New host. County just passed a 30 day minimum str ordinance. There are 5 abnbs on our street. One was served a notice by a sheriff. We just changed to a 30 day minimum. I just got a inquiry for January, February and March. They have 0 reviews new to abnb as of September. They did shared their names and where they are from. I responded with the questions abnb suggested. Is there anything else I should be doing? Thank you.
Right out of the gate hosting a guest for 90 days seems a little risky to me especially with no reviews.
Did they respond to your questions?
There are lots of people on this site that will be giving you great advice.
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They have not responded yet.
We would NEVER do LTR using Air or any similar site. Always Direct with big up front deposits and an iron-clad contract.
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Air etc is fine for Short Term (< 28 days). With Air and long-term, you would have little or no protection for damages, no deposits, no leverage at all if the TENANT (not a guest!) stops paying and just stays there. Oh yeah, and only get paid 1 month at a time.
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Sounds like time for you to find other rental avenues. Airbnb is really risky for 30 days or more. Your “guest” becomes a tenant in most jurisdictions, and will fall under landlord/tenant regs. Huge hassle to evict, for any reason.
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I routinely rent for over 28 nights via Airbnb in the off-season. Most of the guests are new to Airbnb.
Like others have said Airbnb is not set up for rentals of longer than 27 nights.
They don’t handle my area taxes correctly for longer term rentals.
If you are in the USA:
Because in most states, this is considered a long term rental & conveys residency rights, get a lease agreement.
A website like Furnished Finder is set up for 30-180 night rentals. $100 host enrollment fee & for a fee ($35???) you guest can request a credit & background check. I think they may provide state specific rental agreements.
You can do all this on your own. You can create a minimal content listing on Zillow $9.95/week) the guest can request a credit & background check $35 by Zillow. Some HOAs will do these checks for landlords too.
If you have a friend in Real Estate they can probably provide you with an agreement.
Airbnb really isn’t the correct platform for you.
Zillow (expensive) & Furnished Finder https://www.furnishedfinder.com/ are better.
Zillow & Furnished Finder are FREE to the renter so it saves them 7-14% in fees.
You can rent on Airbnb and add a lease agreement & credit check to the Airbnb process. If you disclose a deposit in your house rules & description, I think you can get a rental deposit.
If you explain to potential rental this type of rental requires a lease & credit check, if they are sketchy, they won’t follow through.
How you handle the deposit is up to you. See what your neighbors are doing for an idea.
If you aren’t in USA, say so and perhaps hosts from your country can contribute
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For long-term rentals (usually 28-31 days or more, depending on where you live) Airbnb is taking a ~15% commission to find you 1 tenant and process 1 payment per month.
You would be much better served by advertising your property through a property management company that will take their commission and provide you the the services you actually need for long-term rentals. In addition to finding tenants and processing rent payments, a management company could provide a customized lease agreement, background/credit checks on tenants, assistance with evictions, assistance with repairs and maintenance, collecting security and cleaning deposits, etc.
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You do NOT want to do long term rentals with AirBnB!
These folks will have tenant rights. I managed 700 units of rental property for over 3 years, and I learned quickly that you ALWAYS have application forms that ask “Have you ever had an eviction action filed against you in court”? instead of “Have you ever been evicted?”.
If they are long term tenants, at the very least you check court records, or charge them an application fee that will be used for a background and credit check.
You want to do long term rentals directly, with a lease, and collect the money directly. Air has weird ways of paying long term rentals, and I would never put up with it. On the other hand, when the upstairs was a long term rental, I would never rent to someone who had not seen it themselves. In my property manager job we would have folks moving to town rent apartments sight unseen and the results were never good.
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Depending on your local laws, start with 30 day max, and tell them its possible to extend.
Take the first month trough AirBnB, and all extensions cash.
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Ask yourself why they are using Airbnb for a long term rental. I cannot see any valid reason for anyone to do so other than they will not have to go through a credit check or a background check.
If they have good credit and a respectable background they wouldn’t use Airbnb, would they?
