To put my flat on air bnb rather than a letting agents?

[Alllostinthedust]

I am just wondering what people think.

At the moment the flat has

A bed (but v old and probably needs replacing)
Two chests of drawers
Sofa
Microwave and kettle

It does not have

An oven
A washing machine
A TV

I can arrange these things - would it be worthwhile? It’s in a good location.

Depends do you want short term lets or long term rental?

Short term lets have disadvantages. You need to clean and do changeover, you still have to pay all the bills. With long term lets all that goes away.

Does your lease have any restrictions that would prevent you doing this? Most do.

The problem with long term rental is that I’d prefer to keep it as a base, so part furnished

We have done both and from our limited experience I prefer tenants as they cover all the bills and we have ended up with slightly less wear and tear. Plus Air bnb guests have taken my favourite Emma Bridgewater mugs etc and it’s harder to keep tabs of!

We still use air bnb in between tenants but the income has only become comparable now we have built up nearly 20 very good reviews. We are also in a popular area but people only booked reliably when we had built up plenty of good reviews

Is it in a location that would attract short term visitors? Wouldn't they want to visit at the same time that you'd want to visit?

@Exboarder, can you get the money back if they take something?

We rent ours out furnished - it’s usually easy just to stipulate part furnished if that’s what you want

I wouldn’t really want to visit as such.

It is a popular location and directly opposite a train station with direct trains to three major cities. There’s also a regular event very close by which attracts visitors.

You can but in our case we moved away and rent elsewhere so we can’t keep an eye on it ourselves. So couldn’t pin down at what point they were taken