Airbnb hosting insurance?

[surreygirl1987]

We are selling our house and relocating. Have a rental place sorted starting July. House sake will take at least 2 or 3 more months I expect! So we will inevitably be paying mortgage and rent for a bit. As we will have 2 properties, we are thinking of airbnbing our house. We live in a desirable area and nearby properties charge lots per night. However we are really scared of something going wrong, eg the guests burning it down or injuring themselves and blaming us, etc. Is anyone in the same boat and what insurance do you have? It's literally going to be for two months over the summer but terrified of something going wrong and ruining all our plans to buy! Thanks!

There are plenty of places offering specialist insurance that covers Airbnb specifically. Some insurers make a distinction between 'holiday let' insurance and Airbnb, which is fairly ridiculous but just be careful of that and ensure that you specify Airbnb.

I've used HomeProtect and another company ( whose name I forget but DM if you really want to know )

Ah okay great! Will Google HomeProtect now...

Thanks!

Is it mortgaged?
Double check with your lender, if so, as a fair few now state you cannot let using Airbnb.

Many thanks. Yes, we have a mortgage. Interesting, so insurance isn't enough? I'll have a look and see what it says...

I think its a recently addition, the last few years or so, but yes quite a few lenders prohibit letting the house out via Airbnb.

Got it, many thanks!

If it helps, this is from Virgin Money:

Nearly all residential mortgages include a condition that states the property cannot be let without obtaining the lender’s permission and lettings via Airbnb would come under this exclusion.
Some lenders will charge more if you are renting the house out, while others will refuse it altogether, particularly if you are looking at a short-term holiday let, as with Airbnb letting.

I find it really strange the attitude toward Airbnb compared with traditional 'holiday letting'. I don't get it at all. We vet our clients and manage the property well and I don't see that a holiday let company - or someone bunging up their own website independently - will do it any better. Why does Airbnb get vilified?

@milkytwilight thanks! So basically most people who have a mortgaged property can't airbnb? If they do anyway does that invalidate any insurance they have?

@iamwhoisayiam I just filled in forms on HomeProtect and got a quote for 12 x £45ish monthly payments. Does that sound right to you? But I would only need a month or two or cover ... does anyone know if this is an option? Thanks!

If your mortgage lender says you can't then you'd be in breach of you mortgage conditions by doing so. Airbnb is the big name to be vilified but most prohibit any short term rentals in the property, unless they've given explicit permission. Your mortgage, I assume, is a residential mortgage, which usually means you can't sublet in any way. Best bet is to speak to your lender and see what they say. Most, if they agree at all, will say you need to convert to a BTL mortgage. If you're letting a single room its different, but you can't usually let the entire house with a residential mortgage as they're designed to be your primary residence, which it can't be if you don't live there.

Its extremely important to get their consent to let, even for a holiday let if you have a residential mortgage. If you don't, and you're found out the lender can call in the entire amount of the mortgage in one go, meaning they would repossess if you couldn't pay off your mortgage immediately. Check your mortgage terms and then give them a call x

Wow! Okay, sounds serious! Many thanks for that. I'm beginning to think it might not be worth doing at all for what would only be probably a few short term stays. It's literally only around 6 weeks we'd have it available on airbnb! As we are selling, and getting a new mortgage for a new place (or porting our mortgage but increasing it) I'm not sure I want to mess around with it. Sounds like lots of risk for very little gain! Just seems a shame to have the house sitting empty when we could be making some money, but I guess it's not meant to be! Thanks!