Having a guest sign a rental agreement

[Steve52]

How can I send a guest a rental agreement for them to sign and return to me prior to me accepting their booking?

[Clare0]

@Steve52  Airbnb's messaging system doesn't allow for attachments.  But what you can do is send them a message with the text of the contract and ask them to confirm through Airbnb's messaging to confirm acceptance. Companies do digital contracts all the time.  When they arrive, you can have them sign the actual document.  Here's what Airbnb has to say (not much, I know):

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/465/can-hosts-ask-guests-to-sign-a-contract

[Gladys8]

Thank you for this information.  It is so difficult to find everything as one has to look in many different places on the site to locate information. It would seem that a seperate rental agreement is a sfeguard in long term rentals e.g. those 1 month or more.

[Pat137]

@Gladys8. I am new to Airbnb, and am having a great deal of difficulty finding information I need. As you say, you have to look in many places! So I keep searching and searching and . . .  

PS: My property is a vacation rental with a minimum of 3-nights and only accept monthly rentals off-season. I think a rental agreement is advisable regardless the length of stay. Now if I can just figure out how to add my agreement to my listing?

[Jon-And-Ron0]

Hi Clare,

I have all my guests sign an electronic rental agreement. I use a company called SignNow. It was a bit of work to create it, but it works like a charm and I send it to the renter's Airbnb "email adddress". That way, there is no attachement to include. I also ask then to provide a copy of their ID. I've had no issues with anyone signing it. I do make it clear, however, in my Airbnb description, that a reantal agreement will be required. SignNow gives you unlimited sogned documents for $60.00 per year. Hope this helps.

Jon

[Clare0]

@Jon-And-Ron0 Always glad to know something new!  So long as the contract is agreed to and doesn't violate any of Airbnb's terms (like asking for a separate payment for a security deposit) prior to booking, Airbnb doesn't have a problem with it.  

Thanks for the info!

[Annette105]

Hello,

This sounds like a great idea. I have been attaching my rental agreement and rental rules for signature and return. I have found that often its a hasle to get them returned.

So, this site opens up easily for them and does not require adobe acrobat?

Thank you!

Annette

[Pat137]

@Jon-And-Ron0. Thanks for your post. I have never heard of the SignNow company you mention and will file it under "helpful information" for possible [or necessary?] future use. Right now I'm hoping to find an easy, no extra cost way to provide my rental agreement to guests.

[Mark1642]

Joh-And-Ron0:  I have temporarily SHUT DOWN our very successful, bed & bath rental in our primary residence through Airbnb because I discovered that our homeowner insurance does NOT COVER any incidents regarding Airbnb guests.  In fact, I was told that IF our provider finds out we're actually doing an Airbnb rental inside our primary residence, they will DROP us like a hot potato.  So I'm left to wander through this wilderness of figuring out how to NOT lose everything we've worked for all our lives because someone DIES in our home whilst a being an Airbnb guest in our home.  Airbnb is NO HELP whatsoever.  In fact, they act like they have zero knowledge of this & that, of course, it is up to us 'hosts' to figure all this out.  There are a couple of insurance providers that will insure this but they are crazy expensive & 6 months of the year I'd be working JUST to cover the cost of the new insurance.  Plus we'd lose our current provider & multiple discounts.  Just not worth losing our current provider.  I'm researching the whole 'contract' thing...hoping that this might somehow appease the homeowner insurance gods?  May I ask...HOW ON EARTH have you managed to be completely covered by homeowner insurance & do an Airbnb?  (actually not sure IF your rental is inside your primary residence?)  Cheers

[Kortnie0]

Hi, 

I was wondering if you would be willing to share the rental agreement that you created. I am a new host and am looking for something like this. 

[Annette105]

I typically email my rental document along with rental rules, amneties listing and pet addendum.

This can sometimes be an agravating process with renters who delay until the last minute or whatever. But I did mention in 2 places on my listing that they will receive an email from me with their rental documents for submission. 

[Pat137]

@Annette105. How do you attach your agreement to an email? What format do you use? Does your agreement include any personal information? I tried attaching my agreement to the guest email address Airbnb provides (the only contact option I'm aware of) and it failed to attach. Not sure why as no explanation was given; the guest just indicated he had received my related message but no attachment. My agreement is a PDF and the same one I use for Flipkey, VRBO/HomeAway, HomeEscape with no issue/problem.

I would appreciate your assistace Annette. And if it is not too much trouble, explain your "how-to" in easy to follow step-by-step, my tech skills are limited 😞

Thanks!

[Pat137]

@Annette105. PS: Apparently it is not just my tech skills that are limited. Looks like my spelling needs a little work as well.  That should read: . . . appreciate your "assistance", not assistace!

[Clare0]

@Steve52. The procedure on Airbnb is to disclose the terms of your agreement either in your listing details or through Airbnb's messaging system so the guest can decide prior to booking if they want to sign a contract. If a guest is comfortable with the contract, they can sign it on arrival.  There really isn't a way to send a document to a guest prior to booking / confirmation of a reservation.  Here's Airbnb's link that explains this: 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/465/can-hosts-ask-guests-to-sign-a-contract

Be sure there is nothing in your contract that violates or is inconsistent with Airbnb's Terms of Service.  An example of this is asking a guest to provide any form of off-site payment for a security deposit. 

In general, Airbnb prevents posting links or attachments in pre-booking messages to prevent fraud. 

Hope this helps explain.  

[DAwn780]

Signing rental agreements. 
Airbnb does not make this process easy. We have to ask for the person's email address, and then instantly a little red flag pops up next the the message so it makes the new guest suspicious.. It's unfortunate and sets a bad tone right off the bat. Does anyone else have a problem with this?