Air BNB Should be Banned

[antelopevalley]

This started off as a lovely idea. A way for people to rent a spare room and show people around their home town.

It has since turned into a way for people to make money without adhering to the minimum legal standards that proper holiday accommodation has to meet. Even basic health and safety standards such as smoke alarms do not have to be met.

And it has created chaos, reducing the amount of accommodation for families to rent, pushing up prices, and hollowing out tourist destinations turning them into a Disneyland where few people live.

A ban would mean that anyone wanting to rent out holiday accommodation would have to do it properly. People doing it well could remain running their business but the amateurs who haven't a clue what they are doing would leave the market.

Owning property isn’t “making a living”. There are these things called “jobs” for that.

I imagine Airbnb prices are going to sky rocker soon anyway, OP, as owners have to factor in utility costs.

This may well result in many owners moving away from the short let market.

We have booked an owners own cottage for a week in the new year. They let it out periodically when they go away.

It's off season so £400 for 5 nights and is in a walking/hiking/mud lovers area.

Like most properties, it comes with
unlimited heating, bath, hot water, use of oven, washing machine, etc.

We won't be extravagant but we will certainly enjoy not being as restricted as we are at home.

I'm sure the owner will soon realise that price no longer makes economical sense.

This made me smile. I washed and dried everything before I left our last AirBnb. OH thought I was bonkers.

But if you own a second home / flat why should you be able to rent it out while you're not using it?

Genuine question here - how is AirBnB worse than any other online booking agent? I can't imagine booking.com or cottages.com are out checking health and safety either? So isn't the problem more how easy and accessible it is now to rent out properties online? I do get it really is a big problem for some communities, but really not sure banning AirBnB would fix it - surely they would just move to another booking platform?

Those sites say you have to meet basic criteria including smoke alarms. Air BNB do not.

There should definitely be limits on how many/what proportion of properties can be short-term lets in given areas. Which platform it is doesn't really make that much difference. If you banned AirBnb it would just go onto a different platform. I believe that in Barcelona you now have to register your property and there is a limit on how many licences are available.

It is really useful to be able to book a house or a flat when travelling with kids - and a real step up from having to go to bed when small kids do, which is what happens if you stay in a family hotel room. But there are unsustainable numbers available at the moment. I'd be happier about booking places if I knew it was sustainable within the local area, rather than meaning that there would be a shortage of property for rent. There must be loads of places standing empty most of the time, but still just making enough to make it worth it for the owners.

The trouble is that everyone – from landlord to holiday booker – acts individually without any knowledge of the bigger picture, which is where local authorities should take a more active role.

Aren’t AirB&Bs terms and conditions for providers simply that their properties must meet legal and regulatory requirements in the jurisdictions they’re located? In which case, if providers aren’t fitting smoke alarms, what actually needs to change is UK law on minimum health and safety conditions?

I like an Airbnb. I think it’s a good thing to give hotels and other holiday lets a bit of competition. At the end of the day, if you don’t like them - don’t use them but I’ve had some amazing holidays and stayed in some fantastic places through Airbnb.

I agree with pp’s that planning would help with the issues,- anyone wishing to let an entire property should have to apply for change of use, that way local authorities have a say on keeping balance in touristy areas.

I stopped using airbnb when greedy owners started hiding the true cost of the lets by adding on stupid cleaning fees etc.
The best one I stayed in was a lovely lady letting her spare room.
The worst was an ex council flat converted specifically for airbnb letting. It was done in such a way that a small-ish 2 bed flat was now a 5 bedroom apartment with shared facilities in what used to be a coat cupboard. Pure greed. I think I got a good deal because they wanted my good review, the cost of it doubled after my stay

Including running a brothel, growing cannabis, playing drums 15 hours a day, selling booze?

That's not how things work here (or anywhere). There are plenty of restrictions on what you can do in your 'own property'.

Better regulated? Yes. But not banned outright.

In response to the PPs complaining about Airbnbs on their street - what's to say you wouldn't have the same issues if the property was owned, on a long-term lease, or rented through any other holiday rental company? You would actually probably have even less recourse in the first two situations. It comes across a bit NIMBYish to me.

