Did anyone ever pay rent through airbnb?

KellyXX

We've been looking to rent and I've come across one apartment that I really like.
It's a bit strange though. The landlord has told us that he is putting it on Airbnb and he wants us to take book it for the time we want it via Airbnb. He told me it won't be available to anyone else as long as we book two months in advance each time before the last one expires.
The monthly price works out the same as the average price of two beds in the area. A little bit less actually.
But I've never seen it done this way before.
Has anyone any experience of paying rent this way?

Dravokivich

That's not renting. Don't do it. Either get a lease or get somewhere else.

SuperS54

By using Airbnb you are only ever a short term renter of basically a holiday home. The landlord can raise rent at will and basically kick you out whenever they feel like it. You will have no tenancy rights at all.

Del2005

I'd get legal advice before writing it off as not renting, not from Threshold.

If you are paying money to rent for more than 6 months then part 4 tenancy comes into affect. The landlord trying to game the system is their own responsibility, but if the OP gets part 4 tenancy this way the landlord can't kick them out without proper notice.

The RTB might be able to give some information but I suspect that this will require a test case to set precedent

Bob24

Seems like a way to work around all regulations related to regular rentals. Basically you would be entitled to none of the rights a regular tenant has and they could change the rent or ask you to leave anytime the want at the end of one of these 2 months periods (maybe even within one, they might not risk more than a bad review on AirBnb).

SuperS54

KellyXX wrote: »

The monthly price works out the same as the average price of two beds in the area. A little bit less actually.

As a possible positive on this scenario, if it's an airbnb rather than a normal rental, the landlord is presumeably also responsible for bills such as electricity, water(!), bins, cable TV, oil for heating etc.

KellyXX

The max is 6 months he says which tbh suits us.
And the price and location suits us.
It's just the Airbnb payment that is a bit weird.
Probably won't be a problem but Ive never used Airbnb to rent anywhere even for a night.

Samuel T. Cogley

Aside from this being a potential scam (airbnnb is cited for many scams) as Del says the LL is trying to game the system. After 6 months Part IV will apply anyway the form of the lease comes second to the actual situation.

Samuel T. Cogley

KellyXX wrote: »

The max is 6 months he says which tbh suits us.
And the price and location suits us.
It's just the Airbnb payment that is a bit weird.
Probably won't be a problem but Ive never used Airbnb to rent anywhere even for a night.

Make sure it is as the LL isn't a stupid as he first appears then. You'll be out in 6 months minus 1 day no matter what the situation is.

SteM

I assume that the landlord can raise the rent by whatever he wants every 2 months?

KellyXX

SuperS54 wrote: »

As a possible positive on this scenario, if it's an airbnb rather than a normal rental, the landlord is presumeably also responsible for bills such as electricity, water(!), bins, cable TV, oil for heating etc.

Yeah there are no electricity bill or bins. That's why it works out cheaper than normal rent when we factor that in.
No internet or TV. We have to provide that ourselves if we want it.
He says it's on Airbnb and he will only accept renewals from us so no-one else can book it for then 6 months, whatever that means, but I assume it means that boo e else can book for then time we are there.

He described it as a 6 months Airbnb rental. Now I've never done Airbnb so just guessing as to what that entails.

C3PO

If you're comfortable that it's not a scam and the terms suit you .. why not?

KellyXX

SteM wrote: »

I assume that the landlord can raise the rent by whatever he wants every 2 months?

We asked him that and he said he won't. He says it's ours for 6 months. But I guess he could if he really wanted to.

What he said was we have a fixed monthly price for the 6 months. And that we won't be able to book it anyway after the final day is up.

I tried to contact Airbnb to ask them some questions but it's impossible to contact them.

KellyXX

C3PO wrote: »

If you're comfortable that it's not a scam and the terms suit you .. why not?

I think we're going to take it but I just wanted to see if anyone had ever seen rent paid this way before. I certainly haven't.
He does seem genuine but I can't seem to contact Airbnb to hear their side of it.

Ie what happens if we leave early or if we wanted to stay longer. All sorts of questions really.

