Rent Smart Wales and AirBnB

Regulations/Tax Issues
1

I’m planning to start my AirBnb in about a month or so. Does anyone here perhaps live in Wales and know whether I need to comply with the Rent Smart Wales requirements?
Or does short term holiday letting fall outside of that?

Also, I feel very nervous about all the things that could go wrong e.g. problems guests, damage, rowdy groups etc. Does anyone have any advice or tips for me as a newbie?

Thank you, Kay :slight_smile:

2

If you read the information on the Rent Smart Wales website, it appears fairly clear that the legislation covers those letting properties on a tenancy not STRs. @KayDee57

You would need to check with your local council to see whether you need to register as a short term holiday let/for business rates.

As a newbie read up on the basics of all things airbnb on Airbnb Help Centre and the useful guides on Airbnb community centre.

Yes things can go wrong, but there are things you can do to minimise the risk

  1. Vet your guests carefully
  2. Read up on the basics so you understand how Airbnb works
  3. Have insurance for STRs
  4. Include CCTV if you host remotely and employ a local co-host if you are not within an easy distance to manage it yourself
  5. Include house rules around extra guests, late night noise, your expectations around how you want the property to be left on check out etc.
  6. Read up on forums like this around problem guests, damage etc by using the search function.
1 Like
3

Everything @Helsi says plus
Watch out how long you rent it out for, this is from www.gov.uk
If your property is in Wales it will be rated as a self-catering property and valued for business rates if it’s both:

  • available to let for short periods that total 140 days or more per year
  • actually let for 70 days