I have used Airbnb a few times and for the most part the places we have rented have either been extensions of someone's residential property (annexes or converted barns on the land), or they have also been advertised elsewhere as well as Airbnb so would presumably comply with legislation to be able to advertise on those other sites.

I understand the frustrations of local residents when they can't find or afford a property in their area due to a proliferation of holiday rentals but I don't think this is exclusively an Airbnb issue. It's also a fine balancing act in areas which rely heavily on tourism for jobs and the economy.

They are so damaging. I am always really surprised at the support for Airbnb from people who try to be 'ethical' in other aspects of their lives. You're ok with hollowing out communities just because you want a 'more unique holiday experience'?

Now I've realised how they affect residents, I won't stay in one again.

There are 5-6 Airbnbs on my small terraced street, and it's the same throughout the local area. Residents are sick of the noise, mess, rat problems and destruction of the community. Guests/owners don't care about storing rubbish securely, or that the neighbours want to sleep. I knew the names of all my neighbours in London, yet I don't here!

The houses themselves are not cared for. But they would make perfectly good first homes for couples and small families – who are finding it harder than every to get on the property ladder.

It's just parasitical. Airbnb does nothing neighbourhoods except harm them.

If you use Airbnb or similar platforms, you are contributing to damaging communities. Don't kid yourself. Just stay in a hotel or a B&B, there are plenty of great ones out there.

I don’t think they should be banned but I can’t believe how greedy these booking websites (Airbnb, Booking,com etc) are, typically taking 15% + of the entire fee. Seems extortionate to me.

@Orenishiicottonmouth anything stopping you from letting your property to people who actually want to live there rather than as an airbnb?

YANBU. In my town there are 61 flats listed for rent at the moment and over 1000 listed on Airbnb (just says over 1000, I can't see how many but would not be surprised if it was multiple thousands). Some of those will be primary residences which is generally OK, the majority are not.

It's harmful and unethical and the whole idea of short-term holiday lets should be much more strictly regulated. In a lot of cases people want to 'run a business' (in a residential area) but without any of the pesky downsides such as having to meet health and safety standards or pay proper taxes.

I think some cities such as Barcelona have started to introduce very strict rules around.

We have one in our road, in someone's annexe. He is very strict and has let all the neighbours know to tell him at the first sign of a problem with noise or parking.

'Just god forbid anyone who wants to make money off a house that most of the general public couldn't afford to buy in the first place.'

There are villages in the Lake District where 85% of houses are holiday lets or second homes. And the visitors wonder why the pub is only open 3 days a week, they can't get cleaners for their holiday home and the village shop has closed....

And of course the 15% doesn't stay in the UK.

I think there should be stricter regulations about short term rental properties, plus higher taxes for entire properties being used to earn money.

Just as there is a different legal framework for lodgers rather than tenants, there can be looser regulation for people letting out a room in their house, which was the original concept of airbnb

Agreed, I'm in Edinburgh too. I'm glad licensing is being introduced next year.

I have no particular problem with AirBnBs where someone lets out their spare room - but whole flats/houses operated solely as holiday lets just decrease the availability of long-term rental properties, pushing rental prices up (because landlords can make more from holiday lets) and making it incredibly difficult for people who actually want to live in the city to find a place to rent.

I don't think I should be banned outright but I do think it should be more heavily regulated and that planning permission should be required for conversion of residential property to short term lets.

We have had holiday lets for the past 12 years. We are 4 star registered with VisitEngland. In the past 5-6 years we have moved to Airbnb as this was the only way to get bookings. We have annual gas servicing and safety checks, similarly with the electricity (PAT testing). Some Airbnb guests complain when we follow the 1972 law requiring names and nationaliies of all gusts over 16. We do try very hard to follow the law and understand that some Airbnb hosts don't bother.

Please don't lump us all together.

@JoWawa I am not talking about people like yourself. I think I made that clear. It is the total amateurs who have zero clue what they are doing that should not be in the business.