mind before one elects to adapt one’ s residential letting practices to accord with this archetype of technological progress.
Firstly, for those owners considering listing flats which fall within sectional title schemes, it is important to first determine whether their particular scheme allows short-term letting, since many expressly prohibit the practice and, where this is the case, to do so would contravene the body corporate rules. Even where short-term letting is, in fact, allowed, owners must ensure that prospective guests are provided with a copy of the applicable conduct rules, and that they agree to be bound by these rules prior to finalising their booking— since, in the event of non-compliance, it is the owner who will be liable for any breaches, and not the tenant. Conveniently, Airbnb makes provision for hosts to add their own tailor-made‘ House Rules’, which I would suggest owners utilise by adding a full set of the conduct rules applicable to their scheme-at-large.
Secondly— and following on from the first point— it is imperative when listing your property on
If you are a tenant who wishes to sub-lease your property, you must first ensure that your lease agreement allows you to do so, or whether you are first required to obtain your landlord’ s written authorisation.
Airbnb to draw up a detailed tenancy agreement which would serve as a short-term lease. This should make provision for deposit and payment terms, cancellation policies, breakages, and how the guest would deal with complaints, inter alia. As with any ordinary residential property rental, the rights and responsibilities of both parties should be clearly and comprehensively delineated from the outset. Although Airbnb has its own‘ Host Protection Insurance’— which covers owners against third party claims of property damage or bodily injuries up to $ 1 million— this is only available in 15 countries at present, excluding South Africa.
Thirdly, if you are a tenant who wishes to sub-lease your property, you must first ensure that your lease agreement allows you to do so, or whether you are first required to obtain your landlord’ s written authorisation. Should you fail to obtain the requisite permission, or should your lease expressly prohibit sub-letting, by listing your property on Airbnb you would be committing a material breach of your lease, and your landlord would, in such circumstances, be entitled to terminate your lease, which could have disastrous consequences should you, and your Airbnb guest, face eviction.
Lastly, over the past year or two, a plethora of self-titled‘ Airbnb rental partners’ have cropped up offering various services to hosts, such as the preparation and marketing of host listings on third-party platforms( that is, apps or websites such as Airbnb), interacting with potential guests, and managing professional cleanings, etc. This particular kind of agent operates in a similar way to rental agents who procure and manage longer-term lease relationships, only many work exclusively with Airbnb properties. Just as hosts are now finding an easy way to rent out properties by side-stepping licensing requirements, so too is it inevitable that many of these particular agents will be practicing without any accreditation. Although the Estate Agency Affairs Act dictates that nobody may perform any act as an estate agent without a valid fidelity fund certificate, it is becoming increasingly difficult to define‘ estate agent’ in this evolving landscape, and therefore policing the practice is now near-impossible, which in itself should sound a caution to both property owners and prospective‘ Airbnb agents’.
While the portal inarguably offers an inexpensive and innovative way for property owners and tenants to host short-term rentals, and to make extra money in the face of a rising demand for holiday accommodation, in popular tourist cities with housing shortages and sharply-rising real-estate markets— of which Cape Town is a prime example— one can’ t ignore the destructive potential of Airbnb.
In San Francisco— where there have been numerous highly-publicized protests against Airbnb in recent time— the media have coined the term‘ hotelization’ to describe the numbers of seniors, families and low-income tenants who are being pushed out by the trend. Although the Atlantic Seaboard hasn’ t quite seen the same level of disruption— at least not specifically attributable to Airbnb— anyone who has recently cast their eye out for a two-bedroom flat along Cape Town’ s most sought-after strip will know that there is little to nothing on offer in the realm of‘ reasonably-affordable’ longer-term rentals, and what was once seemingly in abundance, has all but dried up.
RESOURCES
Marlon Shevelew and Associates
OCTOBER 2016 SA Real Estate Investor 25