Samuel T. Cogley

KellyXX wrote: »

I think we're going to take it but I just wanted to see if anyone had ever seen rent paid this way before. I certainly haven't.
He does seem genuine but I can't seem to contact Airbnb to hear their side of it.

Ie what happens if we leave early or if we wanted to stay longer. All sorts of questions really.

Nothing he can do if you don't renew. Under no circumstances will you be allowed to stay longer as Part IV would kick in.

You're essentially staying in a hotel plenty of people do it medium term. If you do it long term there's even a reasonable notice requirement but I digress.

topper_harley2

I see you mentioned TV above. Worth noting that you will likely find it hard to set up TV, broadband accounts etc, as you will not have any bills in your name at the address, since you are not a proper tenant. Something to consider. Similar issues if you wanted to change bank accounts, or anything that requires bills in your name at the address.

Samuel T. Cogley

topper_harley2 wrote: »

I see you mentioned TV above. Worth noting that you will likely find it hard to set up TV, broadband accounts etc, as you will not have any bills in your name at the address, since you are not a proper tenant. Something to consider. Similar issues if you wanted to change bank accounts, or anything that requires bills in your name at the address.

You could set up Sky no problem (albeit on a 12 month contract but they will move you). I suspect Virgin would be the better option though as they do 30 day contracts and are equally as easy to set up in fairness. Banks though would be an issue.

LuckyLloyd

KellyXX wrote: »

We asked him that and he said he won't. He says it's ours for 6 months. But I guess he could if he really wanted to.

What he said was we have a fixed monthly price for the 6 months. And that we won't be able to book it anyway after the final day is up.

I tried to contact Airbnb to ask them some questions but it's impossible to contact them.

You have no guarantee beyond the first couple of months. I wouldn’t be inclined to take someone evading tenancy legislation at their word. If he gets a better offer after two or four months you’ll be gone.

Ask for a six month lease and get everything on paper is my advice.

Wanderer78

Personally wouldn't recommend doing this for the reasons already mentioned

KellyXX

topper_harley2 wrote: »

I see you mentioned TV above. Worth noting that you will likely find it hard to set up TV, broadband accounts etc, as you will not have any bills in your name at the address, since you are not a proper tenant. Something to consider. Similar issues if you wanted to change bank accounts, or anything that requires bills in your name at the address.

Not really a problem for us. We use a dongle for the internet and TV even now so that won't have to change. Trying to think of other stuff but I'm drawing a blank.

KellyXX

Can you book for the whole 6 months in advance on Airbnb? Instead of two months at a time.
That might be an option. But then if we left early that wouldn't suit, but if we definitely were going to be staying 6 months?

KellyXX

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

You have no guarantee beyond the first couple of months. I wouldn’t be inclined to take someone evading tenancy legislation at their word. If he gets a better offer after two or four months you’ll be gone.

Ask for a six month lease and get everything on paper is my advice.

He told us the reason he is doing this is that the rent used to be 40% below the market value and he couldn't put it to market value any other way, so it was this way or no way for him.

We had the same situation from the opposite side at the moment so I know what he means.

spaceHopper

If you are paying by pay pal make sure its not friends and family, much harder to get your money back

AlanG

It sounds like the Landlord is trying to get around the regulations but he actually hasn't got a leg to stand on. Once you are there six months you have the same rights no matter what medium you use to pay the rent. If you like the place go for it and keep quiet for six months. After that you have the same rights as any renter, more in fact as he will not have registered the tenancy.
It is the landlord who needs to get legal advice on this one.

KellyXX

AlanG wrote: »

It sounds like the Landlord is trying to get around the regulations but he actually hasn't got a leg to stand on. Once you are there six months you have the same rights no matter what medium you use to pay the rent. If you like the place go for it and keep quiet for six months. After that you have the same rights as any renter, more in fact as he will not have registered the tenancy.
It is the landlord who needs to get legal advice on this one.

