Ever thought how you would bear as an Airbnb host? Want an additional stream of income with little extra work needed? If you find yourself often daydreaming about hosting on Airbnb, it’s natural also to be thinking “How on earth can I ask my landlord for permission to become an Airbnb host?”

Understand the situation

Presuming that your landlord wouldn’t mind or have a problem with you becoming an Airbnb host without asking them is a terrible idea and can land you in court. Eviction, fines, and lawsuits are just some of the consequences of trying to pull the wool over your landlord’s eyes and be a stealth Airbnb host.

The best practice to use when asking your landlord is to be upfront. Ask directly, confidently and be strong. Who knows maybe your landlord isn’t as opposed to the idea as you thought. Being upfront is a lot more respectable than going behind your landlords back, regardless of their take on the situation they will be thankful you asked first.
The hard part is getting your landlord on board before you start hosting and not after.

Obviously, this can become a tedious process and may never be a reality for some people. Here’s how you can get there:

Think like a landlord!

When your speaking with your landlord, put yourself in their shoes. It’s crucial to understand both sides of the argument. When both parties understand and respect each other’s views, you create the best solutions. Keep in mind that although you might not see eye to eye landlords have similar worries and interests as you; they want to make money while protecting their property.

From a landlords perspective, they see their property as a low-risk investment. Often they have spent considerable amounts of time and money on the property to ensure it has a positive cash flow. Even if a tenant moves out, they incur damage to their property; they can always replace the tenants and repair any damages they receive. The risk is still low.

To a landlord, allowing you to sublease the property and become an Airbnb host increases the risk on your property phenomenally, with no real incentive for them to say yes. In their eyes allowing you to host only means increasing the risk, they are taking with renting to you. When talking to your landlord your job is to steer them away from thinking about to adverse risks associated with subletting Airbnb.

What makes it a high risk?

For most landlords, the talk of facilitating Airbnb visitors can put their minds into a wide range of thoughts. A portion of these thoughts may be unreasonable; stemmed from the negative attention Airbnb gets in the media, while others are honest concerns such as:

-Powerless in the screening process means unknown, untrusted people staying at the property.

-Short term leases can attract negative legal consequences depending on which city you are located in. This is just another headache for landlords, and most would rather not deal with the situation. Before meeting with your landlord, Research what legal and regulatory issues you should consider before hosting Airbnb.

-Using Airbnb could void the insurance policy. Never mess with a landlord and their properties insurance rulings. Your dream Airbnb listing may not be covered under the current policy, make sure you investigate this and follow up with your landlord.

When you reach this stage of negotiation with your landlord Its natural for them to assume they will take all the risk with no reward. Now, its time to add value to your purposed idea and help sway your landlord from a no to a yes.

What can you do for them?

This next part is crucial in getting your landlord onboard. Naturally, landlords and property managers are business minded people, solve the problem by empowering your landlord. First off ask how familiar your landlord is with Airbnb and hosting in general, educating them about Airbnb will solve a lot of confusion up front. Next, do your research on the rental market. The worse the market, the better for you, as the landlord will be more interested in hearing ways to increase cash flow.

Realistically, landlords are only interested if it makes money, it’s all about compromise and finding the balance that best suits your renter-landlord relationship.

• Offer to pre-pay rent
• Offer to increase your security deposit/ bond
• Offer to raise your rent
• Offer to create a contract that states that any damage to the unit will be at your expense
• Offer to share profits of your Airbnb
• Run them through Airbnb’s Million-dollar guarantee
• Offer to facilitate your short-term stay insurance
• Offer to include them in picking guests and when
• Highlight the fact that you are only renting rooms, and not hosting your entire place.
• Highlight the fact that you will be present throughout their stay.

Come prepared when you finally have that conversation with your landlord. Find out what they think about Airbnb. Keep the conversation relaxed and casual, Explain to them that you would like to host an Airbnb, that you are aware of the risk. In doing this, you will also show that you are respectful of the landlord in asking before doing. Go over the risks vs. benefits and how each one will affect them. Most importantly, be respectful.

Let us know in the comments below your experiences with Airbnb!