Getting landlord permission to host an Airbnb

So you’ve recently been thinking about hosting an Airbnb in your rental property? You’ll need to be careful and understand your landlord’s opinion when it comes to approaching this issue because there are some reasons why your landlord may not be okay with this. So to begin, let’s put your landlord’s POV in perspective.

Downfalls for your landlord

To understand your landlord’s perspective we must first understand a bit about rental properties. Log term properties are those that are under 1-3+ year contracts. Whether rental properties are your landlord’s main source of income or just a side-business, these properties are generally seen as low risk and a moderate source of income.

However, as soon as a whole lot of strangers are brought into your home, this turns this property from low-risk to high-risk. The main reason for this switch is that there is always the potential for untrustworthy guests who may be noisy, damage property, or steal from the house. This has very negative consequences as landlords must have homeowners insurance, which means they are required to cover anything that could potentially go wrong within the property.

Making this a win-win for both parties

Because there are many negative consequences to your landlord letting you use your rental as an Airbnb property, you will need to make this deal appeal to your landlord. To do this you could consider a few things:

-You can increase your lease 

-Consider paying a higher rate to your landlord, or a percentage of your Airbnb earnings. Airbnb has a service called The Airbnb Friendly Buildings Programme which helps hosts and landlords to work together to create rules and update services for potential Airbnb properties. For more information about this programme, click here. 

-Certain Airbnb companies, for example, Airbnb, has a $1000000 host guarantee, and a $1000000 host protection policy which means that your property is insured in case damage occurs

-You could get your own insurance, or get Airbnb Liability Insurance

-Changing your rental agreement so it only covers damages you incur could be a viable solution

-Being more thorough with background checks and who you let stay may provide your landlord with some comfort

Shared rules and regulations

In addition to creating benefits for your landlord, you should also set up rules and regulations that you both agree upon with your landlord. Ideas for these rules and regulations could be:

-Agreeing on how often you’ll be hosting guests

-Keep group numbers low when hosting these guests

-Create a list of these rules with your landlord, that you put on your listing, and in the house manual

-Say no to pets

-You can let your landlord know anytime anyone is coming to stay

It could also be a good idea to let your neighbours know you will be hosting an Airbnb. In case your guests are prone to partying (hopefully not) you should and let your neighbours know your number, and the number for noise control.

Approaching the subject with your landlord

Avoid the awkwardness with a general email that approaches the Airbnb situation in a more hypothetical sense eg. “Hello _____, I recently stayed in an Airbnb when I was travelling, and I was wondering what your opinion on this service was?”

If your landlord has responded positively to this initial email, then you could approach your landlord (over email, or in-person) by building a case for yourself. Points you could bring up are the benefits to the landlord, the reason you believe this will be a good idea, and how you could avoid potential pitfalls.

If you have been a long-term well-behaved tenant, you could also bring into this email this sense of trust and this will strengthen your case. 

In the case of a no…

If, unfortunately, your landlord says no, don’t be afraid to ask why, and you can try to address their worries. 

If your landlord still isn’t a fan of this idea then there are ways around this such as lawyers… although we believe you should just let sleeping dogs lie and know when to quit.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it may be difficult to entice your landlord into letting you use their property as an Airbnb, but a well-thought-out conversation is always the first step to success. So choose your words wisely, and build up a solid case so your landlord just can't say no!

Written by Lauren Middleton