airbnb - what can you tell me...

PasturesNew

michaels wrote: »

... not considered for benefits ....

Really? That's outrageous.

Income's income - no matter where it's from!

cells

Eric_the_half_a_bee wrote: »

I stayed in one recently. It was fine. The owner's explanation was, 2% commission instead of 10% commission.

Made sense to me

most rentals in London are not 1 year they are probably closer to 3-4 years. A tenant only finding fee of 2 weeks puts the estate agents fees at ~1% annualized

A managed estate agent service for an AST is not comparable to airbnb, the 2% commission is what air bnb take from the property owner airbnb dont do any management of the property for that 2%

lisyloo

Does it qualify for the £7.5k tax free rent-a-room scheme?
That would make a difference.

michaels

PasturesNew wrote: »

Really? That's outrageous.

Income's income - no matter where it's from!

It is taken account for housing benefit but not universal credit or tax credits.
Airbnb income comes under rent-a-room

chucknorris

lisyloo wrote: »

Does it qualify for the £7.5k tax free rent-a-room scheme?
That would make a difference.

Yes it does (from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rent-a-room-for-traders-hs223-self-assessment-helpsheet/dgh ):

You can use the scheme if:

you let a furnished room to a lodger
your letting activity amounts to a trade, for example, if you run a guest house or bed and breakfast business, or provide services, such as meals and cleaning

You have to be sharing your home though.

Thrugelmir

I've used AirBnB on several occassions. When we went to Bordeaux for the 2016 Euros to see a game. The guy whose flat it was even come out to the airport to pick us up, and after checking the property on departure took us back. For the duration of the Euros he stayed at a friends flat.

Pennywise

I've been looking for a 4 night stay in Berlin next Easter and there are plenty of apartments on air bnb so clearly not banned at all.

Lots of people with furnished apartments/homes are using air BNB as an alternative to owners direct, homeandaway, etc for holiday lettings.

Last Easter we rented an apartment in Venice via air BNB - the owners were advertising the exact same apartment on the owners direct website.

michaels

My parents have a holiday let cottage in Devon (part of their house) - they used to use other lettings site but apparently for the last few years 90% plus of business comes from AirBnB so it is no longer worth advertising elsewhere.

Conrad

Thanks for the input guys, I'm not minded to take this any further.


I also notice other Cities such as some in Canada are having serious issue with airbnb pushing up rents, and looking to introduce regulations.


It's ironic, we were all sold on the idea the internet would unleash the sharing economy and give consumers cheaper prices but often the opposite seems true, or existing people have their livelyhoods compromised (London cabbies for example)


When I was in Singapore recently there were whole news articles dedicated to how people need to prepare for the downsides of 'intrusive technologies' that undercut incomes.


airbnb and Uber are prime examples of capitalism - that is to say capital in the hands of a few being deployed to extract income from the pockets of many workers (so a handful of elite dudes in California getting sticking rich by dipping into every other London cab fare, reducing cabbies income)

CLAPTON

Conrad wrote: »

T

I also notice other Cities such as some in Canada are having serious issue with airbnb pushing up rents, and looking to introduce regulations.

One has to be cautious about the reasons politicians give for a 'shortage': it is conceivable that the shortage of housing is due to actions or inactions of politicians.

It's ironic, we were all sold on the idea the internet would unleash the sharing economy and give consumers cheaper prices but often the opposite seems true, or existing people have their livelyhoods compromised (London cabbies for example)

Tractors and combine harvesters did a lot of harm to farm labourers : toxic toastie, Moby etc still cry themselves to sleep each night dreaming of a better world where we are all farm labourers.

airbnb and Uber are prime examples of capitalism - that is to say capital in the hands of a few being deployed to extract income from the pockets of many workers (so a handful of elite dudes in California getting sticking rich by dipping into every other London cab fare, reducing cabbies income)

they seem an excellent example of the benefits of increased competition, providing accommodation for people that want it and income for those that let their property