Air B and B and what it does for tenants

Dr_serious2

In my local town many landlords leave their properties vacant for the winter months, perhaps having friends and relations stay there for that time. Between St. Patrick's Day and Hallowe'en however they advertise on Air B and B. The town itself is quite touristy and in high season an apartment can fetch close to 1000 a month (more if they do it on a day by day basis) Hard to blame them I suppose.

The natural supply of houses which was in the town before Air B and B is therefore diminished, leaving very little for long term tenants. What is there tends to be expensive for that reason.

The landlords will argue that they make more money for a lot less hassle by acting this way. This, I am sure, is true. But it is not a great situation for tenants. Is there anything that can be done to counteract this or is the landlord within their rights to use their asset as they see fit?

Ajsoprano

Start building houses and stop fiddling the figures to make it look like they are building houses.

Eric Cartman

change the law so it doesn't take 6 months to remove a delinquent tenant
allow landlords to expense everything like a real business
stop government funded bodies telling people to overhold rent.

K.Flyer

Dr_serious2 wrote: »

...is the landlord within their rights to use their asset as they see fit?

Of course they are, why shouldn't they be as long as its legal.

Samuel T. Cogley

It's going to be changed eventually. AirBnB will require planning.

Dr_serious2

K.Flyer wrote: »

Of course they are, why shouldn't they be as long as its legal.

I agree that they should be allowed to do whatever they like with their properties but it is having a very negative knock-on effect for local renters who cannot get anywhere to live while houses lay idle for large part of the year.

Seth Brundle

Dr_serious2 wrote: »

I agree that they should be allowed to do whatever they like with their properties but it is having a very negative knock-on effect for local renters who cannot get anywhere to live while houses lay idle for large part of the year.

It can also have an effect on neighbours who expecting a quiet life are faced with Stag parties staying next door and a constant influx if strangers in their building.

Dr_serious2

kbannon wrote: »

It can also have an effect on neighbours who expecting a quiet life are faced with Stag parties staying next door and a constant influx if strangers in their building.

Absolutely, Air B and B is a great idea for landlords that often has negative knock-on effects for others.

Fr Tod Umptious

Dr_serious2 wrote: »

In my local town many landlords leave their properties vacant for the winter months, perhaps having friends and relations stay there for that time. Between St. Patrick's Day and Hallowe'en however they advertise on Air B and B. The town itself is quite touristy and in high season an apartment can fetch close to 1000 a month (more if they do it on a day by day basis) Hard to blame them I suppose.

The natural supply of houses which was in the town before Air B and B is therefore diminished, leaving very little for long term tenants. What is there tends to be expensive for that reason.

The landlords will argue that they make more money for a lot less hassle by acting this way. This, I am sure, is true. But it is not a great situation for tenants. Is there anything that can be done to counteract this or is the landlord within their rights to use their asset as they see fit?

What did they do before AirBnB, surely they rented during the season and were vacant during the winter ?

davo10

Landlords who own single or small numbers of properties are leaving the market, they can sell their property for a good price now and the hassle/risks of renting make Airbnb very appealing. From my own experience, recently put a property on Airbnb, I can get almost double the monthly rental price by letting out house from Friday to Sunday. It's a no brainer.

Dr_serious2

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

What did they do before AirBnB, surely they rented during the season and were vacant during the winter ?

They were more amenable to long-term renting before Air B and B.

I understand what other posters are saying though - bad tenants are a reality and the government will do nothing to protect the landlords against them when they occur.

K.Flyer

kbannon wrote: »

It can also have an effect on neighbours who expecting a quiet life are faced with Stag parties staying next door and a constant influx if strangers in their building.

If its a gang of lads or lassies for a party weekend, then they are gone after that weekend, leaving the landlord, hopefully, a bit wiser and more considerate next time.
Surely thats better than a long term tenant from hell who is almost impossible to get rid of and is having parties every other weekend.

10pennymixup

Dr_serious2 wrote: »

They were more amenable to long-term renting before Air B and B. ..........

I wonder what changed their minds.

Seth Brundle

K.Flyer wrote: »

If its a gang of lads or lassies for a party weekend, then they are gone after that weekend, leaving the landlord, hopefully, a bit wiser and more considerate next time.
Surely thats better than a long term tenant from hell who is almost impossible to get rid of and is having parties every other weekend.

I believe that in some cases, neighbouring apartments are made go through hell with parties every weekend, kids exposed to people drinking and in general people who bought in a quiet apartment block are living through an episode of Ibiza Uncovered.
Does the landlord care? As long as the rent comes in, seemingly not!
Private apartment blocks are not designed to be free for all hotels.