We used to have long term tenants and returned to STR when, despite a lease, they simply stopped paying. It look several months to evict them, during which time we were paying for electricity, wifi, AC and all the other utilities they were using.
Please listen to what others have said - Airbnb is not the place to find good tenants.
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The biggest concern would be swatters. Run a report to see if they have had any evictions. There’s a site that charges you a one time fee or a monthly fee.
I’ve done this when work is paying for the guest/tenant and it’s worked well. Add a lease, get an up-front deposit for 1 month’s rent, and do a credit check on individuals and the business.
I did change one long-term guest to an off-platform rental and it was great.
And one month’s security deposit. Or 2 weeks’ worth. Up to you.
Air does do business rentals. I just had an inquiry for that and was bummed they moved him to a hotel stay. At twice the price. Hopefully he’ll be back. Excellent reviews for doing this.
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I understand your thoughts and for those of us knowledgeable about rentals we probably wouldn’t use Airbnb.
For good folks not familiar with the process and because of scammer horror stories, they are going to start with VRBO, Airbnb & local STR agencies. I have guided highly scammer aware guests to rent one month on Airbnb then rent their 2nd & 3rd months directly.
Also I’ve offered them a discounted “try it” weekend booked through Airbnb so they make sure they will be happy & comfortable during their long term stay. It also lets them confirm I’m not a scammer.
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During the pandemic I switched both AirBnBs over to 28+ day stays. This isn’t any riskier IF you protect yourself.
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Put in house rules guest must sign a rental agreement, pay deposit, and show you official government issued photo ID (driver’s license, passport, etc). Have it in the house rules that all guests over the age of 18 must sign the agreement, show ID, etc.
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Lease must include their permanent home address.
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Photograph the ID or copy the details of their ID. You want this in case it becomes necessary to evict them, take them to court for damages, etc.
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Have detailed house rules with everything spelled out and have those as part of your rental agreement.
I’ve had no problems with longer rentals. I agree that I would only (if possible) do one month and then do any extensions off AirBnB.
Some people rent off AirBnB for a month or longer because they don’t know the area and feel AirBnB gives them some security against being scammed. My current longer term AirBnB guests are moving permanently to the area from about 600 miles away. They have a house being built here but the contractor is running behind schedule so they needed a temporary housing solution here once they sold their other house. They are by no means sketchy, or lacking in resources. There are many, many reasons people need furnished housing for longer than 28 days and I’ve never had any trouble with them, whether they came through AirBnB or a another way.
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You’re an on-site host, right? I think that a long term rental with safeguards you list is much less riskier than an off-site or remote host doing long term through Airbnb.
Many many years ago, we had a similar situation with an LTR.
WiFi was easy, I snipped the copper pair going into the flat (UK remember) at the junction box in the street, courtesy of a friend of a friend who worked for BT.
I then shorted out the Scottish Power supply to the flat (two big screwdrivers and a Stanley knife 
) in the entrance vestibule where the meters were every day until SP came round and declared the supply dangerous and cut it off.
December in chilly Jockoland with only electric heating, guess how long they lasted 
JF
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Yes, 15 minutes away.
Oh, I was actually responding to @Keugenia’s post. But living 15 minutes away isn’t on-site. On-site means the host lives on the same property. Guests at host on-site listings can’t get away with things like sneaking in extra guests or pets, or having a party. And they tend to be more respectful in general. So it’s a less risky situation in many regards.
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Yes, true. One of the AirBnBs is next door to my house and shares the same driveway but the houses are about 75 feet apart. The other AirBnB house is 8 blocks from me.
All my rentals (furnished and unfurnished) are within a mile of my house. I wouldn’t like remote hosting—I think it would be too anxiety-provoking for me.
Remote LTR can work. I’m 4 hours away from my STR (LTR off season).
Yes there are risks. I’m not saying I cannot have a crash & burn in the future but so far things have gone very well. Several of my renters were either in the process of building their retirement homes close-by or were looking for a retirement home to purchase.
It hasn’t been perfect. I’ve had a couple bumps in the road that were my fault not tenant’s. Live & learn.
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