How many laws does this AirBnB/SpareRoom advert break?

[Codger2023]

Either this is an AirBnB that needs a license for more than 90 days a year. Or it’s an AST tenancy since the landlady lives abroad and she needs to comply with all the laws around that.

No way could the person renting the room be said to be a lodger when the landlady doesn’t live there.

Isn’t there also a law about a tenant needing to withhold some of the rent when the landlord lives overseas, until the landlord confirms they are paying the correct tax?

Also, £1700 a month and it’s in Catford, there isn’t even a bedroom, a bed, or any bedding!:

https://m.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/london/catford/3042043

That's terrible. She wants someone to stay, but admits the beds are very uncomfortable and aren't even beds anyway! She says the power bill is 200 a month in a tiny flat?

Op, may l ask what the 90 days rule is?

Anyone renting a property on AirBnB or similar short-stay sites can only do it for a maximum of 90 days in a 365 day period. They would need planning permission to do it for any longer than that.

The AirBnB website will automatically block someone from taking bookings over the 90 day period. That’s why someone might be trying to get round it with SpareRoom which doesn’t perform any such checks as it doesn’t expect AirBnB hosts on its platform:

https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/housing-and-land/improving-private-rented-sector/short-term-and-holiday-lets-london

Thanks for explaining!

She needs to put her stuff in storage and rent this as a one bed flat! If she still wants to use it then she can rent it as a holiday / short term let with the appropriate insurances etc. Why would you pay to stay on a sofa in a living room with a locked bedroom and locked kitchen cabinets?

Yes, heaven forbid that you use the expensive/sentimental crockery!

£1700 a month (incl £200 for gas and electricity, wow) and you're sofa-surfing?

Nah...

I'd never heard of the 90 day rule. According to Google it's only the case in London, so that's probably why. (Clearly still relevant for these ads, but just thought worth mentioning).

To be fair though, there’s no law against it being in Catford :)

Christ she sounds high maintenance, I read the description before looking at the pics.. talk about over selling 😂 with all the chat about ‘colour schemes’ I was expecting something a bit more impressive than brown and beige!

Is she having a laugh?

Crikey, £1,700 a month to sleep on a sofa bed! Why doesn't she put her (valuable) stuff into storage and just rent the flat out?

Why is she calling it a mansion? It's a semi or an end of terrace house.

And you have to pay £175 per month extra through Airbnb!

Wow, Natasha is a CF! I particularly enjoyed her telling people to buy their own mattress topper if the sofa's not comfy enough. How about you just unlock the bedroom hon?

She wants a guardian for her property who pays £1700 a month for the privilege?

Yes it’s just in London for now, but there’s a story today on the BBC that it might be expanded to cover AirBnBS in other tourism hotspots:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65258629

That was in reply to Smidge001.

I have never heard of retaining payments via Air BnB or otherwise for tax as she lives overseas, but she does seem to be a CF, and it clearly works for her.

She says she has been letting the flat since 2013, and had 40 ‘guardians’

I would have thought that it would be much easier for her to put her possessions into long term storage and let the flat as a whole via a letting agent. She wouldn’t get £1700 pcm, but neither would she pay nearly £400 pcm on bills, plus wear and tear, etc. The tenant would also then get a bedroom!

Massively overpriced for the dive err, up and coming area that is Catford too!

Good grief. The rental for my friend's large, furnished 1 bed flat in a much more central location is slightly less than that. Yes he pays his own bills, but jeeze, £1700 to sofa surf in Catford?

Seems a smart way to avoid being taxed on rental income.

You can report ads on Spare Room so if you just report it, they'll probably make her take the ad down.

Anyone who starts with: 'this is the quirkiest advert you'll find!' is going to be a nightmare.

If nobody else is doing it Natasha, there's a reason. Stop being a terrible landlord.

I don’t know about tax for AirBnB. But if it turns out that someone renting this place is a tenant (since they cannot be a lodger) then they will need to withhold a portion of the rent for tax, until or unless the overseas landlady can provide them with evidence she is paying it via self-assessment:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/paying-tax-on-rent-to-landlords-abroad