I rent the house I live in. I’ve been a very successful airbnb host for about 4 years. My landlord is not opposed in principle but has been told his insurance is invalidated by any subletting so has told me I have to stop. I’m devastated. Anyone else had that problem, and resolved it?
You have to stop. Save your money and buy a place of your own so you won’t have landlords telling you what to do. Airbnb is not really a platform for renters to use.
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I would try to find out if this is really subletting? Subletting generally has a lease that is specifically a sublet. The problem is that if your landlord thinks it is then that makes it hard. Perhaps see if you could get subletting into the lease? Maybe even offer to pay for it. Or purchase your own coverage. Renter’s insurance is very affordable.
Oh dear, your landlord is right @jenlarner you really should have taken out home insurance to cover short term lets to avoid being in this situation.
Why not do some research around costs for this and see if your landlord would be open to your covering them.
I am glad you have been very successful. Perhaps its time to use the money you have earnt over the last four years to put down a deposit on your own place and then you won’t have to worry about what landlords think 
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It’s not possible for me to get my own place due to age and inability to
get a mortgage. I didn’t realise I could get insurance to cover it - I do
the contents insurance, but the landlord does the buildings insurance and
it’s that that is placing restrictions on ‘subletting’.
Sorry, you have been given misinformation above. Renters insurance will not cover you or the owner of your property for anything except things like theft. Actually it’s difficult for homeowners ourselves to find proper coverage. Standard homeowners insurance does not cover commercial activities like Air. . So whether you call it subletting or not it’s not covered. It a a specialty insurance product. There are ton of threads here about this.
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I don’t think I provided misinformation. There is specialist insurance that covers home insurance for short terms lets certainly in the UK and I have also seen this discussed by US hosts too. I have a policy myself.
No, not YOU @Helsi!!! 
I meant Duane. He told the OP that renters insurance would cover her for Air activities.
Sorry for the confusion!
You need specific insurance to cover Airbnb activity. The good news is it’s a product that’s out there.
If you’re a live in host the good news is you’re not subletting. Are you uk based in a flat or HOA?
Because if you are the bad news is although you’re not subletting you’re almost certainly going against a clause in your landlords lease such as no business activity in the property or that the property should be used for single families only.
I’d recommend that you discuss these points with your landlord to find out if any apply.
I live in a house not a flat or HOA. My landlord doesn’t object in principle to my doing airbnb but can’t find buildings insurance that will cover it.
Hello @jenlarner
Have you spoken to an insurance broker to see what they advise? I don’t understand why having guests in short stays when you are a live in host, should impact on building insurance.
It will impact on home insurance of course. (Have you got home insurance for short term lettings by the way?)
And @Zandra is right if there is a clause in your lease that says you shouldn’t run a business, even if your landlord has given your their tacit permission, that could leave you vulnerable to eviction at any time.
If you want to try and continue, take control. See a broker, if the landlord needs another type of building insurance pay the extra, of course make sure you have home insurance make sure it is for short term lets and offer to pay legal fees to amend your lease to take out/amend the clause about running a business.
To clarify @helsi I wasn’t talking about a clause in the host’s lease. I was talking about a clause in her landlords lease, assuming the property is a flat or leasehold. Increasingly houses are leasehold over here too so it’s becoming a bit difficult to tell which properties can be Airbnb’d and which can’t.
In this case even if her landlord is ok with it his mortgage provider almost certainly won’t be. It’s a bit of a nightmare getting the correct permissions. My honest feeling is that the landlord would prefer to stop all Airbnb activity in his home.
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In fact, the website says, “The Host Protection Insurance program now provides primary coverage for Airbnb hosts and landlords, as additional insureds, in over 15 countries.”
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Hi @EllenN
There is the guarantee which I have been talking about and their host protection insurance which I understand is a liability insurance. Rather than a property insurance.
Gets confusing doesn’t it
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Airbnb’s property protection policy is called the Host Guarantee rather than Host Protection Insurance. It still says that it’s not a replacement for homeowner insurance. Also, there are many exclusions (pets, common areas), limitations (jewelry, artwork) and depreciation for wear and tear which gets complained about a lot on this forum. I’m sure that the original poster’s landlord doesn’t care about property coverage. Liability would be his/her concern.
I said renters insurance was affordable, didn’t say that it would cover her on this. Sorry if it got misunderstood. No matter, a professional has to look into this.
There has to be some cases out there where claims have been made. I can’t seem to find any references. I did find this link to an article on Learn Aibnb.
http://learnairbnb.com/airbnb-liability-insurance/
This seems like a good start to coming to an understanding about this subject.
Using Google turns up a lot of references to this subject. Using “airbnb insurance” got some quick references.
This was just updated a few days ago. It does pertain to the US but I’m sure there are some similarities with other countries.
Maybe he doesn’t write for Huffington? Consider that.
Dude, Huffington does NOT pay writers. I have been a professional writer for 30 plus years and believe me, by now I know what gigs pay and what gigs don’t. This guy probably wrote some PR promo piece and sent it to Huffington and they ran it.
Oh… Look at this! I might be right.
**Robert Harrow **
Analyst at ValuePenguin.com
Consider THAT.
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