_Dara_

kbannon wrote: »

It can also have an effect on neighbours who expecting a quiet life are faced with Stag parties staying next door and a constant influx if strangers in their building.

Exactly, this tends to get overlooked.

K.Flyer

kbannon wrote: »

I believe that in some cases, neighbouring apartments are made go through hell with parties every weekend, kids exposed to people drinking and in general people who bought in a quiet apartment block are living through an episode of Ibiza Uncovered.
Does the landlord care? As long as the rent comes in, seemingly not!
Private apartment blocks are not designed to be free for all hotels.

That behaviour is not welcome from any type of tenant, whether Air BnB or a normal tenancy.
Although, I know of quite a few cases where landlords have had nothing to do with their property being let to Air BnB.
Subletting is becoming a big thing, especially in desirable areas in town where, in some cases, they have taken the place purely to make money from Air BnB and will offer the entire apartment.

salmocab

I did some work a few years back in an apartment in Dublin city Centre, i was talking to the landlord about the fact that he lets a few apartments on Airbnb and he was telling me he gets mainly American/European tourists, over a 4 week period he can generally get about 2/3 times the average monthly rent for the apartments. Now he does pay extra for cleaning and has extra work to do with organizing but it certainly sounded like he’s better off this way. Unfortunately that means that the few apartments he rents aren’t available to the normal rental market.

KellyXX

We are renting I Dublin through Airbnb. It was heart breaking trying to find somewhere to rent. The queues were terrible and the amount of people who nobody would rent to turning up just made them bigger as a landlord can't say to them not to bother coming.
Then people we're trying to make deals on the spot and all sorts of other stuff.
In the end we found one through Airbnb and rent that way. The experience was and is bliss.
Landlord is happy. We are happy. Win win.

CalRobert

Get rid of rent pressure zones for one - and I'm the benefactor of them as a renter! Seems like you'd be crazy to rent a place out knowing you couldn't charge market rates and would have to go through hell to kick out deadbeats.

SteM

Post #3 said it all - close the thread.

_Dara_

KellyXX wrote: »

We are renting I Dublin through Airbnb. It was heart breaking trying to find somewhere to rent. The queues were terrible and the amount of people who nobody would rent to turning up just made them bigger as a landlord can't say to them not to bother coming.
Then people we're trying to make deals on the spot and all sorts of other stuff.
In the end we found one through Airbnb and rent that way. The experience was and is bliss.
Landlord is happy. We are happy. Win win.

If it's a long-term arrangement, wouldn't you still be covered by tenancy laws? Can anyone in the know confirm this?

_Dara_

If more and more landlords leave the market and go the short-term lettings route, wouldn't there be less and less business for each individual property? Probably not an issue yet and likely never will be for anyone with a central property. The more peripheral properties might struggle though as they'd be marked down by customers for their location. There's a few Airbnb lets advertised in my apartment complex and I would be mighty disappointed with the location if I was a tourist. As a residential area, it's grand but it's sedate and far from the action.

KellyXX

_Dara_ wrote: »

If it's a long-term arrangement, wouldn't you still be covered by tenancy laws? Can anyone in the know confirm this?

It's not long term. We will be staying max 6 months. The landlord won't allow more. If we need more well do another Airbnb.

Gumbo

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

It's going to be changed eventually. AirBnB will require planning.

Already requires planning.
Dublin City Council have already issued enforcement notices on Airbnb complaints this year. It requires a change of use planning application, particularly if the home owner is not remaining in the house.

davo10

kceire wrote: »

Already requires planning.
Dublin City Council have already issued enforcement notices on Airbnb complaints this year. It requires a change of use planning application, particularly if the home owner is not remaining in the house.

Have there been any prosecutions?

kefflin

Thinking of putting our rental property up on air bnb. Can you put cleaning and other home improvements against tax ? Any other things we should be aware of. Do people think it's a good idea in general? We can definitely make more money if it works out ok 150 a night compared to 800 per month.

davo10

kefflin wrote: »

Thinking of putting our rental property up on air bnb. Can you put cleaning and other home improvements against tax ? Any other things we should be aware of. Do people think it's a good idea in general? We can definitely make more money if it works out ok 150 a night compared to 800 per month.

I put one property on Airbnb rather than renting, I'm delighted with it. The house is rented most weekends Thursday to Sunday and the income is double what could be achieved through long term rental. You include a cleaning fee (€70 in my case) and clean the place on a Wednesday evening. No down sides so far.