Airbnb 'cash-cow' story

that's not going the other way at all - it's simply saying that against Belmont's Town Planning Scheme, a "residence" must be defined as somewhere to live on a permanent basis, not a temporary one.

therefore, regardless of council granting "short stay" under bylaw 16 - that is in direct contravention of any "written law" (the strata titles act) ..... and is therefore null and void under the Local Govt Act.

citing numerous Supreme Court definitions and ATO rulings the ruling was that the By law was void, giving Belmont's occupancy permit no grounds which caused the whole thing to fall over.

 

in melbourne the no.1 in terms of apartment developing has it's own leasing arm which actually also does short term leasing (not airbnb) they also do the owners corp so it would be interesting to see what changes.

 

Yeah, this........and if I was there I would actively shut this down if in an older building with lot's of shared things like water. Could not care less if it is an owners house and no parking or other issues due to guests.

The idea of everyone needs to come round to technology changes is true, but unlike Uber, your bringing strangers into your home, may sound all cool and that, but I cannot think of a couple I know who would do this & your property needs to be located somewhere special or be somehow special to be a hit I would say.

I wonder how many of you have tried having others live in your home ? We have tried, long before AirBNB, it is not so easy, especially if you keep your house well & you get people who accidentally damage things, manage to urinate outside the toilet, leave you with everything to clean etc etc.... not really for house proud couples who enjoy peace and privacy.

I have also thought about using AirBNB for some places where there was no local motel, but after looking through AirBNB, there were a number of places where it is obvious the hosts also entertained guests & if you do not have something like a separate flat or somewhere else to go, it would seem to me that would be awkward to be a guest too, let's say your interstate looking at or working on property, you want to be able to come and go as necessary as you would in a hotel/motel, seemed most places would not be suitable for this & the one that were wanted the same money as going to a motel.

So you have to ask yourself, why bother when you can deal with those doing this professionally unless you want company are single or want use of a specialist property (the last I can see a lot of merit in if done right, but it seems like most are just am hacks looking for a few bucks with setup not designed for dual living).

I have decided to give it a go if no local motel next time, but really would rather deal with a business.

PS the ones where they had a detached flat seemed to not be cheap (in line with commercial) and you would have to wonder why not just have a long term secure tenant, unless, as said, your looking for the company or is a place that suits this really well & would surpass easily a normal rental income.

 

The problem is, it is not just about "you"

If you have a mortgage, read all the documents, you cannot just do as you please, you signed a contract, obviously most people do not read cause you lender not going to like it either !

 

I just found out another friend lives rent free be subletting the two sparerooms (with landlord consent).. Not airbnb... but still.

 

I think that is different, for quite a few reasons, one is if they sub let and are named etc, some insurance companies will be ok with this, it also would satisfy planning requirements and your lenders requirements, also not likely to be short term.

I am not familiar with how AirBNB do business, so someone familiar will need to chime in, but I am sure they must require an account ? They would not operate with cash, probably no cheques, so, if you already own property and you do AirBNB declaring any income would be wise as more likely to have someone check this type of income, also, if not already, these things would be being looked at.

So if your not going to do it as a proper business, with all the added accounting and things Paul pointed out, sure seems like a right pain to me.

@Paul@PFI what are the GST implications for Uber and AirBNB, if your not doing over x amount, you probably would not need to be concerned with GST & surely the companies have this covered, or would be modifying things to be compliant ?

With AirBNB specifically, is there something else hidden that may apply to the property if you were to sell it ? Such as like with farming and land.

 

i couldn't share my home with anyone but having an investment (apartment house) that can be used to generate additional income legitimately was a good idea to increase cashflow. Techonology changes everything for the better i felt. i was looking for pet sitter and found pethomestay.com.au which let me have my pet taken care of at home as opposed to sitting alone in a kennel. later on i joined, and i became a pet sitter during weekends or days when others found it buzy. Pethomestay may eventually take a lot of business from kennels.

not that i needed the cash just felt i liked taking care of pets and you felt part of a community of using technology to make life easier and give a better service.

Whether uber and airbnb can do this depends on the person providing the service. it also helps to develop more entreprenuers in australia.

 

Damn they are cute!

 

Yeah, that they are, love your little chocolate friend. A toy by the look of it.

Not many people using that site near me.

 

Anyone for soccer lol just joking.

I'm going up the coast and I checked out Airbnb. Not a bad website with plenty of information.

So much info that I worked out the location of the place. I'm going to approach the fella (I got his photo lol) and see what kind of a cash deal I can muster. Win/Win. Good ol' untraceable cash lol.

 

AirBNB stalker ! perfect example of why I would not be in it ! (I thought the guys would be safe/r actually)

Datto, if you look around, you will also see lot's of chicks put name in there and all these single older men target them and then say how great they were as hosts and how they will be going back, I can see some of the women squirming as they feel obligated to write a positive review of some old guy that hung around like a real bad smell and would not shut up.....lol

Now, just cross AirBNB with......oh geez, I just thought of a fantastic new app/idea, will need a huge liability insurer tho

 

Wait a sec, I am totally honorable not horrible lol. But I did notice the lady photos and yes that could be a problem.

But what I don't like is that the owner could be living upstairs or another part of the house. I don't think there is the same privacy as a hotel.

The owner could be checking on me and seeing what I'm up to eg "oi, put that reefer out, you can't smoke here". Or what about when I do my morning exercises in the backyard in my reg grundies?

 

Oh dear guys.....
Datto, you'd be hard pressed to find a host who has hosted for at least a few months that will want to take cash - there arent any financial incentives to do that (airbnb fee for hosts is 3%) and its just easier for hosts to not worry about payment by letting Airbnb manage it than to do cash outside the system for an extra 3%.

@dabbler, there is absolutely no obligation to write anybody a good review, because what you write in your review will only be revealed to the other party after you write yours or 14 days after the stay, whichever comes first.

 

Holiday stayers normally pay via credit card and the rent would arrive into a bank account, plsin as day for the ATO to see if they chose to look.

Booking on the credit card doubles as a means of taking a bond equivalent to cover damage should it occur.

 

@Steven Ryan which insurer are you using for your property that is being used on Air BnB? Were they happy with covering you in the event of a problem ? A bit of a list of friendly insurers would be a good resource on this thread.

 

@JacM,

Host Protection Insurance - Airbnb
Peace of Mind. Guaranteed.

 

I'm using Terri Scheer.

 

@Gockie thanks for letting us know . Just to clarify - you are offering your rental through Air BnB?

 

@Steven Ryan thanks for sharing

 

Yes, currently 2 IPs. Its more work for sure....