airbnb
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Latest property news
‘Airbnb’ for longer-term lettings sets up shop in UK with £31m expansion fund
Read how medium and longer-term alternative lettings platform is to open and office in London after receiving an investment of £31 million.
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Latest property news
Portico is first multi-branch estate agent to be admitted onto Airbnb co-hosting programme
Read how London agent Portico is first major letting agent in the UK to be admitted by Airbnb onto its Professional Co-Host programme.
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Latest property news
Airbnb: ‘Example’ photos of flats within developments must include disclaimer, says watchdog
Watchdog the ASA says executive serviced apartments firm must make it clear properties advertised on Airbnb may not be the ones eventually offered to renters.
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Latest property news
Number of Airbnb landlords set to increase as lender offers first no-strings mortgage
The UK’s first no-strings mortgage for Airbnb holiday lets has been launched, opening up the short-term lets platform to a much wider pool of potential landlords. West Midlands lender The Tipton & Coseley Building Society says its new two-year discount rate mortgage for holiday lets can be taken out by borrowers looking specifically to rent their properties out via the short-term lets platform. The building society says that, unlike other lenders, it sets no limit on the number of weeks a borrower can rent their property out via Airbnb and that whole-property rentals are allowed too. Despite hostility from within the financial industry, some lenders have been enabling borrowers to rent out their properties via Airbnb but have placed restrictions on how they rent them out and how long for. Rental difficulties But even if borrowers can now get mortgages for Airbnb properties, it’s not always that easy to rent them out. Edinburgh flat owner Nicola Golden yesterday launched a crowd-funding campaign to raise £112,000 in order to take City of Edinburgh council to court. The dispute is over an enforcement notice the council has issued against her property, banning her from renting it out via short-term let platforms. The…
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Latest property news
UK based Airbnb management firm Hostmaker tries long-term lettings as it seeks £25m funding
A London-based Airbnb property management company called Hostmaker says it is considering a major move into long-term lettings.
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Latest property news
Sofa, not so good! MPs urge new laws to regulate Airbnb rental properties
An influential parliamentary committe of MPs say Airbnb properties must meet the same standards of safety as those in the traditional lettings market.
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Guest Blogs
When Airbnb is subletting…
Letting a leasehold flat in South London on Airbnb was a breach of residential use in a lease. Ed John, Partner at Shoosmiths LLP reports.
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Latest property news
62% of London Airbnb listings are now from ‘multi-listers’
Landlords are increasingly switching from traditional long-term lettings to Airbnb and using specialist management companies to manage their bookings, research from Colliers International suggests.
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Latest property news
Review and likely overhaul of Rent a Room tax break revealed
An investigation into the effectiveness of the Rent a Room relief and other tax breaks given to private home owners who take in lodgers has begun eight months after it was revealed by the Chancellor in his 2017 Autumn budget speech. The Rent a Room relief enables home owners to earn up to £7,500 in rent tax free and was first introduced in 1992. Then, last year, an additional tax-free allowance of £1,000 was introduced for any other income earned from a home. HMRC and HM Treasury are jointly running the consultation and say they want to understand how many people are using the Rent a Room relief and also the impact it’s having on local private rental property markets. The original reason for introducing the relief was to increase the supply and variety of low-cost housing in the private sector, but the consultation document suggests civil servants are worried that it has instead fuelled a boom in Airbnb short-term booking by holiday makers and business travellers. “The government would like to hear views on whether this is an appropriate use of tax relief, or whether the relief should more explicitly support residential accommodation provided on a longer-term basis, or…
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Features
Holiday Lets and the Law
The use of the term ‘Holiday Let’ is often misused and is bandied about as a heading for a ‘Short Let’ – but this could prove very dangerous in certain circumstances as Frances Burkinshaw explains.
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