Renting out a room on Airbnb to help with mortgage - has anybody done it?

[sixofspades]

I live in a town that is popular with tourists, and am considering renting out the top floor of my three storey house as an Airbnb to help with the mortgage payments.

Does anyone on MN have a similar set-up and if so, how’s it working out for you and how much money do you make? How easy or stressful is it to do and are there any pitfalls to be aware of? I would love to hear your experiences.

Only because no-one else has mentioned it - do check the terms of your mortgage, many do not allow sub-letting either to a lodger or short-term/holiday letting, or explicitly require permission from the lender to do so. You may think there's no way your lender could find out, but e.g. if you need to renew your mortgage they may want bank statements and will note the income from the let. It's no good being able to pay the mortgage if the lender withdraws the loan! Also check the terms of your insurance to see if it covers lodgers/holiday lets as you do not want to invalidate your insurance!

Also, if your income from the lodger/holiday lets is in excess of permitted limits, bear in mind you will need to pay tax on the income so that could potentially be a 40% drain on 'profit'.

As others have said, there are pros and cons to long term lodger vs holiday let, but I would say that air b n b people/holiday makers may be outside the house more often but they are also more inclined to treat it as a 'hotel' and anyone that's ever worked as a chambermaid can tell you how people treat hotel rooms (sick face not jealous face) - do estimate/budget quite a lot of time and money for cleaning the room between rents and replacement of bed linens, towels, furniture etc and abolsutely do not put anything precious or valuable in the room....

Do you have car parking space? I considered a lodger but start renting my space throughout Just park (I think there are other companies too). I make around £100 a month and it helps pay my bills.

I think it can work very well with guests having separate floor / mini fridge etc. Some airbnb do provide cooking facilities (useful if guests stay over a week) but most guests do not expect to be given full access to kitchen - though many hosts provide a bit of breakfast (cereal etc). It depends whether there are cafes nearby or not.
As I mentioned before, my friend made bucketts of money on this in her flat (not large) in london with limited kitchen access, but she is close to cafes / shops - but there are chores.

I'd also have a look into having a part-time lodger, some aer not even Mon-Fri but fewer days per week and normally out all day at work, then go back home out of the city. Works for London mainly or a big city. Have a look on SpareRoom, they have this option in search.

Oh and I'd definitely provide a microwave.

Of the air bnbs I have stayed in where people are doing it out of necessity in their own home all have seemed miserable and tired of it.

Air bnb seems great for improving yield on a second property though but I would prefer a longer term lodger in my own house.

I think the insurance and tax costs of a long term lodger are also much more favourable but would need to check to be certain as I have not looked recently.

I regularly stay in an Airbnb where the accommodation is similar to that which you are offering except `I share the bathroom with the people whose house it is (they have two loos). Plus they don't have children.
Pre covid they are booked most of the year round they seem seem to have regular long term 2-3 month bookings.
I love staying there they are a lovely friendly couple and their accommodation is very nice and comfortable. Having your one sitting room us such a bonus. But they would be the first to admit that they are not cooks its all takeaways and ready meals for them so we are not fighting to use the kitchen although despite this the kitchen is very well equiped. One of them works from home so being available to let people doesn't seem to be isn't an issue, they also have a big garden so that guests can sit in one bit and they can have another bit and a home office/summer house so I guess they can escape from guests if they want. They also provide parking a big attraction as parking is at a premium where they are so costs to park are high. Their price is significantly cheaper than any hotel without adding the parking cost in.
But they would say I'm an exceedingly "respectfu"l guest, Im very quiet, I avoid the bathroom first thing in the morning in case they need it to get ready to go to work, I'm very clean and tidy (in their house) and as I visiting my son I am out most of the day. They are also fairly sociable and seem to enjoy chatting to guests.
Would I do it? If I was struggling to pay the mortgage I think I would if I had suitable accommodation. unlike renting it to a long term tenant if your in the right place you can defiantly charge more money and you can choose who you have and equally importantly when people stay. It's common in the city I regularly visit and lots clearly have children. The Airbnb host comments on you when you've departed so you can choose people who have good "references".

I've rented out a room to lodgers, with young children - to start with the lodgers pre-dated the kids, then when they left we agreed a friend of a friend could stay for up to two months while looking for somewhere else, but stayed nearly 4 years!

Unless you are in a very touristy area, offering short term lets via a uni or major employer is likely to be easiest. If they're annoying you know it's only a few weeks, and if you get on well you can offer longer.

Ive done it and would do it again the money was great £70 per night and sometimes you get a long booking through a company and that’s a great boost. I had nice people some are a bit fussy but most are lovely. This summer I house sat for a month and rented my home out it was a great income after three businesses gone through COVID

We rented to mature students when DS was small and it worked really well. Some of them we're still in touch with years later and they have a lovely relationship with the DC.

Having mature students as lodgers works well as they're there for a purpose and only for a set period of time, while they do their course.

I vetted them thoroughly beforehand on social media and online, as well as meeting them in person, to make sure they were someone we'd be happy to have in our house.

I'd recommend it, it worked well for us.

You can see from Air BnB that thousands of people do it! It is very flexible, you are right.

I do it, but mine is an annexe.

Your set up sounds perfect. Is there any way you could provide a separate entrance, even by blocking off doors, creating a new door? You can charge a lot more if you could make your two rooms self contained.

You can specify that you will only accept people with at least 2 good reviews.

I've done Airbnb, lodgers and language students.
I prefer Airbnb above all. Language students are a pain and too much work for the money. Lodgers are fine but often around the house and Airbnb are shorter stays and people usually go out all day. You can set your calendar to be for example weekends only so you know there will be times you aren't bothered.
Yes they are strangers but I only accept guests with positive reviews and the risk is really low.