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It doesn’t sound like you’ve experienced the pleasure of being a landlord. People wear stuff out. Carpets wear down, flooring gets scuffed, paint flakes and gets scratched, tiles crack, toilet seats break, and screen doors get punched out.
It’s costly to fix and repair all those items that are figured into the rent as normal wear and tear. The more people you bring into a place the faster it all turns to crap. So it’s not really fair to assume there’s absolutely no reason for a landlord to worry about lots of Airbnb people coming through his or her rental unit.
As a landlord I would worry ALOT! I would welcome someone telling me that this kind of subletting was going on.
Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes. A very big deal when it comes to tort law. If your guest falls on the stairs and injures themselves they can - and likely will - come after you AND the owner of the property for liability and very likely your landlord would lose because their property is not insured for short term rentals.
There is lots and lots of discussion regarding this on the forum. It is all about liability. And to a lesser extent quality of life for the other renters. The ower / landlord could lose everything. The renter does NOT have the right to do whatever they want.
This shows that every situation is different. As does @superhostnyc’s post. However, I get a Google alert for stories about Airbnb so am pretty familiar with ‘horror stories’ that appear on the internet.
I’ve read quite a few which have outlined that guests have been thrown out of their rental because the landlord, the building security or the building manager has been aware that hosts are renting ‘illegally’. So @Chloe has a point when she says:
Would I personally report the listing? Well, to be 100% honest, I’d be tempted IF the listing was affecting my own business. In the building next door to ours, a tenant is renting a room in his apartment probably without the landlord’s permission. This does not affect me because the two rentals are like chalk and cheese. But I honestly don’t know what I’d do if the situation was affecting our bookings. I think I might let the landlord know if I was sure that he didn’t already because of the legal implications others have mentioned.
I think we need to step away from the generalisations about insurance, and when insurers will and won’t hold cover. I am not confident that the statements around these issues are accurate.
The important thing is people need to check their own insurance. If your tenant is subletting without your knowledge or permission, check to see if your insurance policy will hold its public liability (or equivalent) cover.
Possibly overly optimistic. We’ve had members come to the forum and post that they were canceled just for calling and asking if they could do Air. I don’t think there is a standard homeowner insurer in the entire universe that would cover Air activities. It’s not good advice to suggest people’s insurance, especially landlord’s, will cover their p LTR tenant who then does Air.
If there are any insurance that does cover Air that you know of,mplease step forward and share. They won’t even cover owners doing Air, let alone tenants.
If you’re a landlord, you would be prudent to carry a policy that covers the liabilities of renting your property. It’s unlikely that a homeowner insurance policy will cover a landlord (STR or LTR). It’s also unlikely that it would cover AirBNB activity. That’s why people need to seek the insurance product that is right for their activity and check their own policies.
If there is subletting activity, a level of knowledge or awareness may be required to negate the cover - but again, this varies by policy.
I think raising it as a possible issue is a good point. However, considering how many policies there are out there, I don’t think it’s an area that could be spoken about in absolute terms.
We have an umbrella insurance policy from State Farm. When we bought our home a couple of months ago with the basement apartment, I called and asked what additional insurance I would need for STR. Our agent said we didn’t need any more insurance–our umbrella policy gives us the coverage we need.
Keep in mind this will cover us if a guest falls and tries to sue us. It won’t cover additional wear and tear. That’s just a business expense.
Interesting question. If the guests were disturbing me, I would complain to the landlord. Either way, the landlord is informed.
On the other hand, I am a landlord and would absolutely need to know if my tenant were doing this.
Among the many reasons is that normal insurance does not cover damages to a residence used for commercial purposes. It is twice the wear and tear on the property. And, as a landlord and as host, I reserve the right to know who is using my property.
does anyone have a lawyer they would recommend in NYC - my landlord just sent me a “notice to cure” and I have no idea how to defend against this.
hanks in advance for the help.
Cheers,
