Would you put your spare room on air bnb?

[EachandEveryone]

We are twenty minutes from Central London. My friend and I are sick of looking for flatmates and would quite like a break from living with other people! What do you think to letting out the spare bedroom?

What is making you hesitate?

Just that there will be students staying that aren't registered on airbnb themselves. Maybe I'm just being cautious or looking a gift horse in the mouth!

Hmm that's a good point. I'm not sure. I have students alongside guests and the students are through an agency which affords me some protection.

So she books the room and then puts the students in it? Not sure how I'd feel about that but I guess you could try it for a week and see how it goes? I've just turned on instant book. Beginning to get irritated by people enquiring and sounding really keen but then vanishing. Had an enquiry today at 5pm looking to check in at 9.30pm tonight. Had guests leave this morning so rushed around to get the room ready: no booking. Bah. At least it's done now though. Got family coming to stay for 4 nights this weekend though. Feel slightly resentful that they are 'costing' us money which is dreadful really. Must ditch that mindset pronto!!

Hi Each, well, you will loose the AirBnB insurance, but not sure how much that matters to you. You will also perhaps loose out on vetting, although with students you pretty know what you are getting! Plus side is a regular income.
I guess the biggest thing might be how you are paid. In advance? Guaranteed?
I think you need to go with what feels comfortable with you.
One of the things I really like about AirBnB is the money side of it. You set the price and you get paid. No negotiations (unless you want to), no hassles over being paid.
Perhaps if this is an agency they can offer you that?

Does this article help? www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/427

Slightly different circumstances but I had one booking which was done via a third party and it was a nightmare - booking woman was a total flake and she dropped her guest off 3 hours late (after midnight) and was uncontactable. Poor guest bewildered too as he had no idea what sort of accommodation he was getting.

Btw I provide dressing gowns in my larger room (plain black ones, £5 in Primark sale) but it only gives them the opportunity to complain about the length of the bed instead. You can give your guests the moon on a stick but then they will tell you the stick is too short...

Eagle, it's a really hard call over people booking for someone else I think. I have had at least two bookings which were for the Mums of the people making the booking. But on both occasions it was because the Mums were not internet savvy and didn't want to be!
I know AirBnB says this is against the rules because it is not the people booking that were staying, but I felt totally okay with the bookings. They were both great.
Sorry you had not such a good experience.

Love the dressing gowns v bed length! It pays to have a sense of humour as a host!

I have just declined someone I felt really uncomfortable with! They wanted three days but were so reluctant to say anything about themselves, why they wanted to come, and got really strange about the booking. They only had one verification, an email adderess. First it was two days they wanted, then three and then 'when will you be out?'. After I declined they persisted, requesting to change dates and saying things like 'we can fit around you'. Intuition maybe, but not doing it.

I have declined loads of people due to intuition. You just get a vibe from some people that suggests weird or trouble.
The most recent guests turned up with what looks like half their house contents so I have had to clear space out of the cupboards for them to store it! Honestly, my room is cheap accommodation, I do wonder about the people who book 3 adults into a double room (clearly says so, and I say I don't charge any more for 3rd person as its a small room) and pay as little as they do for it, and then get surprised when it's small...
They haven't been arsy at all, it's just annoying

Can I ask a question lease - are there any problems with fire regs?

I ask as eventually I'd be aiming at listing our attic room, as it has a separate bathroom & space for a mini kitchen & place to sit outside the room, but the top floor used to be boarded in & had a nasty fire door as the previous owners rented it out - we took all that out & replaced with old style spindles etc, more in keeping with the age of the house & because it lets in more light, but we were told if we let that floor out, we would have to put it all back to comply with fire regs

How would that be with airbnb ?

Rockin - I was ask the local fire department for advice on that, why do you want a room in your house that doesn't comply with fire regs whether you rent it out or not?

I don't know this for certain but I suspect there is a world of difference between letting one room out via AirBnB and renting out an entire floor via a tenancy agreement. I know the fire regs changed in recent years and you don't have to have automatic door closers any more. We converted our loft in our old house in 2009 and just needed fire doors but they were never shut so entirely pointless to be honest. When you say space for a mini kitchen, is there actually any cooking stuff in there? That would probably change things as the fire risk would be higher.

Thank you for the replies

By mini kitchen I just meant a mini fridge, microwave, kettle etc, there won't be a kitchen sink & definitely no cooker, I wouldn't feel comfortable with that myself because of the fire risk.

It is a loft conversion, but seems it was done for rental before we moved in, though if I'm honest I don't know who the hell would pay money for it, as its a mess & was more dungeon than attic room as there was no windows up there & the closed in banister made it all very dark, plus the bathroom is a shambles, though we are having it refitted soon.

So far we've added windows & replaced the closed in banister with old style open spindles, which lets a lot more light down onto the next floor & stairwell, which were both very dark, so that's why we've changed it. The bedroom still has a fire door, we haven't removed that yet, though would like a nicer style of door, it could stay. but we were told that changing the banisters & removing t door to this floor would mean we couldn't rent the top floor out because of fire regs.

We weren't planning on renting out, so it didn't seem an issue, but circumstances have changed & it now seems a good idea. I would prefer to let that room out, as I'm seeing that there's a shortage of 3 beds/family accommodation around here & renting that part of the attic out gives us the option of offering an extra bed, plus a sofa bed on the landing, but without that many guests intruding on the rest of the house, which I'm not so keen on. If that makes sense. There is a way out up there - we call it the elves door as its half size, but it's an exit onto the adjacent flat roof space if there was a fire. DD will complain, as she has her eye on it, but needs must

Oh well I'd def give it a go in that case. Just be make sure the room is ready before you list it, I listed on a whim got a booking straight away and then had to rush round buying stuff really quickly! We have a bit of a hiatus here as we have friends/family staying for the next 3 weekends so no bookings to be had then. Had a few enquiries about midweek bookings but none actually booked which is annoying. Oh, and i will report back once the pro photos have been uploaded, Not sure how long it will take as he sends them to the US and they upload them there but have a backlog so will have to see what happens.

