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I’m new to renting short term and so far I like it. I’ve always rented my single family rental home on an annual basis, traditional lease, background check, verification of references, etc. Today I received a request for quote for a monthly price. I replied that in my listing it advertises 20% off my regular price for a monthly rental, which is still high for our area, despite my house being fully furnished with all utilities included. The inquiring guest has a 3 month temporary job offer in my area and plans to move his family there for that time.
My concern is that airbnb doesn’t (seem to?) allow for any of the traditional background/ reference checks, income verification, legal protection (and squatter prevention) that comes from a traditional long term lease and interview process. And it costs the user so much more (10%). How are you all doing this safely?
A long term request is fraught. It basically confers tenant status on these guests who then acquire all the full rights of regular tenants such as due process. If you do rent to the long term people, try three weeks at first to see if you like them, and then get all the background stuff for further verification, and make them sign a regular lease… You don’t get paid the full amount anyway at the outset.
If you get a squatter you won’t be protected and ABB will not help you.
Be really really careful! Google Palm Springs Airbnb squatter for a nightmare and a BIG BEWARE…
(Also, guests between housing can be a bad risk. Don’t commit to the long term yet. See how three weeks goes.)
What Kona said – AirBnb is a platform for Short Term Rentals, not LTRs. If you must LTR, better to go the route you are previously familiar with – it’s safer.
I also don’t recommend giving discounts for longer rentals. Marriott doesn’t why should you?
I have done something like this. I only agreed to a 28-day stay via ABB and told them to try it out first and we’d discuss a longer term towards the end of his stay. At day 27 he executed a standard month-to-month lease. It’s worked out well. He’s a great tenant.
Anyone who thinks long term rentals on Airbnb aren’t a problem needs to read up on some tales of Airbnb squatters.
You are conferring long term status on anyone staying 30 days or more.
That means they become your TENANT, with all the rights that status entails. That means they are entitled to due process.
Don’t believe me?
Just google it. If Air guests stay on longer than 30 days like tenants without getting a lease, a deposit and verification is ASKING FOR TROUBLE. There is a reason landlords get those things. People like to get in a place and once they have possession know it will be hard to get them out!!!
We have a member here on this forum who posted about just such a nightmare. The “guest” decided she wasn’t checking out and made life hell for the host. Even filing TROs on the host, which had they been granted, would have prohibited the host from entering her OWN HOME. And yes she apparently had every right to do so. She stayed on months while the host spent thousands on lawyers to get her out properly.
As a brand new host, you enjoy a 3 month bump in search results so that you can generate bookings and build a review history before competing with all the other listings in the middle of the pack. If there are many listings in your area, you may want to consider the value of building positive reviews during this early period.
I understand this is your opinion but, frankly, it is ill-informed. It sounds like you posted without reading the other posts in this thread which outline some very alarming potential issues. How can you “disagree” with squatter’s rights?
Just because these incidents aren’t publicized doesn’t mean they don’t happen. As I said a real live member of THIS forum, our forum, went through agony for months with this issue that could have been avoided in the first place with simple protections. It was just as bad as the Palm Springs case.
It’s okay to rent long term to Air guests as long as you protect yourself. So easy to do!!!
In some states there is no protection. In California every lease automatically becomes a month to month rental when the lease terminates. Also, a lease doesn’t protect you from having to follow eviction proceedings even if the terms of the lease are broken. Even if you let someone stay with you for free they have all the rights of a paying tenant. Landlord/Tenant law being so skewed toward tenants is one of the reasons so many people here opt to rent their property short term.
Excellent points Ellen. I was thinking about our friend here when she went to court. Having a lease would have proved her guest’s relationship as a tenant. But she had no documentation whatsoever, and the squatter was able to prove she had a right to be there because she started getting mail at the address. Her lawyer advised her to follow the full due process for the eviction to proceed. This lady was in Pennsylvania.
Are used to get a lot of people requesting a quote for a long-term stay and I found no matter what you do your quote is never cheap enough so now I ban stays longer than 10 days. It’s just very annoying how cheap people are.I also specifically state no parties allowed, no baby showers, no photo shoots etc. you would not believe the odd requests I get. I also state only paying guests are allowed on the property. I have a very large garden and sometimes people would bring up a relative to sit with them in the garden. I don’t really want that because that means more flushing of the toilet etc.
