I’m new to this forum, so please be east on me and forgive me for some questions that may seem silly.
Reason being, I am pretty new to being a Leaseholder and require advice & guidance etc from you good people.
I’m exploring my options currently, into operating potentially a little Air BnB ~ offering my home out for weekends and short stays of no more than a week only.
Or would it be more convenient and less risky financially to let my home out long term?
What’s everyone’s thoughts and opinions on these two options. Do you favour one over the over. If so, why?
I like the idea of Air BnB, mainly because I am assured the guests will be leaving the property within a few days - rather than running into problems with individuals not wanting to leave the premises, as many landlords do with renting long term lets (if that makes sense)
This is just my thoughts, but in practice it could not work out how I imagined it.
We’ve thought about Airbnb (we were actually going to buy a house to use as an Airbnb property until our sale of our current house fell through).
A few things to bear in mind:
You become liable for all of the utility bills, council tax (if you don’t qualify for business rates and it’s associated relief), etc.
You have to furnish the property to a relatively high standard and maintain it to that level.
You will need public liability insurance.
Some areas require you to apply for planning permission for change of use.
You will need to factor in cleaning costs after each stay.
We could have made it work as we would have been buying the house with no mortgage but if you need a mortgage you’ll also need a very specific type of mortgage.
I still think I’d enjoy Airbnb and if I had the money to furnish our current house to the standard required, I’d definitely do it….maybe when our next tenants vacate.
That’s a shame your house sale fell through.
May I ask - (just out of interest, as I’m looking to buy) - is the property in Hartlepool at all?
This is where I need to purchase, as I now need to be close to family.
I guess with the Air BnB you would somehow have to factor all those costs in. I know it’s challenging, but I’m sure it could work.
The furniture situation ~ I was under the impression that just as long as the furniture etc is decent | of good standard then it’s not an issue. You could upcycle a few bits to save costs. The bed and sofa would need to be new of course.
Cleaning turn around - this is something that I’d have to factor in and arrange for someone to do on my behalf. I’m just not physically capable.
I’m sure I could employ someone to do this.
With regards to public liability - surely that would come under landlord’s insurance ?
do you even need landlord insurance to do air b n b?
I hope you do get the opportunity to run an Air BnB in the near future.
Hi. No, unfortunately it’s not in Hartlepool. I hope you manage to find something soon.
Furniture - we are on a few Airbnb/holiday let groups and it surprised me how picky/demanding guests can be. I wouldn’t go and buy everything brand new, especially as guests may always break things so not worth having things too expensive but the standard of furnishings will, to an extent, determine the prices you manage to charge and the clientele you get.
Public Liability Insurance - you need specific ‘holiday let insurance’, not landlord insurance. They don’t all include public liability so just check that the policy includes it.
I do hope we will manage to do Airbnb. One option we are looking at is whether we could get a BTL mortgage on our current house (we currently have a residential mortgage with consent to let), which would then free up enough to buy the house we are wanting but that may not be a possibility.
As someone who has just experienced the other side of this, I would just say proceed with caution.
We have a long term tenant in our property, however, recently someone bought a property with the sole intention to turn it into an Air BNB.
The majority of leasehold agreements will actually prohibit this. It’s usually written similar to below:
Use for residential purposes
The Tenant must not use the Flat for any purpose other than as a single private residence in the occupation of one household only
Sometimes the other residents don’t mind, however it is becoming increasingly more apparent to many people of the negative aspects of having an air bnb on the premises.
Often more noise, more wear and tear on communal areas, also a general sense of unease at having strangers coming and going all the time.
It therefore only takes one resident to complain and you will have issues, as the leasehold protects all the residents in the building with the same clause.
The other issue is the overall buildings insurance can be invalidated if running a business from the premises. Therefore you would need to lease with the management company prior to purchase. If it was agreed to be ok, it could increase the repayments significantly, which I am sure the other residents would therefore have issue with.
Just a few things to bear in mind from the experience we are having right now with an Air bnb in our building.
I wanted to pick your brain about Air BnB a bit more, if that’s ok.
I’ve been looking into some of the mandatory rules and guidance a LLs has to do ie, Right to Rent, Referencing, Prescreening tenants and more…
Be good if there was a place with a checklist of everything landlords has to do, what documentation we need and provide tenants with, something that outlines our responsibilities and steps of process for beginner Landlords.
I note that all properties, whether they are rented long term or short legally require the EPCs, Electrical Testing and Gas Inspection etc.
wow the costs and insurances we need are mounting up!!
I even seen something where it stated landlords have to do legionaries and furnishings fire safety inspections- not sure if these are mandatory?
What I’d like to know is - - what are the rules, policy etc between Air BnB lets and residential lets???
Do all the same rules apply?
I understand I need to check with my council about licensing and would have to pay all the bills if I do Air bnb.
Can you electorate more on any differences between the two methods of lettings?
I can’t find anything on the internet. I thought being as you have some experience on air bnb or know someone that does.
I’ll leave most of that to Rachael to answer if she wishes, with her having experience of both Airbnb and long term.
Just wanted to say that with regards to the furniture, your only requirement in either case is to ensure that the furniture you provide conforms to British standards and has the appropriate fire safety and labelling.
For short term lets, it is often a good idea to have an external company come and carry out a fire safety risk assessment which I wonder if that’s what you’re referring to, but as long as you do your own risk assessment there’s no requirement (yet) for an outsider to do this for you.
Simplest option for long term rental is to not include any furniture (it often puts people off anyway as most people will have their own furniture and the landlord leaving furniture just creates a storage problem for the tenants own possessions).
