what I need to do to make everything legal and ensure I have the right insurance etc. Itās just a cost of doing business and making a profit.
I appreciate many thousands of others take the approach that they will illegally sublet until they get caught - which is entirely up to them
The people that annoy me are those who donāt care about the people they host - giving them a bad experience and in turn giving BNB a bad reputation.
And hosts who sub let in apartment buildings and donāt care about whether they have noisy or unsavoury guests who upset the neighbours and in some cases put them in danger.
āSo yes Lost has done things wrong but Iām pretty sure heās not the only oneā - I canāt say I agree with your point of view here. Just because other people behave badly - doesnāt mean that we should excuse bad behaviour.