And this is why uncompliant attic rooms are such a liability! A friend of mine is going to get her boyfriend to convert her attic and I'm trying to talk her out of it as it's quite a job to make them conform to current building regs, and she risks devaluing her house if it's not done properly. My conversion was done after fire doors were no longer required and instead I have intumescent paint on the back of each habitable room door in the house.

There are lots of non-standard accommodations on Airbnb though, so may not be an issue as long as it's clearly described?

Having a bit of a day here. Remember the new washing machine I bought in a hurry? Installed on Sunday and it's gone spectacularly wrong. First, it was plumbed into the hot water not the cold, and so a couple of loads of washing have been BOILED. Second, the remaining pipe is leaking like a bastard and we have masses of water damage to walls and floor. Been waiting 2 days for someone to come back out but it was only when I crawled behind the washing machine today that I realised how bad it was. Emergency plumber on his way and meanwhile I am just trying to breathe and remind myself that in the great big scheme of things, it doesn't matter too much. No one lies on their deathbed and agonises about the time the washing machine leaked, do they?

In other news, the zen priest and his family are staying right now. They are surprisingly suburban and fun to talk to. The teenage son thought it was hilarious when I mentioned porridge at breakfast as they have only heard that word in victorian novels, etc.

We say hello in the morning having set a breakfast time the night before. We make our guests tea and/or coffee and we make their toast if that is what they want. Or just plain bread and butter - we have a lot of requests for that. We also provide cereal and milk, juice, yogurt and some fruit - oranges, bananas, and berries. Some enjoy the whole lot, others just have a drink.

We have had a few that have preferred to breakfast elsewhere for dim sum, subway, or our local greasy spooner. It sorts itself out. No worries.

Erk, I have no idea why I told you all about our breakfasts. I thought I was replying to someone who was asking about breakfasts, but now I realise I am loosing my mind and may need to step away from AirBnB for a few days.

Bed changing overload. Sorry.

Deep breath Eagle, it will get sorted.

Lovestea - it gets a bit much at times, doesn't it? It definitely helps to take a total break from it now and again. August is looking fairly patchy for my bigger room (about 50-60% full) and the other room is still vacant for whole month as I have the calendar blocked. And I'm thinking I might keep it that way as I'm feeling a bit done in by it all.

Washing machine problem now fixed and am entertaining 5 guests yet again today. Just had a new booking come in and I'm going to say NO. No, no, no!!!!

Yep it's knackering. I have guests for 5 nights in at the mo, they are lovely but keep washing up anything that gets left out and putting it all away in the wrong places. This makes me feel unreasonably anxious and annoyed so I am niw making sure every scrap of washing up is done and away every morning which is also annoying me because it's not my system!

Just a to clarify, I don't leave a load of dirty dishes but I empty, fill and run the dishwasher in the evening so in the morning it's full of clean so I leave the breakfasts things neatly stacked by the sink to deal with in the evening. They keep washing them!!

We had a bit of a comedy moment this morning as had an awful night (DD awake midnight onwards for quite a while and was very shouty). We both came downstairs this morning, sleep deprived and grumbling at each other and only just made out in time the figure sat cross-legged in the armchair in the corner of the room (zen priest had got up at 5.30am apparently). Hastily put cheery host face in place!

Ehric - I'm pretty certain that hosts who ban all kitchen use have an easier life and better ratings. And somehow this eve I let my Korean guests cook fish in my kitchen. Fish!! Just got DD off to bed and now they're screeching and laughing in their room. They're studying education back home and swear they did a face when I handed DD the ipad so that I could unload the dishwasher and put a load of laundry on without her welded to my leg. It wouldn't be the first time guests have commented on our childrearing...

I don't feel I can ban kitchen use when they are staying for several nights, and even so, I leave drinks and breakfast stuff out for them to help selves and this is occurring when they clear up breakfast (they get up after I have gone to work)

I agree that use of the kitchen depends on length of stay. We do a maximum stay of four nights.
We state in our profile that we prefer the kitchen not be used for cooking , but we are happy for our guests to make tea and coffee, store things in our fridge, and also use the microwave.
Just had in the most delightful guest from France, she was so easy going and friendly.
Another turn around tomorrow and then again on Saturday, then off for few days holiday. Yay!
I work part time and semi retired and this suits us great despite being knackered from the bedding turn around and the bathroom mega clean.
Hope you are all doing well with it. I reckon the worst thing is cleaning the hair that the guests leave in the bathroom, and the best thing is meeting new interesting people.

We haven't had anyone ask to use our kitchen yet but the longest stay we've had is 2 nights and we've only had 4 lots of guests so far as early days. We have a 4 night booking in Aug which is our longest so far so will see how that differs. Only got the odd few nights free between now and mid Aug with friends and family coming. Last guests left on Mon, house is decidedly less clean, I need more bookings to make me less slovenly!!!

I'm only getting requests for one month at a time funnily

Ah, I have our settings down as 7 nights max. Although where we are people seem to be using us as a base to do a few nights here and then head off on a tour round the rest of the large and very popular with holidaymakers county

Mine is set at 2 weeks max. I don't mind the occasional flat share type stay but I think 2 weeks is long enough in case they are awful.