I used to have pincode locks (evidently, i started out with “easier locks”). But the guests (in our type of big cities, mostly students visiting each other, or, tourists coming to party) tend to pass each other The Code of the lock.
Which meant i still got faced with an overcrowded house.
If i didn’t get slapped with the crazy penalties from government (they have a police force, dedicated to chase down "nuisance in rentals) i wouldn’t have given a damn if there were 2 or 200 people in the residences! but ever since the 80k penalty, i just can’t risk having to pay that. It’ll be my bankrupcy. That’s why i set out looking for biometric verification machines. It was either that, or close shop. Many have closed shop.
I am trying to help the people out there who still have hope for a solution.
Glad to hear your rentals are in area where your local government penalises hosts with nuisance rentals @seenitall
Seems it is the only thing that has stopped you having guests that cause a nuisance to your neighbours and local community.
It is only hosts that don’t bother to vet their guests properly and don’t have proper systems in place to manage their listings that have the high percentage of nuisance guests you mention.
The vast majority of us don’t have anything like the amount of nuisance guests and issues you mention.
You got it all wrong.
I had the option to take out an STR permit 8 years ago, but i declined. I wanted to stay in the LTR business. Because taking up STR permit, meant you’d have to promise never to do LTR ever again.
Like most long time hosts, i have started out as an LTR landlord, way before airbnb even existed.
My problems began, when gov. squads turned up at several flats, where my LTR renters where…airbnb’ing the place, WITHOUT my consent!!!
I even had penalties in place (daily penalties). Not only i had them, but even the building’s board had their own penalties too (some 2k per day, imposed on tenant himself).
But the trouble is: 90% of my tenants never cared the least, and just went ahead subletting their place. Always claiming “friends” were over. Till a pattern began to become visible : tenants who were alone, asking me for a “3 bedroom” without real reason why they’d need 3 (!!) bedrooms for themselves alone. Evidently, To sublet them on airbnb, was the only answer, as i later found out. When gov. officials showed up at their doors and handed out penalties (they make them ID themselves and if you don’t have a local Tax ID = you’re a tourist).
Long story short, my attempts to control my tenants were always fruitless, until i finally found out how i could install some technology which would identify who’s going in/ out.
I actually shut down all my properties for almost 1 full year to think long and hard about this. (to me it was: I was going to win this, OR , i was going to sell it all).
In the big cities in Europe, i am 100% certain, lots and lots other property owners are sitting somewhere, stuck, and thinking “how do i survive my LTR tenants who keep airbnb’ing despite my warnings?”
But not many will have the funds to sit it out, and think long and hard about this, like i did.
I posted the solution here, because i care about them.
Because shutting all my properties down, was way cheaper than running the ever higher risk of getting 80k penalty per unit. (and they gov was increasing visits/raids - or so i found out from owners around me all getting penalties, interestingly also from tenants who “ran sublets” without permission!)
It was a struggle. Many landlords like myself suffered such huge penalties (for me it was just a few smaller ones of 20k each), that they ended up putting up entire portfolios up for sale.
Anyway, i worked so long and so hard to own the properties, so I really wanted to avoid this faith.
And thank goodness, i succeeded! 
Actually you did not explain yourself properly you never mentioned they were LTR tenants you were having problems with. @seenitall
My point stands. Carefully vetting and management minimises risk of problem tenants or guests.
I live in a large European city and have never had any problems with either my long term tenants or short term guests.
Where are you based?
@Helsi, At the bottom i copied an article explaining how “LTR tenants doing illegal airbnb” is kind of the norm in popular EU cities.
So, please, don’t come telling me, it’s weird or that i could have prevented it by vetting: the tenants HIDE their airbnb intent!!!
In tourist cities, it’s… the norm that LTR renters will sublet on airbnb!!
Well, many would consider a 3weeks rental or 1 month as STR (and longer are always welcome and encouraged)
Careful vetting becomes difficult, (especially if i look for the next new LTR) because on platforms like airbnb, the tenant would say they’ll come work for UBER for example, without feeling the need to tell that they -also- plan to airbnb the place during their stay. For someone working in the tech industry, “airbnb’ing a place” seems like a small thing, and they just can’t seem to understand that there are huge penalties at stake here.
I vet people but i can’t ask them to prove to me that they won’t sublet. They are almost always workers, So you’d think they’d be law abiding.
I do make them sign our t&c before arrival and during key handover. But that never stopped them!!!
As for " you never heard of this many problems" : well, if you hang out with tech worker expats, you can just sit there and ask how they finance their living, and almost all would tell you “i airbnb my place”.
Sure, if your property isn’t in a touristy district, they will be less inclined to do it.
But mine are in downtown of a couple of cities, top tourist cities!
