New Announcement for London Hosts

[Lizzie]

Hello London hosts,

By now, many of you will have received an email from the Team regarding a new system announcement in Greater London. This outlines, that from 2017 entire home listings will automatically, through the Airbnb system, be limited to 90 nights of hosting a year. I imagine you have several questions on this, so for more information take a look at these FAQs.

We understand that this may apply to many of you in Community Center, so we also wanted to highlight this new announcement to you here. Please do share any thoughts you may have.

Thanks,

Lizzie

-------------------Update on February 24, 2017---------------------

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are well.

I know many of you have additional questions on the above and so I want to keep you up-to-date and share with you the latest FAQ articles:

What short-term rental laws apply?

Night Limits

I hope you will find this useful and please do continue to share any thoughts you have, here in this thread.

Thanks,

Lizzie

[David126]

It did look political and it seems that is all that it is, lots of ways around for those who are looking.

[Daniel-and-Marsio0]

Please describe some of these 'work-arounds'.

I already had over 180 nights pre-booked before 2016 came to an end. But, I have a gap (mid-Feb to mid-Apr) which I can no longer fill because Airbnb have suddenly (bizarrely this evening, not on January 1st, 2nd, 3rd) announced that I have used up my 90-night allowance. 

I was under the distinct impression that pre-existing bookings did not count towards this limit.

I'm furious and worried sick as I rely on this flexible method for renting out my entire property whilst I work abroad.

Zero helpful information coming from Airbnb - it's as if they don't care.

Nice way to treat long-time Superhosts with 100% 5-star reviews and who have made them a LOT of money.

[Ronda4]

Zandra, do you know the answer to mine and Vincent's earlier post about self-contained rooms within London properties?

[Zandra0]

@Ronda4 If council tax is paid on the whole thing as one property you should be fine (even though it's self contained). Is that the case? 

[Ronda4]

Thanks Zandra it is, and a relief!

[David126]

The only information ABB has is its location and if it is a whole property listing so I assume that is as far as they are concerned how it will be determined.

They could of course just ask all those with London listing whether it is a 90 day limited property or not.

[Zandra0]

They'll be asking anyone listing a whole property to provide the necessary proof that they can list longer than 90 days.  If they don't have the planning permission, after 90 days Airbnb will no longer accept bookings on that listing. 

Hosts may look to circumvent the rules by creating a new listing, but those who are considering this should be careful in the event that they get prosecuted. It would be very difficult to argue in such circumstances that you didn't know the law. 

[Troy12]

Hi @Zandra0 

Thanks for all of your useful feedback.  I have read the FAQ but still do not see an answer to the specific question:

Does this new rule apply to "entire flat" listings only?  Or, as with San Francisco, will hosts present during home stays be exempted as allowed to lease rooms year round?

thank you.

from the recent change in San Francisco:

San Francisco was one of the first cities in the world to make short-term rentals legal. In October 2014, the city passed a law that let people rent rooms or their entire home for up to 90 days per calendar year when they weren't around. Hosts present during home-stays were allowed to lease rooms year-round. Tuesday's ruling means that all rentals will now be capped at 60 days per year. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee has the option of vetoing the legislation, however.

[Zandra0]

It's not a new rule Troy. 

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/new-rules-mean-londoners-can-earn-thousands-by-renting-rooms-o...

As you can see from the article above when the 90 day relaxation to the law was brought in it was seen as a good thing.  

What is new new is Airbnb's willingness to enforce it.  Airbnb stated in their email they'll be enforcing it for all entire property listings. 

[Troy12]

Thanks again. I was intending to say that the Airbnb policy was new - not the law. I have had a few open discussions here on the forum

the email I received 2 months ago didn't specify whole flats or rooms. Maybe I missed a mail. 

The customer care team wouldn't answer my question except to say that they wouldn't give legal advice (and then they gave advice that indeed I would need planning permission).

i will be happy to see that this only applies to entire flats. 

Thanks agsin 

[Gyongyi0]

I completely fall under this restriction unfortunately. Airbnb was not my first choice but it seemed to be the perfect solution when I could not find a good tenant for my place. The long term tenants who were interested to rent out my property had many pets, wanted to turn the living room to a bedroom etc., so I had no confidence in renting it out for them. I have rather chosen Airbnb, although it meant significant extra work for me. 

I am very disappointed as I now have to go through again on the hassle with agencies with their ropbbing 10% finding fee, unsuitable tenants, failed credit checks etc. etc.

I am not a commercial landlord, simply long term renting in London is not that simple as it looks!  

[David697]

There is a lot of confusion about this and not many answers please join Airbnb Uk on Facebook to discuss and try and influence what is going on. It can really impact us all and there are 20k fines. Crazy where has the sharing economy gone and why are councils doing this?! Special interest groups time to form one of our own! 

[Ronda4]

David, could you please post a link to the Facebook group you are referring to as I have tried to join a couple of groups but they were never approved.  I would very much like to be part of this discussion and want to help influence on behalf of Airbnb hosts.

[Ludovic5]

Hi,

I have some questions for Airbnb team :

   1. What happen if I split an entire place (of 2 rooms) in 2 separated listings (one for each room) ? Does the restriction applies ?
   2. What is the detailed process to get the permission to exceed the 90 days  limit in the Westminster (Soho) council ?
   3. What is the probability to obtain a specific permission to exceed the 90 days limit in the Westmister council considering that I'm a teantn landlord (I'm renting the apartment and I have the agreement from my landlord to sublet) ?

   4. What is your strategy concerning the churn effect of this decision ? Hosts are going to advertize their place on competitors's websites

   5. What will be your strategy concerning the "duplicate listings" effect ? Hosts are going to duplicate their entire listing apartment to get 4 listings and reach a cumumated limited of 360 days / year.

Thanks,

Ludo.

[Richard233]

So if I approve  90+ day booking for 2017 now, will it be OK? And can I make other 2017 bookings before the end of the year?

I'm not a professional landlord, just out the country for five months - i.e. not long enough for it to be worth renting out our place as a regualr rental, but long enough to need the extra income.