Is your agency having problems with tenants sub-letting rooms to Airbnb (or similar) short-stay guests?

The Sunday Times yesterday reported that hosts with multiple lettings now dominate Airbnb, with almost one in five properties in London let by someone with ten or more listings.

Manchester, Bristol and Edinburgh also have high proportions of Airbnb ‘hosts’ with ten or more listings.

The Sunday Times says that over half of Airbnb properties in large UK cities are now let by people with more than one listing.

Does it matter? Yes – particularly to residents used to having a few comings and goings in their buildings and immediate vicinities and who now have multiple traffic.

It would also matter to landlords who have no idea that their properties are being sub-let – putting them in breach of lending and insurance conditions.

The Sunday Times also reports on letting agents who let to apparently bona fide tenants, who turn out to be multiple-Airbnb sub-letters.

The paper quotes James Robinson, of Lurot Brand estate agents in London.

He knows of one tenant who is sub-letting ten homes, paying £500 a week and renting them out for £250 a night: “When you go for inspections there are ribbon-tied towels on the bed, with a little lavender bag on the pillow.”

Reference checks often don’t pick up on these individuals because they have respectable jobs, he points out, citing one sub-letter who had a reference from the BBC.

Agents are also prevented from sharing names and previous addresses of rogue tenants under the GDPR data protection regulations.

It’s a good point.