Hello landlords!
Recently I used open rent on all standard procedure and extensive background checks to get 2 tenants on Open rent’s contract for tenancy in my flat. Despite my extra carefulness on top of the standard reference, it turned out the tenant has been doing Airbnb for a few months until the building management told me through neighbour’s complains.
The tenants were a couple very convincing as they have social media showing together and linkedin where they work, HR contract, bank statement and even showed me their Experian report etc. Also the third party people like gas guys or plumbers said their flat is very neat when they visited and they are punctual paying tenant and would even apologize for a 1 day delay. Hence, they gone off my radar
What is the best way to deal with this with minimum impact or loss? Obviously they can’t carry on Airbnb that is for sure.
I am not sure what to do… if I go soft then it might work neatly or they take control over you, or i go hard then people retaliation and cause financially.
Any experienced thoughts will be very welcome!!
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If you are a BTL landlord then their sub contracting will likely breach your mortgage terms and invalidate your insurance.
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well i am aware of that and i was asking for suggestions as the AST clearly states they can’t do that.
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so fixed term ends more than a year so I just wait until then?
if they are making a load of money they will not leave now or in a year , you will be in the same situation as now . They will feel entrenched
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well i get all that, but I am seeking solutions. any ideas?
as David said serve them notice
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that was my point… sorry if i haven’t made it clearer. I meant to say s21 can only evict them when the fixed term ends. that’s what i meant by when fixed term ends.
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how far into the fixed term are they?
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half way through, e.g. ends in 5 months time.
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My concern here is what are the potential outcome of different actions and what is the best way.
My thoughts were:
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if they are able to pass reference and also my eagle eye of requesting looking at all detailed docs, it could suggests they are actually good as in experienced scammers for airbnb. i.e. knows the rules and doing it all the time because they know nothing can happen to them at most a good fixed contract to provide them steady income comes to an end.
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my other thoughts which is what i hope it is but don’t think it is likely and that is they were accidental as they no longer can afford but have to stick with their contract so they find a way to make money.
But it looks like the tenant’s relative (same surname) started a few months ago and new on airbnb and other platforms and also professionally furnished the flat which doesn’t feel like a rookie but rather like a pro.
So instead of going step by step the proper way, i might need to head straight to the worst warning and assume they will react in a way that they know the game.
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i would join the NRLA so that with their advice you serve a notice correctly . and ensure all doccuments are in order and you do not serve it too early as there is a limit but i cannot remember what it is
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NRLA is useless, i called twice and one of them give wrong suggestions such as change locks etc.
thats bad advice to change locks
and the other NRLA advisor gave standard answer which is useful in a way but effectively useless.
So NRLA’s suggestion is:
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give them warning they breached the lease and remove all ads by x days
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x days later still on, give them warning you will report on those adverts and remove them by y days
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after y days report on airbnb, then arrange frequent inspections especially on bank holiday so it is when people likely to airbnb
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if still happens give section 8. keep repeating point 2 and 3 and track record of it amd get written statement from building manager and neighbours.
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section 8 in a fixed term is weaker and also it is a paying tenant so it is discretionary (not mandatory） from the court which is chances are slim to declare tenant is wrong.
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so this alluded to simply section 21.
So the logic flaw i mentioned to NRLA and they didn’t want to answer is… if you spend time and effect to stop them getting the income from airbnb, which is their only intention then they might end up not able to afford the rent. I am thinking it could get worse as they end up not able to pay rent then it turns into a bigger mess shooting myself in the foot?
or simply just blame myself that they got away with this loophole and just unlucky and give s21 until tenancy ends in 5 months…
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this decision is one only you can make. Would air bnb remove / stop their adverts if you explained your position ?
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appreciate it is my decision but i am just trying to provide the details and thoughts to see if i am missing anything or disagreement or something new to hear.
and airbnb and other platform will act accordingly but no sure if that is the key point in the bigger picture?
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if it stopped the advert would they move on somewhere else It is a lottery
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my concern is that then they might start getting personal.
you see. they spend effort to buy those lavish furniture to furnish it like a hotel now they need to get rid of them and move them away, if i stop their source of income they will get personal.
this is only my thoughts not sure how to deal with them? if give them time then they might take advantage if i don’t give them time then they might get agitated and retaliate.
but what i am hoping is someone who either have a more experienced logic to understand their psychology or experienced with those tenant to provide some view on usual cases