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Airbnb’s – A Landlord’s saviour or bad behaviour?

Mike Lewis, head of the property litigation department at SA Law, comments

Airbnb’s are an affordable, quick and easy way for individuals to rent a place to stay in the UK and all over the world. In March 2016, London was named as one of the top five cities in terms of places to stay in an Airbnb rental and the business is thought to be growing at a rate of 75% a year.

MPs are insisting a crackdown on lets in London through Airbnb, as London boroughs have warned that short-term lettings are having a serious effect on the property market. Properties which were once available for long-term rent, are now being used as Airbnb’s. Landlords are able to push up their rental prices for those who wish to stay short term and an as a result, there are fewer properties available on the market for those in London looking for somewhere to live.

There are several legal issues which must be considered when renting out an Airbnb. For example, anyone renting a property must get their property inspected annually by an engineer who is registered with the Gas Safe Register and a certificate must be obtained. If the whole property is being rented out, the criteria is more stringent as the certificate has to be given to the people occupying the property. If anyone is staying for less than a month, the certificate should be displayed in an obvious communal area in the property. In addition, local authorities have the right to carry out a Housing Health and Safety Rating System survey on all properties and if they discover a health risk, they are entitled to serve an improvement notice. If this is not complied with, the owner can be prosecuted in the Magistrates Court.

There are usually strict provisions in leasehold properties about subletting. It is also a standard condition of most mortgages that tenancies should be on an assured shorthold tenancy.

Providers of Air BNB properties also need to ensure that they are not mistakenly using the residence as a house in multiple occupancy (HMO). If you do not have the required licence for a HMO, a lease could be forfeited. Whether or not a property is an HMO depends on various aspects such as whether the premises is being used as a significant or main residence, and whether there are three or more people living in the shared accommodation who are not related to each other.

If a landlord wants to let for a period of time longer than 90 days, he will need to ensure that he has obtained the relevant planning permission for a “change of use” of his property from the local council and it is estimated that a quarter of London homes listed on Airbnb were rented out for more than 90 days last year.

The press have recently printed numerous reports about unruly Air BNB residents who disturb peace and quiet. For Airbnb’s to be safe and in continued use, providers should be encouraged to abide by the legal conditions and implement restrictions and regulations on the type of behaviour that they expect from their guests staying in their Airbnb. These requirements should be clearly described when the booking is made with penalties introduced if they are not adhered to, which would encourage guests to be respectful and mindful of neighbours and the property. If owners deviate from keeping in line with the above, they could end up in the Property Chamber (First-Tier) Tribunal, where by tight restrictions on the future use of that property could be applied. 

 

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