ajax

Hi folks - does anyone have any experience in letting out their properties to short-term holidaymakers such as onefinestay or anything similar?

I'm planning to have a property in London come available in the next few months, and I'd be very keen to know if anyone has experience in letting their property through these services.

Does anyone know how well these services work? What I'm particularly interested in is:

- Is any service better than or worse than any other?
- Is it risky?
- What sorts of margins do these companies charge the property owner?
- What are the occupancy rates?

If anyone has any advice, or knows anyone who does, I'd be very grateful. Please feel free to reply here or via PM.

Thanks!

ExpatExp

I've used Airbnb with excellent results. It's very important however to make sure your expectations of how the property is to be used / left are extremely clear, and that any potential guests agree explicitly to each of your expectations prior to making a booking.

Airbnb take 3% of your income, which I find reasonable. They provide a huge amount of insurance and (touch wood) my property has been let every single time I've listed it (the price and neighbourhood are important). They also permit you to require a security deposit.

Do feel free to PM me with any specific questions. I believe there is a method of referring friends that leads to a bonus or incentive for both parties.

iluvcruising2

Hmmm, so far we only let the property out to tenants.

Haven't used Airbnb before, though we have heard a lot about it.

ajax

Thanks very much. I'll be in touch.

My impression with airbnb (albeit from the customer side, not the supplier side) is that it's quite hands-on from the owner. You need to be physically present to hand over the keys and walk the occupier through the property. Plus you have to clean the premises and prepare it for the next occupier. With onefinestay, they charge a much higher premium than airbnb, but they take care of everything and you need to do almost nothing.

MSPeconomist

My impression is that many of Airbnb's clients (guests) are almost the backpacker crowd. If your place has nice furnishings, you want to be careful who you allow to be temporary tenants, although higher prices will help on this, as would a security deposit requirement and other conditions you might impose.

stifle

Do bear in mind that a number of London boroughs have passed bylaws prohibiting or restricting short-term lets.

ajax

Oh really? That's very good to know. Do you know which ones, or how to find out? Judging from the onefinestay and airbnb websites, either it's not the ones in Central London, or many people are in flagrant violation on these bans.

stifle

Westminster and Camden are the ones I'm aware of. See here: http://news.fitzrovia.org.uk/2010/09...-term-letting/

I can't comment on whether they're enforcing effectively but if you need to find out about the laws in a particular borough it's almost certainly just a matter of picking up the phone.

ajax

Very interesting, thanks. I will give them a ring sometime soon.

It would appear that hundreds of landlords are in direct contravention of these bans. I wonder how they are able to get away with it.

stifle

The councils are chronically under-resourced.

ExpatExp

As reported by CNBC two days ago, Airbnb is the fastest growing lodging segement in the corporate travel world. While it did start out as an inexpensive, "B&B" type of service, it has developed into something quite different. Weekly prices on some high-end Airbnb properties are above the USD$10k mark and rising:

Business, luxury travelers turning to Airbnb-type options

The type of guest one receives depends on the neighbourhood, and, as mentioned above, the price of the property. We've had a number of corporate guests on assignments, for example, but it's mostly older, retired couples who are on holiday. We've never had any backpacker guests, perhaps in part because we intentionally set the prices rather high, but also because our properties would not be interesting to people who want a casual environment or who are on a budget. At any rate there is ample time to screen every potential guest before accepting a booking.

That said, there are some horror stories out there. My advice would be to require all guests to complete the verification process and provide a complete profile, enable the security deposit option, and above all, screen potential guests carefully (this can be done by telephone or by email) so that expectations are very clearly set on both sides.

rcspeirs

You asked "is it risky"?
What does your lease (assuming the property is leasehold) say? If freehold, are there any covenants in place that would restrict this (I own a freehold house that does have such restrictions). What does your insurance policy say? Nothing pleases an insurance company more than finding an excuse to deny your claim....
While your local council may be poorly resourced, an aggrieved neighbour (let's say, an unfortunate noise nuisance event) can easily alert the council, or (in some circumstances) start court proceedings against you.

dddc

The leases I've seen for modern built blocks in London prohibit short term leases as they want to discourage transient residents who don't have an interest in the long term effect their actions can take. One block down the river from me was plagued with investors using the flats as serviced apartments. The owner occupiers got fed up with the excessive noise and wear and tear from a high turn over of people so forced the freeholder to take action.

In my building we've had issues with over crowding - 12 students sharing a 2 bed apartment in one case. You may say people can do what they want in their homes, but there is the Houses of Multiple Occupation law were by any property shared by 5 or more non related people must be registered with the council (I believe that's the case).

During the Olympics our Freeholder would consider allowing short stay lets for a fee of £400. They then provided a company that was offering £2000 a week to rent your property!