How can I rent out my house for a few months?

[lifeisastrangejourney]

I need to move to another part of the country temporarily to help a poorly family member.
My finances are stretched. I will have to stay on peoples sofas or the cheapest accommodation I can find.

My question is, how can I temporarily rent out my small house for possibly 3 months. I can’t go the route of 6 or 12 month rental contracts.

Does anyone do monthly rentals on Airbnb or any other site?
Is it safe? What if the people who move in don’t leave?
Any other companies I should use?
Thanks

Most tenancy agreements are for a minimum of 6 months but I don't think there is a legal minimum. You do need a contract in order to protect yourself and to be able to evict them. I think you might not be able to evict before 6 months though no matter how long the contract.

You do need to get proper advice on this from a letting agent.

There are various laws out there regarding letting, tax law, business rates, planning etc.

Contact your local estate agent for advice, they may know somebody who needs a short term let, often there are people who are between houses when buying etc. They might be happy to rent a furnished property.

Look up the landlord laws to see what you need to provide, such as EPC, smoke alarms, CO2 alarms where applicable. You need to protect any deposit taken within a certain amount of time. You would need Landlords insurance to cover the property and the contents. Your mortgage company would have to be advised. You would also need to pack away all your personal belongings, documents and valuables and store them somewhere.

Your furniture and equipment could get damaged. You could need to complete a tax return to declare the income.

You could airbnb it, but check out their rules and see if there are any time restrictions on the area where you live.

so there is a huge amount to consider.

Agree wirh @skyeisthelimit the costs to you for such a short period? You'd be out of pocket definitely. Aren't you able to stay with the family member you're caring for? Could those who have offered to put you're doing so not help out instead? Or could ss provide formal carers?

You’d need to change your mortgage type if you’re renting your home, plus the points everyone else has mentioned

more hassle than it’s worth I’d think

You would also have to consider packing up and storing any sentimental and valuable possessions, meeting fire and safety regulations for rentals such as fire retardancy of mattresses, sofas, soft furnishings, electrical and gas safety checks, insurance, notifying mortgage company, paying tax on any income(less some expenses), maintenance fund and any costs afterwards like repairs or redecoration.

Round here you need a license from the council for short term letting and need to meet safety checks etc. License is £££ and you'll wait months/maybe a year on one. Unlikely this will be possible for you.

Ask the bank for a mortgage holiday

Or be honest and ask family member that they need to hep you out a bit financially

@lifeisastrangejourney dont do it! not worth it for 3 months. you have the expense of having electric test, pat test, gas safety test, smoke alarm tests, chimney test if you have one. also landlord registration which doesnt happen until you have all the tests done and council has verified that you are an honest reliable landlord. honestly quite expensive for 3 months.

Are you in an area that people come to for work?
you could try for a Monday-Friday lodger, so you both nominally live there, but you’re not actually there. That gets around the sole occupancy need for tenancy agreement.

This is bad advice. If the landlord is not in fact residing in the same property as the “lodger” a de facto tenancy may be implied with all the legal requirements on the part of the landlord that implies, and the protections against eviction provided to the tenant.

OP if you are concerned about security if your property while you are away you could consider a house sitter (through a reputable agency) or a relative or friend to check in on the house regularly for a small fee.

You can do long term lets on Air BnB, but I don't know how many hoops they'd be to jump through.

You could do it 'off the books' via word of mouth/Facebook etc, but you're leaving yourself open to legal issues. I'm in London and lots of people who are going up to the Edinburgh fringe for the month will let their flats/houses out for the month to offset the cost. It is mostly done directly though.

Airbnb? Just find a cleaning company who will come in between let’s

Renters reform bill in September will change all general tenancies to a minimum of 12 months - stop section 21 (no fault eviction) and you have to give 4 months notice to the tenant.
There must be shorter ones available somewhere for literally short term requirements but I can’t find anything without all sorts of potential problems and there’s some rules around tenants gaining rights over a certain number of days plus if they had nowhere to go after then they just stay, everyone such as council, housing advice tell people to stay until actually evicted - then anyway without this if it’s rented furnished you have to replace stuff - whilst I’m ok with fridge being a bit too cold at the back a tenant would be within rights to say it’s not working and that’s a month rent on a fridge I didn’t want or need right now. Then all safety stuff and paying an agent to manage issues and potential issues I think it would end up costing me not covering most of bills and that’s without any major problem.

You could try a short let. Dd and future SiL found short lets (say 3 months or less) in very short supply when they needed one - default is usually a minimum of 6 months. I’d ask a local letting agent for advice.

Use air bnb as they have great insurance and the people staying there will have no rights.

Can you put a lock on one bedroom and put all the clutter and personal stuff in there and rent out the rest?

You can also get a key box for the keys and organise a cleaner to go in between people if needed

My friend rents iut rooms in an hmo using only air bnb now as they had too much trouble with proper loggers accruing rent arrears and just not leaving. She rents each room for minimum one month.
I'm sure your market would be people buying a house and needing somewhere to stay or people renovating amd needing to move out for a little bit

This. People above are massively complicating things by talking about tenancy agreements, smoke alarms and permission from the council. Just put it on Airbnb and arrange a cleaner between rentals.

I don’t think you can do it any sort of official way and make good money short term like this. Unless your in an amazing location, in a well presented property.

I rented my home out previously and it was a reasonable outlay at the begging just getting it up to a rentable standard. Had to redecorate, have it deep cleaned, lose furniture, mend a few things. It cost about a grand.

I think you would be better off asking friends if they know anyone who needs to move out of their home for building work and ask them to cover expenses.

Just don't. You will struggle to get possession when you need it and you clearly can't afford the finances to be a landlord or airbnb. Both could end in disaster . . .

We worked abroad and paid a management company to put it on AirBNB. They organised the cleaning, professional laundry service and managed the bookings. We paid a higher %fee to have them meet and greet guests, not just a keybox down the road somewhere. Our flat was between zone 1-2 in London, and could only be rented out a total of 3mths each year due to (I think) council regulations.

We already had a buy to let mortgage on it and a separate garage to lock up possessions. We could choose to only take a minimum of X number of nights if we wanted to. Overall, we made a little bit of money, but occupancy and rates were overall lower than they company predicted.

Thanks for the replies. Quite a lot to think about . I may have to be away more than once so that may change how viable it is

Also be aware your household insurance may not be valid, either if the house is empty for that long or you rent it out.