airbnb
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Latest property news
Government consults on closing Rent-a-Room loophole for Airbnb hosts
All eyes on are on Philip Hammond as he battles to save his National Insurance Contributions tax increases for the self-employed following a back-bench revolt on the measures, which were announced in Wednesdays Spring Budget. But while the political football continues today, a measure designed to stop the rise of Airbnb has been slipped through in the detail of his recent budget statement. The government is to consult on proposals to reformulate the Rent-a-Room relief. It’s a measure introduced in 2014 that enables home owners to earn up to £7,500 a year tax-free from letting out furnished accommodation within their home. This was increased recently from £4,250. Airbnb hosts have taken advantage of this loophole which now makes using Airbnb doubly attractive, and has persuaded many landlords to rent their homes out via the website, rather than using traditional letting agents. Research for The Negotiator by consultancy Airdna reveals that, in London, the number of properties listed to rent out via Airbnb has risen from 22,945 in January 2015 to over 60,214 today, an increase of 162%. Airdna also says Airbnb properties have an average occupancy rate of 60% and that average revenues for Airbnb hosts in London are all…
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Latest property news
‘There will not be a segment of short-term rentals that Airbnb does not wish to dominate’
The threat that Airbnb presents to agents is laid bare by recently comments by a senior figure within the company, as well as research carried out exclusively for The Negotiator within the London market. This shows that the dot com is not only beginning to eat up the general short lets market in London and remove many properties from the traditional private rented sector, but that many high-end property owners are also utilising it to increase their returns too. The research by Airdna reveals that there is a significant number of central London properties that are generating huge incomes for their owners, properties that can hardly be described as bedroom rents or sofa surfing. This includes a six-bedroom property in Mayfair that over the past 12 months has earned £97,600 for its host, a Swiss Cottage garden flat that has earned £69,800 and a Westminster duplex that has generated £67,100. Some property owners are also renting out entire apartment blocks. One property in Shoreditch, a nine-apartment block, has generated £212,670 for its owner via Airbnb over the past year, according to Airdna. “Entering the high end of the market lays out the statement that Airbnb has gone far beyond its air…
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Latest property news
London agent starts Airbnb letting service for landlords
Eighteen-branch London agent Portico has launched an Airbnb letting management service specifically for landlords as the number of hosts in the city approaches the 50,000 mark. Managing director Robert Nichols (pictured) says that despite the 90-day limit introduced by the San Francisco-based company, even “seasoned landlords are coming round to the fact that a combination of Airbnb and traditional tenancy will maximise their return on investment,” he says. Portico, which was launched in 2015 and replaced existing brands Edmund Cude and Bushells, says there are now 48,017 active Airbnb hosts in London and that the average two-bedroom flat there generates £2,226 a month based on a 70% occupancy rates. Portico claims its service will be able to achieve even higher occupancy rates for clients of up to 80%, and that landlords can expect to receive a booking within a week of listing on the site. Average day rates for Airbnb properties in London range from £65 a day in Bexley to £224 a day in Westminster. Portico is stepping into controversial waters – many agents and city housing professionals see Airbnb as a threat to supply within the existing private rental market, and several councils including Westminster have made their…
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Features
Why I don’t think Airbnb rentals are legal, reliable or safe
Demand for short-term residential lettings is rising, particularly in city centres, says Jeremy Leaf, but what are the risks for landlords?
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Latest property news
Is Airbnb going too far?
The increasingly important role Airbnb plays in the UK property has been exposed following a recent Sunday Times investigation, and now questions are now being asked within the property sector about the true aims of the business, which started out as a way for home owners to make money from short term lets. “Short-term lets are undoubtedly playing an increasingly important role in the UK’s housing mix, and websites such as Airbnb make perfect sense for landlords who need to fill their property fast for a short period between tenancies,” says Richard Price, Executive Director of UKALA. “However, the emergence of Airbnb has rightly raised questions about the role they should play in the wider lettings market; after all, with demand for houses at an all-time high the last thing anyone needs is right now are rented homes taken out of circulation.” The Sunday Times also revealed that a significant number of short-let management companies have sprung up specialising in the management of Airbnb properties on behalf of landlords. Several suggested to the paper’s reporters that UK planning laws, which usually restrict rental periods to 90 days, are easy to break and poorly policed by local authorities. “The most important thing is…
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Housing Market
Airbnb makes a step closer to lettings market
The US-based home sharing website Airbnb, which enables its users to search through a database of over a million homes worldwide and 25,000 in the UK, has this week launched a professional property management software suite called Guesty aimed at professional landlords. At first glance the move would seem to contain little to worry the UK’s letting agents. Airbnb markets itself as a way for holiday makers to find affordable accommodation and avoid paying the high night rates that hotels and B&Bs charge. Described as part of the ‘sharing’ economy and using a model that’s compared with taxi service Uber, Airbnb recently claimed to have so far generated over half a billion pounds of economic activity in the UK. But what Airbnb is really muscling in on – in a way that might alarm some lettings agents – is the peripheries of the private lettings market as the service becomes a new and low-cost alternative income stream for landlords. The Guardian newspaper recently analysed more than 13,000 Airbnb listings in London – by far its largest UK market – and discovered that 6,600 of them offered an entire home or flat, rather than a spare room – a clear sign…
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