Short term rental. Any advice?

[Ehatshouldido]

I’ve posted about my flat sale already (it’s in London, which may be relevant to short term rentals!).

I’ve just relisted the flat for the 3rd time in 7 months and it has been insanely stressful. We want to move to our new city and get life started - and, importantly, get our children into a new school where there are places available now, but I worry me may miss out on!

I suddenly thought today that as soon as we secure a new offer on our flat, I could put it up for short term rental until completion.

Has anyone ever done this?

Would I let it empty? Or have to furnish it? How do these things usually go?

(I see short term rentals on Rightmove so it must be a thing?!)

Any advice?

airBnB dominates the market for short-term rentals in London these days. Would it be suitable for that? i.e. furnished and with a cleaner who will check guests in & out? you can find agents who manage AirBnB properties (for a fee) and in London I believe you aren't allowed to rent to AirBnB for a short-term thing for more than 90 days without getting planning permission.

The thing with short term rentals are they are a huge risk. If the resident refuses to leave you can’t legally do anything until they’ve been there fir 6 months. I’d imagine that most buyers solicitors would advise them against a property with a short term tenant

We looked into this when we moved and found that it was too much hassle: the main problem was the unknown length we could commit to - the sale could take 2 months or 6 months due to legalities/surveys etc . There is also the need to allow access for surveys/other visits the purchasers may want to make. You also need to consider what would happen if the sale fell through and it needs to go back on the market.

There is a lot of hassle in terms of informing your mortgage lender/ changing the insurance etc etc which isnt really viable for an unknown period.

I think its only really possible to do it on an informal basis to friends/family/others who you know and who wont mind the disruption from the sale and will move out immediately when you ask them.

Any purchaser's solicitor will want you to legally declare that the flat will be vacant on the day it's sold, and if you are planning to rent it out you can't guarantee that. As others have said, a tenant on, say, a three-month agreement, may simply refuse to move out. You could 'help out' a friend or relative, but you would need to be sure that they would move out when they needed to and there could be major problems for you if they refused. If the flat is listed on AirBnB or another short-term letting site then that may also cause issues.

My advice would be to stay where you are and move out on the day the transaction completes. Otherwise you could find yourself in trouble.