We will be paying through credit card on the airbnb site so it should be protected.
He wont let us renew past 6 months. ie he wont accept the renewal request on airbnb whatever that means.
6 months suits us at this time anyway.
Asked hi could we just pay him up front for 6 months in cash and he said no, he wants a record of the transactions via airbnb.
He gave me some reason but i cant remember what it was now.
Have to decide by today. Pity its impossible to talk to airbnb.

Bananaleaf

I'd say this is definitely a scam

Tenigate

KellyXX wrote: »

Ie what happens if we leave early or if we wanted to stay longer. All sorts of questions really.

Op, essentially you're living in a hotel rather than leasing a house.

If you leave early, nothing happens. You've already paid your month up-front, it's non-refundable, and you don't need to give notice. So it's flexible for you.

On the downside, it's flexible for the landlord too. It's not a lease and you're not guaranteed anything more than the month you've paid for DESPITE what you're being told verbally. Your contract is the Airbnb agreement. When you pay it you're accepting the contract as stated.
(sure you could challenge this with the PRTB or in court, but instead of letting it get that far just be comfortable with the airbnb agreement. if it doesn't suit you, look elsewhere)

And Op, whhhyyyy are you emailing airbnb? They're not your lawyer. As long as you pay through their platform (rather than paying rent directly to the landlord) you won't lose your money to a scam.

KellyXX

Tenigate wrote: »

Op, essentially you're living in a hotel rather than leasing a house.

If you leave early, nothing happens. You've already paid your month up-front, it's non-refundable, and you don't need to give notice. So it's flexible for you.

On the downside, it's flexible for the landlord too. It's not a lease and you're not guaranteed anything more than the month you've paid for DESPITE what you're being told verbally. Your contract is the Airbnb agreement. When you pay it you're accepting the contract as stated.
(sure you could challenge this with the PRTB or in court, but instead of letting it get that far just be comfortable with the airbnb agreement. if it doesn't suit you, look elsewhere)

And Op, whhhyyyy are you emailing airbnb? They're not your lawyer. As long as you pay through their platform (rather than paying rent directly to the landlord) you won't lose your money to a scam.

Well im trying to find out off airbnb what the max i can book the room for in one go is.
Say i could book and pay it for 3 months or 6 months today, then i would be much more comfortable.

Tenigate

KellyXX wrote: »

Can you book for the whole 6 months in advance on Airbnb? Instead of two months at a time.
That might be an option. But then if we left early that wouldn't suit, but if we definitely were going to be staying 6 months?

Now you're getting it! The flexibility works both ways.

You could book the 6 months in advance. The disadvantage is you'd have to pay it upfront.

BrokenArrows

Bananaleaf wrote: »

I'd say this is definitely a scam

It cant be a scam.

He is going to be booking the apartment via the AirBnb website and is covered by their terms and conditions.

If the OP books the apartment and the apartment isnt actually available then AirBnb will refund him.


OP just be careful of AirBnb service fees which are usually added on top of the advertised daily rate.

KellyXX

Tenigate wrote: »

Now you're getting it! The flexibility works both ways.

You could book the 6 months in advance. The disadvantage is you'd have to pay it upfront.

We could handle the 6 months up front. Just need to know if i can do it and then i'll propose it to the landlord and go from there. Have to set up an airbnb account today anyway.

KellyXX

BrokenArrows wrote: »

It cant be a scam.

He is going to be booking the apartment via the AirBnb website and is covered by their terms and conditions.

If the OP books the apartment and the apartment isnt actually available then AirBnb will refund him.


OP just be careful of AirBnb service fees which are usually added on top of the advertised daily rate.

Yeah the price he quoted to us is including the airbnb service fee. There is no cleaning fee he says.
Airbnb is totally new to me. Only heard of it from friends going on hols.

Tenigate

KellyXX wrote: »

Yeah the price he quoted to us is including the airbnb service fee. There is no cleaning fee he says.
Airbnb is totally new to me. Only heard of it from friends going on hols.

I used it before, op.

I stayed in a nice apartment in South America which included internet, electricity and gas. I decided to use airbnb's platform despite the fee as my cash would be protected (rather than making a bank transfer to a strange bank account).