But now that i read (coincidentally) about the ethos in work places like Uber, it’s not longer a surprise to me that their workers don’t care about “rules”.
And i can’t start saying “No” to all tech workers, because there are almost -only- tech workers these days!!! so that’s not a way of vetting.
Unfortunately, my only way of “vetting”, is putting strict access controls in place whenever they enter and exit the building. Just like Hotels do, and they do it for a very good reason, as it turns out.
In almost all large european cities, the penalties are crazy these days.
For anyone interested, here’s an interesting article which explains how worker expats (romanians in Barcelona) who stay in and LTR now have a “life style” of renting out their LTR on airbnb, without ever getting consent from landlord. They just go ahead and do it. It’s become the norm. No wonder i faced it everywhere.
That is an interesting article. One interesting thing about it is that it doesn’t seem to be what you said it’s about. You said it
“explains how worker expats (romanians in Barcelona) who stay in and LTR now have a “life style” of renting out their LTR on airbnb, without ever getting consent from landlord.”
But this is all it says:
Two of its nine apartments, he said, had been listed at one time or another as temporary rentals, including one that had been rented out by two sisters from Romania, both in their twenties. “It was their residential strategy—it was how they could afford the apartment,” he said. Many people advertising properties on Airbnb belong to a generation whose members are accustomed to living with peers. Quaglieri noted that he had often been kept awake by late-night parties conducted in extremely loud Russian or German.
It implies but doesn’t state that they didn’t have permission of the landlords.
Most interestingly, this article has a much better explanation and criticism of investors similar to what you describe yourself as doing:
The conceit of friendly locals renting out spare rooms has been supplanted by a more mercenary model, in which centuries-old apartment buildings are hollowed out with ersatz hotel rooms. Many properties have been bought specifically as short-term-rental investments, managed by agencies that have dozens of such properties. Especially in coveted areas, Airbnb can drive up rents, as longtime residents sell their apartments to people eager to use them as profit engines.
And the problem isn’t lack of technology to monitor guests, it’s simply the hordes of tourists and proliferation of STRs in overcrowded cities.
I also love the idea of Fairbnb and hope the one host, one home model is successful.
That’s the way I read it but we all see what we want to see, I’m no exception.
I obviously meant to say " NO STR " period. (it’s not because i’m against it, but because the government, not to mention rebuild insurance policies and building board are all against it, and have different three penalties!
When i referred to the article, i never meant to say “the entire article is about my cases”. I specifically referred to the Romanian LTR (proper LTR!!!) resident tenants, who choose to live in a flat which is -clearly- well above their budget, and then end up airbnb’ing it “all the time” to be able to afford the rent.
My take on it? these romanians who can’t afford that flat ought to live outside the city within their means. Instead of living in city center, and then “making ends meet” by airbnb’ing a place and passing the liability (fire incidence etc) over to their landlord who has no idea what these romanians are doing in his property in the firs place!
In my book, tourist (or any sublet) that’s not allowed. You can’t sublet after signing a 6 months lease, if you also agreed/signed that you won’t sublet the bedroom. Besides, the insurance policy of the building doesn’t allow it. The government won’t allow it either if there is no consent obtained from landlord AND building’s board (not to mention the building insurance policy gets automatically nullified the minute a tourist is staying during a “paid stay”)
You seem to be trying to push me into the corner: bad landlord.
But the point remains: i rent out well below daily rental prices level, which is PRECISELY why new tenants try to “abuse” the monthly rent i charge, by subletting their bedrooms (and make a margin). And there is huge demand, because it’s a highly touristy area.
You know, I am a LTR. Yes, i use airbnb to meet a potential next long term tenants, or fill a gap (an LTR gap!!) between 2 LTR’s, but that’s because the point is: that they will end up signing an “proper” LTR. I only use it if there is nobody else lined up through “normal brokerage firm channels”, like if someone cuts his stay short (leaves prematurely from a 1 year contract or such). I don’t look for tourists, in fact i even decline tourists because tourist aren’t allowed in the buildings: period. Only workers, those who’ll commit to LTR, have a proper job and abilty to pay LTR are accepted.
Fairbnb, with all due respect, seems “innocent”, but in the flats’ buildings,NO TOURIST LETS ARE ALLOWED, PERIOD >> including “fairbnb”!!!
The insurance of the building doesn’t care the least whether “fairbnb” is all about 1 tenant renting out a bedroom in his only residence!!! transient (tourist rentals -are- transient) aren’t allowed, no matter how you spin it, in our case.
I have seen my share of “leftist” propagandists, who are against shortlets by property owners, but oh man, if it’s a tenant doing it in some government control housing block: all the rules go out the window, to help the poor bastard.
I have no respect for that.
