How to Rent My London Home on Airbnb???

If you are looking online for advice on how to rent your home in London on Airbnb, you are in the right place. With more than a decade of experience renting properties on a short-let, Airbnb-type basis, with clients from all around the world, we have acquired a wealth of knowledge about the London market.

Happy to talk if you’d prefer to call our London office.

You can simply get in touch on 0203 488 4135 and we’ll talk through some of the key areas that you need to think about. Or, if you’d prefer someone else manage the day-to-day running of your property, we’re here to do that too.

Anyway, back to helping you gain some insights into renting your London home or second property on short-let platforms such as Airbnb. There are a few things you should keep in mind to ensure a successful and hassle-free experience short letting your London property.

Here are some top tips from Michael and the team, just to get you started…

Check local laws and regulations!

Before you start renting your home on Airbnb, it’s important to make sure you are following all the relevant regulations in your area. In London there are certain rules around short letting, such as a maximum rental period of 90 days per year, that you’ll need to be aware of. This doesn’t apply if you are simply renting a room in your home.

The law on short term and holiday lets in London.

For the latest information on short term and holiday lets in London, please visit London Mayor & Assembly website.

It’s illegal to rent for more than 90 days!

The ’90-day law’ law is meant to help Londoners who are just looking at topping up passive income streams by renting out their property for the odd weekend, or while they are away on holiday.

The income you might earn from booking out your London home for two or three weeks solid might pay for your entire holiday and leave income in the bank for when you return!

This sort of short-term rental activity can still result in quite significant new income streams over the course of 12 months (90 days in total rentals), depending on the location, size, and standing of your property.

I want to rent for longer than 90 days!

Don’t worry. We work with clients across London to ensure their property is full all year around.

There are ways to achieve this.

If you want to rent your property in London for longer than 90 days, planning permission will need to be sort from your local council.

This tends to be the route that people take who have second homes in London, and they want to rent their property throughout the year.

As ‘Pay as You Go Rentals’ become more common, one might rent a property from 2 nights to 2 or 3 months at a time.

We’ll keep you updated on this in the future…but do not worry about renting your propety for longer than 90 days, we can advise on all that.

London short-term rental pricing strategy

When thinking about pricing your property, consider factors such as the location, size, and condition of your home, as well as demand in the area.

Ensuring you price your property appropriately is very important and something that you will learn more about over time, as you test your market.

Do a little research…

A little research into comparable properties in your area of London will give you an opportunity to learn more about your ‘competitors’ and how they price and rent their homes in London.

This bit of ‘spade work’ will help you determine the most appropriate price for your property and how to present it to the world so that it stands out and attracts the right sort of people.

Get the ambiance and design just right.

A good proportion of our clients attract high net worth and very high net worth people to stay at their properties. Remember, and it doesn’t matter if you’d like to attract a mega start or a local businessman looking for somewhere great to stay, every little touch adds up.

And it all adds up in way that will attract the right sort of people to your London property. People who are willing and happy to pay the price you charge, whatever that price maybe and whether it’s £200 per night or £2,500 per night.

Hosting Lady Gaga…

We’ve managed properties that have attracted superstars like Lady Gaga.

We recently had detailed discussions with a client about whether a £25,000 Vivienne Westwood rug should stay or go in one London apartment we manage.

These are the sorts of calls that need making. We can help you with this ‘brand’ positioning of your property.

Need design inspiration?

During your research, you’ll gain design inspiration on what works and what doesn’t.

If you require exquisite interior design inspiration, Cath Beckett and Liv Wallers at Yellow London, Lucy Currell at Studio Iro, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen (LLB) or Scott Maddux and Brit Jo Le Gleud at Maddux Creative may be able to help redesign your London home, ready for those high-net worth guests.

If you want to do it all yourself, do some research on Airbnb and Booking.com, take a walk around your favourite department or home furnishings departments.

Are You Ready for Guests?

Once you’ve decided to short-term rent your London home or second property, all the obvious work begins.

Make sure your home is clean, tidy, and well-maintained and photographed so it nicely shows off your space.

This process may involve significant decluttering, deep cleaning, and reorganising your home to get ready to accommodate your new guests.

If you struggle with organising and tidying, check out Marie Kondo – she might be able to help ;-).

Marie Kondo, Kurashi at Home, How to Organize your space and achieve your ideal life.

Attract the right people!

With your freshly reorganised home or living space, you’re ready to start telling the world about your London rental property! But, the secret to all marketing is to attract the right people.

You’ve heard of online platforms such as Airbnb, but you also market your property on Booking.com and VRBO and Plum Guide to potential short let guests.

“So thank you internet for the quantity, but it’s high time we turn the corner to quality.” Plum Guide

Make sure you create an attractive listing with professional photographs, a detailed description of your property, and information about the local area.Once you’ve got all the details of your property together on the various OTAs (online travel agency) is all ready to go, you need to think about preparing for your guests.

Prepare for guest arrivals (and departures)!

Ensure that your home is fully equipped with all the necessary amenities and supplies for your guests, such as linens, towels, toiletries, and kitchen essentials. You may also want to create a welcome pack with local information and instructions for using appliances.

Also, be prepared for cleaning the entire property, laundry and restocking toiletries once your guests have departed, so you are ready for your next guests.

The mindset of a London property manager

If you’ve made the decision to become a property manager and you’re going to manage short-term lets your London property, you need to think like a property manager!

Get into a business mindset!

You are now in business, and either part of your home or your second home is now, at least partially, a business asset.

So, get your mindset and your home ready for business. Incidentally, if you want to read a great book on mindset, look at Mindset by Carol S. Dweck.

Ready for a lie down?

You really think carefully about whether you really want this. You don’t have to manage all this yourself, but you will have guests in your home, or second home. If you choose not to manage your short let yourself, think about working with a short-let property manager with London expertise. They can handle bookings, guest communication, maintenance mangement and cleaning for you.

It’s can be a 24 hr a day job

If you do decide to manage your short-let yourself, make sure you are prepared to be available to your guests and handle any issues that may arise throughout their stay, 24 hours a day. We’re not saying this to scare you, but going in with your eyes wide open will avoid nasty surprises down the line.

The income can be considerable though…

Short letting your home in London can be a great way to earn quite considerable amounts of extra income and meet new people, but it does require careful planning and preparation to ensure a successful experience for your guests and a successful outcome for yourself.

Prefer passive income?

Once again, if you would like to talk with Michael or a member of our team about any aspect of renting your London home, please get in touch.

If we do work together, we will take on all the stress and day-to-day work, and deliver more of a passive income stream, where you do next to nothing…

DIY or call in the professionals?

Whether you DIY or get our team of professionals on your side, we want you to be successful. If we can be of service, and even if you’d just like to ask us a question and then DIY, please get in touch – we’d be happy to help. If you’ve got more to do online, do enjoy the rest of your day. 🙂