I rented it for 2 weeks but at the end of the 2 weeks (and completely breaking airbnb's terms of services) I paid the landlady directly for another 4 weeks to avoid airbnb's fee.

Bob24

KellyXX wrote: »

Well im trying to find out off airbnb what the max i can book the room for in one go is.
Say i could book and pay it for 3 months or 6 months today, then i would be much more comfortable.

If the owner of the property doesn’t want to take a 6 months booking, it is not possible. As simple as that and Airbnb won’t force them to do so if they don’t want to. No need to contact Airbnb for that.

Graham

Two suggestions

1) Make sure you've met the landlord in person and viewed the property.
2) Make sure you go to the AirBnB website yourself from a clean browser session. Don't rely on a link sent to you by anyone else (including the landlord). The same applies when making the payment. There are some very convincing fake AirBnB clones around.

A landlord who's prepared to let a property for below market rent via AirBnB sets off all sorts of alarm bells. Proceed with caution.

Bananaleaf

Didn't you say in a previous post that you have an infant child too? 6months up front is a lot of money to pay. Are you sure you want to pay that much in advance? Have you even met the owner of the property? Or even seen the property? I hate to be so negative, but I can't see this ending well

mdebets

KellyXX wrote: »

He told us the reason he is doing this is that the rent used to be 40% below the market value and he couldn't put it to market value any other way, so it was this way or no way for him.

We had the same situation from the opposite side at the moment so I know what he means.

After reading this, and if you decide to take the offer, I would open a case with the RTP for an illegal rent raise and get this 36% rent back.
I see this the same way as a landlord giving a tenant a licensee agreement and thinking that would absolve him from the tenancy legislation, it doesn't and similar, I don't think going the Air B&B route shouldn't either.

conical

***ALARM BELLS***
***ALARM BELLS***
As posters above have suggested, this is most likely a scam!

Joe Duffy heard about many very convincing airbnb type scams recently

eg:
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/liveline/programmes/2017/0913/904430-liveline-wednesday-13-september-2017/?clipid=102603187

Del2005

Graham wrote: »

Two suggestions

1) Make sure you've met the landlord in person and viewed the property.
2) Make sure you go to the AirBnB website yourself from a clean browser session. Don't rely on a link sent to you by anyone else (including the landlord). The same applies when making the payment. There are some very convincing fake AirBnB clones around.

A landlord who's prepared to let a property for below market rent via AirBnB sets off all sorts of alarm bells. Proceed with caution.

It's not below market rate though. If the landlord let's by standard methods they have to rent below market rates, they are trying to game the system to increase their income. By insisting on letting though Airbnb they can't even avoid the tax on the rent which they can if they give a lease.

The only other advice I'd give is to call to the apartment at a random time in the evening and see if anyone answers the door, just to be sure that it's not already occupied.

dolallyoh

I'd give it a go. i would not pay 6 months up front though. Establish as good a relationship as you can with the LL in person.

Bananaleaf

Also OP, a little different I know, but please read through this thread too:

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057690816

KellyXX

Bananaleaf wrote: »

Didn't you say in a previous post that you have an infant child too? 6months up front is a lot of money to pay. Are you sure you want to pay that much in advance? Have you even met the owner of the property? Or even seen the property? I hate to be so negative, but I can't see this ending well

We viewed the property and met him.
His family are from the same town as me too, so I know them, even though he doesnt know that yet.
6 months will be fine. We came into some money and are now buying, but need something for a while before its all sorted out .

He is fine as long as its not for more than 6 months and all money and agreements are handled through airbnb.
He says he has been burned by the rent controls and doesnt want anything to do with a long term rent anymore.

Bananaleaf

KellyXX wrote: »

We viewed the property and met him.
His family are from the same town as me too, so I know them, even though he doesnt know that yet.
6 months will be fine. We came into some money and are now buying, but need something for a while before its all sorted out .

He is fine as long as its not for more than 6 months and all money and agreements are handled through airbnb.
He says he has been burned by the rent controls and doesnt want anything to do with a long term rent anymore.

