Shifting from STL to LTL (Politics Free Topic)

In Australia they have proposed bringing in a law that you CANNOT EVICT a person who has lost their job/income, or whatever in long term rentals until COVID is over. Or mandatory DISCOUNTS on the rental amount. This may be replicated in other countries. I have leased my Aussie Airbnb for 3 months on a rental site. A lot of demand. However, mine is not big nor posh. Good luck everyone, but maybe price a little higher, and good bonds upfront. ALWAYS do background checks.

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ADVICE PLEASE! I have 3 months duration for length of stay on my Airbnb listing as I am open to hosting First Responders. I have a request from a person who says she is a First Res. and wants to rent “short term” for 6-9 months. She has asked how much of a discount F.R. get, and how much would the rent be for her stay.
Well yikes! I mentioned the max 3 mos, and told her that I have a weekend booking in August. The weekend is not a problem, she says, but doesn’t say anything about the 3 mos. She asked on the Air site if we could do this offline and not through Air, probably thinking she’d get a better deal? I said that Air would remove my listing if they found that I basically poached their business…! Had to cover my ass, right?
Bottom line: she keeps sending emails with her phone number ( blocked out), asks about the rate ( again), and although I keep asking her to complete her profile, she still has not done that. She says that she is a Wellstar employee. It’s a hospital close by, and that she travels to 14 sites, so she sounds fairly legit. She just gave me her email ( in code, of course).
QUESTION: 1-How do we know these folks are, in fact, First Responders? Something must trigger giving them the discount that I put on my listing.
2-If I find that this is just too much work ( 2 days back and forth, and I did Pre-approve the month-long stay), do I get dinged somehow when I just do nothing to inquiries? I’ve had 4 this year where guest was not a good fit, didn’t answer questions, yadayada…so I just left them as inquiries.
3- I’ve asked for her housing budget so we can talk turkey, but she won’t answer. I’ve asked her to complete profile- no action. I’ve given her a very ballpark number saying it’s just an estimate so she can say whether she can afford or not and move on. So far no response to my rent-estimate.
What would you folks do at this point?
Thank you bunches

If you’re not willing to rent longer than 3 months, then just say that and stop responding. I assume that’s not actually the case or you wouldn’t be here.

This is an automatic NO, although you may consider doing the first month or two on Airbnb and subsequent months off. If you do anything off Airbnb, at least get a lease agreement and a security deposit.

1 - Airbnb has a specific process for COVID responders. Both you and her should be using it.
2 - Inquiries don’t hurt you as long as you responded to the very first message within 24 hours.
3 - I personally would cut this one loose. There’s a strong possibility that this guest wants to negotiate pricing based on 6+ months but plans to stay a lot less than that. Based on Airbnb’s Long-term cancellation and payout structure, hosts shouldn’t discounts their rates to less than what they would accept for a 1-month stay.

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Thank you, Brian, for your advice. Spot on with what I was thinking. The part about renting via Air for the 3 months and then off is a smart idea, but we both know that even trying to do long-term via Air is difficult. I have a lease that guests sign, but I need her email and won’t get the email unless she books, right? OR- does Air assign an email when guest completes the profile?
AND- then there is the problem of the Security Deposit. Only way to get one is to request it AFTER I accept booking.
AND- then there’s the question of charging for other fees like utilities. The safest way to ensure that I get them would be to add them to the monthly rate or request the payment each month?
I didn’t realize how poor Air is set up for LT. I’m surprised that they haven’t done an update to their system while bookings are off.
Too bad because hosting F.R. is a great idea.
thanks again for your help!

There’s way too many red flags on this- she wants a discount, she wants to stay for 6-9 months when it clearly says 3 months max, she’s trying to get you to book off-platform, she only partially answers your questions, or doesn’t respond. If she really is a first responder, maybe she’s just overworked and distracted, but her communication thus far bodes ill. I’d not waste any more time dealing with her.
As for verifying that people who claim to be medical personnel or first responders, or essential workers actually are- I would ask for their full name, where they are going to be working, and check it out myself- I wouldn’t trust Airbnb’s verification procedure- I’ve been reading about way too many people trying to book under this initiative who were just scamming. A legitimate first responder shouldn’t balk at knowing that you want to verify for yourself.

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@Brian_R170 gave you good info.

Like @muddy said— Also if too many red flags, don’t do it.

About your questions:

  1. You can get a supplemental lease while they rent on the Airbnb platform. You can send it via the Airbnb anonymous email after booking. Put it in your house rules that it is required. If she doesn’t sign, house rules violation so terminate reservation. Prior to booking let her know it is required.

[quote=“cmpipe, post:44, topic:41298”
AND- then there is the problem of the Security Deposit. Only way to get one is to request it AFTER I accept booking
[/quote]

  1. While on Airbnb platform you can’t get the usual 1 month security deposit and 1st months rent like you do a traditional LTR.

I leave my usual $200 deposit on Airbnb and if move to private rental after 60-90 days, then request/enforce the traditional LTR deposit. the move to traditional means the guest doesn’t pay Airbnb fees and if property left in good shape deposit returned. Ultimately saves them money so they tend to be receptive to the change

[quote=“cmpipe, post:44, topic:41298”
AND- then there’s the question of charging for other fees like utilities. The safest way to ensure that I get them would be to add them to the monthly rate or request the payment each month?
[/quote]

  1. Don’t overthink this. You know what your usual utility bills are. For a 90 day rental on Airbnb when you determine your rate be sure to change a little extra Incase the utilities go over. If it goes past 90 days, consider if it is worth the trouble for the guest to put utilities in their own name or put a utility allowance in the lease and they owe if it goes over. For example say, “up to $125 in electricity is included. If the bill for any month is greater, tenant will be responsible for the difference”

  2. If you want to verify employment, ask to see her Hospital issued ID At check in. again put showing the ID in your house rules.

Your anxiety is clear. If this is too stressful—don’t do it.

You are in the drivers seat. Do what you are comfortable doing.

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Airbnb will never give you a guests direct e-mail, they only give you an e-mail that is a proxy through Airbnb’s system. However, Airbnb will stop censoring e-mails, phone numbers, and URLs after booking, so the guest can give you their e-mail address.

Airbnb forbids hosts from directly collecting security deposits from Airbnb guests, so, at best, you could collect a deposit only for an off-platform reservation.

For bookings on Airbnb, I would just pad the monthly rate to a safe and reasonable amount. Trying to collect money from guests after they check-in can be a disaster.

Outside of Airbnb, I would do pass-through. Which means you charge the guest exactly what you are charged by the utility company. This is the most fair, but also the most work for you. There is a benefit in Arizona that pass-through utilities are not taxed, whereas if a landlord just adds a flat amount to the monthly rate, that amount is taxed, so pass-through saves the guest a little money. It also means the security deposit should account for a month’s worth of utilities.

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all excellent advice. i have mentioned the lease and it’s in the house rules as my PMS houses my rental agreement that guests e-sign.
oh- i have been reading the Air help on LT and they say that there is a way for them to collect the actual security deposit from guests on LT rentals, so that is new.
Thank you for helping me!!!

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Yes, all good suggestions. I told her that she would cover utilities, and was going to pad the rental rate or lump them together and call it a “fee”.
Anyway, she has not responded to my latest email about saying that i want to help, but need her to follow through on some requests that I’ve already mae like complete profile, give me her budget, etc.
she may have moved on. i wouldn’t mind 3 months or even 6, but 9 is too long. thanks again!!!

I believe it is new! If you have a link to this handy I’d love to see it. Thanks in advance!

You can also try Zumper. They offer both application, credit check and lease draft or use your own.

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