If you’re all about that hustle and don’t mind the grind, Air BnB can be a goldmine, especially during peak seasons. But keep in mind, you gotta deal with guest turnover and cleaning all the time.
For long-term renting, that’s more of a set-it-and-forget-it vibe. You might not rake in as much dough per month, but it’s steady and way less hands-on.
Thank you Gaz ~ wow I didn’t realise there was so many rules and things to consider.
It’s extremely difficult because my situation is that I am disabled and need to move 200miles from my apartment to receive support and care from a family member. However, I still would need to travel back to my apartment and stay here every other month for my hospital appointments and other.
I can’t live with my family member and they can’t move closer.
I need to buy property near my family in Hartlepool to allow for me to then reside and potentially rent out my apartment here in the midlands. - I feel trapped with my situation currently and trying to find a way around it that will give me the flexibility I need.
My apartment is leasehold.
I don’t want to sell, as it’s my pension security and base should anything ever happen! I don’t want to end up homeless. I can’t in my condition.
So long term let would be easier, but I need another home first.
FHL would be convenient and could allow for the flexibility of me to stay in my apartment, as and when I need to. But I’ve been told I’d struggle to manage it because I’m severely disabled and will be nearly 200 miles away.
Plus FHL is classed as a business too?!
I agree, it appears the FHL would be very hands on, which I believe would not be feasible personally for me to do the handover and cleaning. - unless I paid someone to manage this.
I could manage the admin and bookings etc.
The long term letting sounds a lot more easier and less hands on - should you have the correct process in place to manage the tenant and property.
Again I’d probably have to rely on someone to help here.
I’m just so torn. But I’m not in any position at this point on moving forward with any decisions. I’m just exploring things.
If your current apartment is leasehold, your lease might prevent you from FHL so it may be out of the question anyway unfortunately.
Personally, in your situation, I would rent it long term and then the times you need to go back to the midlands, stay in a premier inn (or similar) if needed.
Honestly, if you’re going to be living 200 miles away, you’re not only going to need a cleaner/someone to do changeovers, but you’re really going to need a property manager for doing FHL - someone that can drop everything and go to the property should guests have any issues such as heating not working, lost the keys, needing to be shown how to use the oven/tv/heating/etc (yes it happens haha).
Ah that does make it very difficult to do long term let in that case.
I honestly don’t know what to suggest in that case as it would appear neither option suits you 100%.
My gut would be, if you can make the numbers work and find someone local that you trust to help run a FHL, that may well bring in a bit of income but with all the regulations etc it might be better just to leave the apartment empty while you’re not using it.
I think that would be the wise thing to do, as you suggested!!
Until I’ve sourced a small property in Hartlepool for myself, to allow for me to live in > I then can move forward in letting my apartment out in the midlands, long term.
In the meantime, I need to now gather as much info as I can about how to be a landlord, the processes and regulations and insurances that I will need to adhere to and put in place for me to achieve this.
Do you know if there is a document with a checklist or something which explains the whole process and requirements. Costs involved etc etc… ???
HI - I have HMO’s I’ve already converted 1 to Air B&B - I used a young couple to do it up for me to a fab standard - total cost about 3-4k but I did have to replace all beds etc as 2 sets of prev tenants trashed it, Immigrants looking to scam the UK benefits system then oversears students - so long term let can leave you with big problem. As someone said if you get it right the Air B&B income is far higher than renting. Cleaning for me is 81 per turn around, Air B&B takes about 18% Booking.com takes less, we rely on the cleaner to check, damage, breakages, refill soaps, tea, coffee etc - I use someone to manage it, he takes 15% and i am about to convert my 6 bed to HMO now too. So I will have 3 AirB&B’s . My 6 bed I am just fed up with the damage and filth left and the fights to claim on deposits. Short term I haven’t honestly had any problems. But people to moan in UK and are entitled so be prepared for complaints regardless of what you do. There are real capital gains tax benefits to AirB&B & you can offset all costs. You apply to the VOA (not Counctil) for business rates and you wont pay any council tax on just 1 property. But as you are not letting it as much as mine it may in fact be classed as you having a lodger - which I think is 7k earnings before you have to declare tax or have all these obligations - Yes you need special insurance its about 300 odd a year I can advise on who I use. It doesnt take much to turn a home into a classy looking air B&B. My 6 bed will cost about 4-5k again but I had quite a lot of painting etc and of course damage and filth left by belligerent students. I bought all my stuff on Amazon and Dunelm - cost for 6 beds about 1000 stg then refurb and some new furniture on top of this. I do run all this as a business. If have more questions plz ask. I much prefer Air B&B to tenants or students in this environment. Mine are already licencsed so that is prob coming up next so get in early is my advice. Sorry to hear you are not well.
Hello Susan, wow very inspiring post! Although I’m scared by all the responsibilities that comes with FHL and HMOs.
You are like a queen in this area by the looks of experience and knowledge you have gained.
I’d be really grateful for all your advice in with the Assured Short Hold let, because I think that would be easier for me to manage.
Not to mention, I don’t have any other savings which I could use to invest in property renovations etc ~ other than the limited amount of money, I have which I need to use to try buy my house in Hartlepool, due to becoming disabled ~ to get care from family, plus a slower pace and hopefully better quality of life. Sea air!
I’m now allergic to everything inc the sun.
My quality of life is very poor now.
If you don’t mind, would you be able to go over all the costs and legal things that are involved in being a private landlord.
I’ve tried to search the internet and gather as much information as possible, but I’m not sure if it’s all relevant or not.
Everyone I ask, tell me to just go to the internet or do a landlords course, which I will undertake nearer the time.
