I have an inquiry from someone who wants to rent for 65 days next year. It is a very large house in a vacation destination. The total cost would be close to $30k. They have just sent another email indicating that there are currently in my city and would like to come see the house. My inclination is to just deny the reservation. It just doesn’t seem right. Has anyone experienced this situation? Thanks in advance.
Lots to think about there.
- This would absolutely require a lease, prepared by an attorney.
- If this is at a distant time (2021), I would require a sizable and nonrefundable security deposit to hold the days. Nonrefundable in the case of any cancelation. Maybe refundable at the end of the lease, if the property is in good condition.
- Not through Airbnb!
- Also to consider: Do you want your property out of the Airbnb market for 65 days?
And probably lots more.
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I could write up all sorts of stuff. OR … I can just be smart and lazy and agree with @RebeccaF.
I think I’ll do the latter. 
Yeah NOT through airbnb. Official lease, Full payment up front that you put into an escrow account. Non-refundable deposits. They do NOT get a key until the full payment clears. Better yet, install a system where their code expires the day after their term - so they get locked out.
Do they have any history with air? It could be a scam/bs or it could be legit. I would certainly msg with them, to see if their story holds water. Start with “We do not do long-term bookings via Airbnb but would be happy to discuss, etc”.
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NOpe. Nope. Nope-ity nope. If they can’t tell by the pics and don’t want to sign a lease and provide a non-refundable deposit, NOPE.
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I don’t get the point here. I travel 12 months a year and rent many places up to 2-3-4 months through Airbnb.
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Why an attorney? A lease is not that complicated to do. Anyway, if the renters are out of your legal jurisdiction, it’s a waste of time. They better book via Airbnb.
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Off course you need an deposit, refundable at the end of the lease.
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Why not?
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What is the goal of listing the home if it’s NOT to get it rented? Makes no sense at all.
Also, they want to visit the house. That’s great. Just ask them a deposit, take the ID (passport / driver license / phone / etc.) and a hard deposit (no refund) then if they want to book through Airbnb, I don’t see the problem.
If they are in the same legal jurisdiction, better same the 15% (commission) and do everything on lease contract.
*save the Airbnb commission (15%)
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Approach this the same way you would if you were showing the house to be sold. If you let them look at the house, have someone there to show them around - perhaps you can hire a local realtor.
And expect them to want a sizable discount for a 65-day rental. Keep in mind that over 28 days may (depending on your location) give them tenant rights and means you can’t easily evict them.
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If you agree to this, can you be there in person?
If so, apart from your time, I can’t see why you wouldn’t meet with them on site and get to understand why they need a place for 65 days. Maybe bring a friend along.
I am into the 2nd month of a two month rental through AirBnB. First the guest booked for 2 weeks although they talked about much longer, but I had another guest booked after them.
They were very good guests, highly communicative and clean so then doing an extended period was easy. Recently they asked to extend another month but it is not available for the whole period. Assume they are looking for something else now but will see.
Be advised on a long booking, even though AirBnB charges the guest the full amount they only release funds to you on a month by month basis.
Certainly I haven’t had anyone inquiring about 65 and we have a 21 day maximum for the reasons others have outlined above. If I get a message about a stay longer than that, I tell the inquirer that it’s not possible.
There doesn’t seem to be any point whatsoever in stating a maximum period and then breaking my own rules.
I’ve had several people want to see the property but obviously they can’t see inside as it would be a pretty good reason for the present guests to get annoyed - I’d be very annoyed if I was staying in an Airbnb rental and the host started showing people around when I was paying for the place.
Because both apartments are within a stone’s throw of my own, I tell them they are welcome to look at the outside of the place and that I’ll go out and talk to them if my schedule allows.
My guests have wound up extending until May which makes this a 4 month rental but these are weird times and travel restrictions made it had for them to get home. All they do is extend the reservation on the AirBnB site. I don’t have o worry about hospitality taxes which are a thing in my area, they can pay by credit card, I get insurance etc. why wouldn’t someone want a longer term tenant. Sure you usually give a discount but you maintain 100 ‰ occupancy and it is so much easier.
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The primary reason now is because they will get tenant rights and if they stop paying you literally have no protection. You won’t be able to evict them for months. And if they are from overseas they can just get on a plane and say “see yah!”
But everyone will take the risks they feel comfortable with.
On AirBnB the most they will ever be from what I can tell is a month to month tenancy, because that is how the charges and payments work. If they refuse to leave you also have AirBnB on your side. I am not advocating doing a 3 month lease directly, although I have about 6 apartments that are rented full time and have been doing rental real estate for 40 years and in all that time only had one tenant I had to evict. And she was after 18 years of paying extremely high rents…
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Every case I’ve read about where a long-term Airbnb tenant refused to leave, Airbnb simply contacts the guest and asks them to leave. If they still refuse or if they don’t respond, Airbnb just tells the host “Sorry, follow your local laws to evict them.”
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This is true. The law is the law and although some people might think otherwise, Airbnb is not above the law.
Many people have had long term tenants without any problems at all. Some of us have had long term tenants (though not from Airbnb in my case) that have been extremely expensive nightmares.
Airbnb will not help a host to deal with a squatting guest. The host has to go through the legal process.
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