Before listing your property on Airbnb, it is a good idea to do some research. First, you need to check whether there are any specific rules regarding short-term rentals in your city. If you are not the actual rental property owner, it won’t hurt also to check your lease agreement. In many cases subleasing is not permitted and you can end up being evicted if you start renting out your property to Airbnb guests.
Airbnb rules and regulations vary greatly from location to location given the fact that the Airbnb rules are often based on what the local laws are for short-term rentals in each location. That said, there are some general rules that apply to most locations that you can use as a starting point in determining whether or not your listing is actually allowed. Here are the top things to look for when you check to see if your listing complies with Airbnb rules.
1. Check Your Short Term Rental Airbnb Rules
The first step to determining whether or not your listing will be allowed per Airbnb rules is determining exactly what rules and Airbnb regulations apply to short-term rentals in your area. Not all places allow Airbnb or home-sharing while other places have laws in place to govern the practice via business licensing, zoning regulations, and hotel ordinances.
Airbnb has created some local help pages to provide you with some preliminary guidance. Here are some examples:
What regulations apply to my city? | Airbnb Help Center
Responsible hosting in the United States (scroll down to see your city’s regulations section)
If you’re struggling to find this information online, consider contacting your local government offices directly. When you do this, you just may uncover that the rules are actually different depending on the exact city or town you live in. You might even discover that there are only a couple of (or possibly even no) restrictions regarding vacation rentals in your city. So, you will be able to proceed with listing your property without any obstacles.
2. Obtain the Necessary Permits and Licenses
Many cities in North America require you to obtain permits and a business license before you can begin operating your Airbnb business. While the exact requirements can vary, there is often no difference between renting out a room of your home and having multiple properties listed on Airbnb.
To your local government, you will be considered as a real estate business owner. Depending on where you’re located, these documents may have different names, such as a ‘business license,’ ‘lodgers tax license’, ‘land use permit,’ or ‘TOT certificate.’ If you have more than one property, even if they are located within the same state, you may be required to obtain different licenses or permits for each property before it can be listed on Airbnb.
3. Check the Taxation Rules
In some tax jurisdictions, Airbnb is required to collect the local occupancy tax on your behalf. However, in other locations, Airbnb hosts are solely responsible for making sure that the necessary taxes are paid from their Airbnb earnings.
You may also need to register for a tax identification number in order to pay these taxes by their due dates. It is important that you understand that taxation rules aren’t always covered by Airbnb rules explicitly but you will still be required to pay them.
4. Make Sure to Comply With Safety and Insurance Regulations
Once you’ve determined what documents you need in order to start an Airbnb business, you’ll also need to bring your property into compliance as well. Every location has its own safety regulations for tenants, such as making sure that smoke detectors are installed or that the property has a fire exit, in order to protect Airbnb guests in the event of an emergency. Make sure that you have performed the necessary renovations to your property and obtained the proper insurance to ensure guests’ safety.
5. Be a Good Neighbor
In addition to safety requirements, Airbnb rules also dictate that you should be mindful of your neighbors. That means that you need to ensure that rules that apply to your community or apartment building won’t be in conflict with having Airbnb guests stay at your property. If your building has noise, smoking, parking, and pet policies, make sure that you cover these in your House Rules in your Airbnb listing profile.
6. Don’t Try to Oversell Your Rental
Be careful while creating descriptions and titles for your listings. Airbnb appreciates accuracy and honesty. So, don’t try to go overboard by showing off your property.
Airbnb’s Content Policy is pretty straightforward: if a listing is misleading or provides any deceptive details, it is going to be removed from the platform. In other words, your property’s photos, description, and title should totally live up to guests’ expectations.
Conclusion
Once you’ve covered all of these important steps to determine if your Airbnb listing is allowed, you’ll be ready to create your listing and start earning. Moving forward, keep in mind to stay up-to-date on the new requirements and regulations introduced by Airbnb or your local authorities.
To ensure you don’t miss out on anything important, and keep control over your business, opt for vacation rental software. Vacation rental software such as iGMS will streamline your routine operations so you can dedicate your time to more vital aspects of your business. With iGMS, you will be able to:
- Seamlessly manage your multiple properties across Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo/HomeAway. You can also add other channels using iCal.
- Promptly find and reply to your guest messages using a unified inbox and automated message templates;
- Automate the process of reviewing your guests;
- Use a direct booking management toolset to handle bookings coming from sources other than vacation rental platforms;
- Receive payments safely and create invoices using iGMS’ integration with Stripe;
- Automate cleanings and assign tasks to your team members;
- Create simple and professional reports to track your business efficiency.
