Airbnb survey sparks legal warning for UK tenants and landlords

A survey by Airbnb, the online platform for short-term rentals, has revealed that most UK renters want to sub-let rooms in their homes to earn extra money.

However, a leading landlord law expert has warned that this practice is illegal and highly risky for both tenants and landlords under current legislation.

The survey, which was conducted as part of the Renters (Reform) Bill debate, found that almost 80% of renters are looking for ways to supplement their income amidst rising living costs.

Airbnb claimed that sub-letting rooms through its platform could help renters raise cash and also benefit landlords by reducing rent arrears and increasing tenant satisfaction.

Dismissed the survey’s recommendations as irresponsible and misleading

Des Taylor, casework director at Landlord Licensing & Defence, dismissed the survey’s recommendations as irresponsible and misleading.

He said that sub-letting violates the terms of most tenancy agreements and creates legal liabilities for landlords that could cost £10,000s in fines.

He explained that sub-letting will turn many properties into houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), which are subject to strict regulations and enforcement by local authorities.

Mr Taylor said: “Most tenants and many landlords do not realise that it only takes three people, where one is not related to all the others, to make an HMO. In legal terms, it is ‘3 or more persons from 2 or more households’.”

Offences connected to them under ‘strict liability’

He added that these regulations have offences connected to them under ‘strict liability’, which means that landlords do not have to knowingly commit the offence to be guilty of it.

Mr Taylor said: “A tenant subletting, and unwittingly creating a house in multiple occupation makes the landlord liable for punitive enforcement from the local housing authority.”

He also warned that in over a third of the London boroughs there are ‘additional licensing’ schemes which regulate occupancy, and that landlords who have become HMO managers without their knowledge face ‘an extreme risk’ of fines up to £30,000 for each offence under the HMO management regulations and on average £15,000 fine for operating an unlicensed HMO per offence.

He also pointed out that tenants who sublet become the immediate landlords of their subtenants.

This means that any money they receive could be subject to a rent repayment order from the subtenant, who could apply to the first-tier tribunal to claim back up to 12 months of rent.

‘Results of surveys without any regard for the underlying law’

Mr Taylor said: “Whatever Airbnb’s survey results are, they are not going to assist landlords and are going to drive even more out of the business as they become more insistent that it is impossible to continue while tenants are encouraged by mega-corporations publishing results of surveys without any regard for the underlying law.

“Airbnb must now explain to its hosts and potential hosts the legal consequences of sub-letting rooms in their homes and how legally dangerous this would be.”

He urged Airbnb to take urgent advice on the Housing Act 2004 law on HMOs, HMO licensing, and the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006 to understand the massive risk their advice puts tenants and landlords at.

He said: “Airbnb must now withdraw this advice and lobby the government for a change in the law to allow this possibility.”

Mr Taylor said: “As things stand, this is not responsible marketing; it is marketing to have your name in the press at any price without regard for the safety and wellbeing of tenants and landlords.”

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