Temporarily living in AirBnBs instead of a standard rental - any pitfalls? 9 October 2022 at 1:44PM edited 9 October 2022 at 1:46PM in House buying, renting & selling 27 replies 1.9K views

Money_woes_2

I need somewhere to live temporarily for 6-12 months while I get my divorce/finances settled (staying in the marital home isn't an option). I'm really struggling to find a standard rental though: there are just so many applicants for very few properties that I keep losing out. Someone suggested I rent long-term AirBnBs for the 6-12 months, which actually would have a lot of positives in that I wouldn't need to sort out furniture, pots and pans, wi-fi, and I wouldn't have to set up bills etc. But what about the negatives? The first thing that comes to mind is not having a fixed address. What would I do about things like DVLA, or my post? Will not having a fixed address then affect me when I eventually buy another house? Are there any other downsides? 

deannagone

The expense of an AirBNB would be the first thing that I'd be concerned about?  And finding an AirBNB with a long period when it had no other booked dates.

Money_woes_2

I've found a few nearby with long-term availability, which come in at a similar price as a standard rental with bills on top. 

theoretica

Colleagues did that - it worked for them!  If you will be there for several months, I don't see why you couldn't change you address to there on things that need it - I imagine the property will have a letter box!

user1977

As above, why do you think you wouldn't be able to receive post? The DVLA etc aren't going to care what your tenancy arrangements are.

comeandgo

We rented one a few years ago for a few months and it was great.  No council tax, no tv licence to pay, we had a log cabin and the down side was the electric coin meter, it was greedy.  We arranged a PO Box for our mail as we did not want to risk any mail arriving for us after we left as we would have no idea who could open it.  

Another reason for the PO Box was we were not sure where we would be after our six months was up so did not want the problem of having to change addresses again.

london21

Money_woes_2 said:

I've found a few nearby with long-term availability, which come in at a similar price as a standard rental with bills on top. 

Ok if that is the case would have thought would be more expensive. 

Maybe your letters, if you know a family member or friend that you can use their address temporally. 

eddddy

Money_woes_2 said:

I've found a few nearby with long-term availability, which come in at a similar price as a standard rental with bills on top.

More savvy AirBnB / holiday home owners might not let you do this.

What you want to do isn't a real holiday let - the property will be your primary residence. So even if the property owner gives you an agreement called a "Holiday Letting Agreement", in law you'll probably have a tenancy, with tenant's rights.

So, for example, if you decided not to move out, the property owner would need to go to court to evict you, and arrange bailiffs etc. (Which could take months.)


The law (the Housing Act 1988) is very strict about this - because in the "bad old days", dodgy landlords would rent homes to people and call them "holiday lets" so that the occupants had no tenant's rights, and could be thrown out with zero notice,

SuseOrm

I came very close to doing this and we had absolutely no trouble securing an Airbnb for the same price as a two bedroom flat as luck would have it.  An actual rental turned up in time but I would’ve had no qualms of moving into an Airbnb they even were happy to accommodate my little dog which plenty of the rental properties weren’t.  

Suitcasesparks

I've been doing this since I sold my house in August. Ended up working well as the host in the second Airbnb I stayed in has let me stay for over 3 months, after the first month he marked the flat unavailable on airbnb and I pay him direct which saves us both money as we don't pay the airbnb fees. It works out cheaper than renting a flat and includes utilities, broadband etc. Most airbnb hosts prefer long term guests as they dont have to pay for cleaning every few days, and if you don't cause them any stress and look after the place it's less risk than multiple random guests every few days.

Bradden

My understanding is that a few property owners prefer to use Air BnB as it avoids them taking on the legal responsibilities of a landlord- it seems to be a loophole in the emergency housing laws. I'm not surprised they are happy to have longer term tenants.