I wish you the best of luck with the rental and also with the house hunting. So long as you're re comfortable with it all, then fIr play to you and as I said, I wish you luck.

KellyXX

mdebets wrote: »

After reading this, and if you decide to take the offer, I would open a case with the RTP for an illegal rent raise and get this 36% rent back.
I see this the same way as a landlord giving a tenant a licensee agreement and thinking that would absolve him from the tenancy legislation, it doesn't and similar, I don't think going the Air B&B route shouldn't either.

How would the RTB be involved here?
The landlord insists that they wont be and hes not giving them the chance to "stick their oar in" as he puts it.
I dont feel like im being done, so why would the rtb?
I think ive checked it out as much as i can. I set up the airbnb account and found the property on it about an hour ago. Also talked to a few people who have used airbnb.
Im going to do it for two months first anyway and then ill do two months after that again and again after that.

KellyXX

Del2005 wrote: »

It's not below market rate though. If the landlord let's by standard methods they have to rent below market rates, they are trying to game the system to increase their income. By insisting on letting though Airbnb they can't even avoid the tax on the rent which they can if they give a lease.

The only other advice I'd give is to call to the apartment at a random time in the evening and see if anyone answers the door, just to be sure that it's not already occupied.

I dont believe he is trying to scam anyone. HE is just trying to get out from under rent controls. We offered him market rate, but he said he is not even allowed to agree with us to pay market rent even if we want to, which seems silly,but there you have it.

Tenigate

KellyXX wrote: »

How would the RTB be involved here?
The landlord insists that they wont be and hes not giving them the chance to "stick their oar in" as he puts it.
I dont feel like im being done, so why would the rtb?

It's just the mentality of some people who don't believe 2 individuals can enter an agreement without involving at least half a dozen public officials in as many government departments.

GarIT

conical wrote: »

***ALARM BELLS***
***ALARM BELLS***
As posters above have suggested, this is most likely a scam!

Joe Duffy heard about many very convincing airbnb type scams recently

eg:
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/liveline/programmes/2017/0913/904430-liveline-wednesday-13-september-2017/?clipid=102603187

That's simply not possible. Airbnb is a reputable company. As long as the OP uses the genuine Airbnb website and not a fake copy he can't be scammed. Even if the landlord turns out to be a scammer Airbnb will assist in getting the OPs money back.

Going through Airbnb will give you much more protection from the financial transaction side of things than cash or a bank transfer. The same tenancy rights would apply if OP were to pursue them through the RTB.

KellyXX

Ok. Definitely going to do it tonight.
I'll let you know how it went and if there are any hiccups along the way that anyone else in such a situation should look out for.

mdebets

KellyXX wrote: »

How would the RTB be involved here?
The landlord insists that they wont be and hes not giving them the chance to "stick their oar in" as he puts it.

Because I (IANAL) feel that the situation is similar to the landlord trying to enter in a Licensee agreement with a tenant, while actually renting him an apartment, and trying to have the rules for licensees rather than tenants apply to it. In this case, the RTP would step in and tell the landlord that it's in fact a tenancy agreement and the correct rules apply to it.
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. And your contract really looks like a tenancy agreement.

karenalot

I’ve done a few 2 and 3 month stints in Airbnb’s abroad. You have to pay the first month up front with your card via Airbnb and it’s non refundable. The remainder is then collected in monthly installments.

Info here -
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/245/how-do-i-pay-for-my-long-term-reservation

KellyXX

mdebets wrote: »

Because I (IANAL) feel that the situation is similar to the landlord trying to enter in a Licensee agreement with a tenant, while actually renting him an apartment, and trying to have the rules for licensees rather than tenants apply to it. In this case, the RTP would step in and tell the landlord that it's in fact a tenancy agreement and the correct rules apply to it.
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. And your contract really looks like a tenancy agreement.

So even though its my choice month to month to renew it, but I wont be allowed, as ive been told, to renew it for a sixth month, i could if I wanted, just stay?
I dont see that tbh.