(because allowing tenants to use Fairbnb for TOURIST LETS -which are illegal in my condo rules- while ranting about landlords using airbnb for WORKING EXPATS ON LTR matching job contracts , essentially means that " tourist lets " are okay as long as a tenant does it!! WTF? it’s not allowed, period!!!)
In the building, there is no tourist rental allowed: Never. Ever. Not even a bedroom in someone’s prime residence. It’s already clear a tenant will never be able to shell out rebuilding costs in case a building goes up in smoke while the insurance won’t cover it…so why on earth would anyone want to make an exception for “Fairbnb” which would get the entire block in financial trouble???
I think Fairbnb is perfect for people living in a villa, where nobody is living next door, and nobody needs to cares whether the place goes up in smoke or not (it won’t affect you anyhow). Where neighbours won’t get affected by your “primary residency” tenants’ guests (tourists). I wouldn’t care either.
But in a building, there is a shared responsibility. And if fairbnb is trying to be “fair”, then, at the very least they ought to be fair and upfront about the fact that there is NOTHING fair about inviting in a random tourist into a sublet bedroom -without landlord’s consent nor insurance consent (for crying out loud!!). What is fair or responsible about putting a building out of insurance validation???
Well, to your comfort: i don’t " buy up buildings and then turn them into hotel rooms" = mercenary model.
I own entire 3 bedroom flats, and rent them out as a WHOLE, and it’s the expat couple or expat loner who then turns his spare bedroom into airbnb “rooms”!!! You know, to afford those 3 holidays a year or avocado sandwiches and lattes. But his “luxury lifestyle aspirations” aren’t my problem!!! If he needs the money, he can go work for it, or run his illegal lets in someone else’s place, but not mine, please!!!
Anyway, ever since i placed biometric locks and cameras, all that is 100% over. If anything, i PREVENT “mercenary” model from being born into my properties.
Yeah, it means a poor schmuck tenant won’t be able to make a buck on the side. But you know what? those aren’t my rules, i didn’t invent them. I can’t afford rebuilding a flat when a tourist sets fire during a stay. So i sure as hell won’t turn a blind eye on “mercenary model” tenants who try to split up my properties into hotel rooms.
Point being: i won. I won.I chopped up the “mercenary sublet aspirations” of my potential LTR tenants into pieces, and it’s over now, Finished. For ever!! These type of tenants leeching off my properties: no thanks! no more Building board penalties of 20k, or 1,5k. ever. If they want to turn a 3bed property into a 'hotel" dorm, they have my blessing, but it WILL NOT BE IN MY PROPERTY.
Ah yes, those biometric locks. I’ve no use for them but you sure know how to bang on about them. Glad you are so zen. Zen must mean something different in the party capital of Western Europe than it means in my world.
We are in complete agreement that no one should rent an apartment or home and then sublet it without the owners permission. We also counsel people to have adequate insurance and not to rely on Airbnb.
Completely. I recently turned down a inquiry for a 5 day stay because the guest’s username did not match the name in the reviews. Also they asked for a discount and wanted to bring a puppy, but I digress. I said ‘I am prepared to send you a special offer, but may I ask why your name doesn’t match?’ and he said “Long story but my building in NY didn’t allow me to airbnb so I switched the name on the account so they wouldn’t notice.”
Ahhh, No. Sorry. Combined with the discount and lack of transparency about the dog on the first message, I passed. I have a particular dislike of people who AirBnb in defiance of their landlord and in violation of their lease.
I thought new users were limited in how many times a day they could post…
I sure like my electric kettle, heats the water really fast.
RR
Some of this is coming over as F I G J A M !
Confused as to why are you quoting me as saying something that I haven’t said anywhere in my replies to you. What I actually said was
Of course some hosts have problems with both long term and short term guests.
I don’t have problems with long term tenants who I credit check, take up bank references, employment references and references from previous landlords. Do you do this? @seenitall?
Yeah, but what could I ask? I mean the man’s obviously the guru of the S/LTR industry, I don’t think I’ve got any questions that’d worthy of his greatness.
JF
rotflmao 
of course, with the user name “seenitall,” we really should have been prepared for our lessons and ready with our pencils to take down teacher’s epic orations.
LOL…that’s my OKCupid account name. (Seriously, a jar of fig jam was the first thing I laid eyes on after we were forced to use a “real” name.) I have since been informed of what the acronym stands for.
No reason I can think of to change it now. 
Challenging. Sounds like a big problem with LTR cashing in.
Wow, I’m glad that (somehow) I missed that nutjob. I can assure seen it all or whatever he calls himself that no matter how long he has been hosting, I’ve been doing it for longer. Yes, I am that old.
I’m also not stupid. Therefore if 10%, let alone the claimed 90%, of guests were up to no good, I’d have given up the hospitality business decades ago.