renting a house out on airbnb

[skraach]

i know that renting out a condo for less than 30 days is problematic because of the hotel act, condo act and condo rules. what about renting out a house, a townhouse or a room (not in a condo) on airbnb? is this perfectly legal for thai owners? assuming that the landlord is paying income tax and withholding tax on the rental income.

[Peterw42]

I imagine it would still contravene the Hotel Act, the same rules would apply, you need a hotel license to do short term rental. But there wouldn't be neighbours, condo management etc. trying to shut it down.

[topt]

4 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

I imagine it would still contravene the Hotel Act, the same rules would apply, you need a hotel license to do short term rental. But there wouldn't be neighbours, condo management etc. trying to shut it down.

We have this issue in our moobaan with lots of short stay, mainly Chinese and Koreans, in individual houses rented out mainly via one agent. The new chairman of the committee is trying to stop it and has fired a warning shot to those concerned specifically to do with the Hotel Act.

[Antonymous]

As I understand it (I will defer to someone with experience) ...

 

... the Hotel Act is for businesses with four or more rooms or more than 20 guests. I suppose in theory you could house 20 people in one room, but that's highly unlikely unless you have a dormitory style guest house.

 

But you must register your business and obtain a license to operate. And with that you must report foreign guests to Immigration within 24 hours of arrival. And you must pay tax on your income from this business.

[dotpoom]

I have rented out condos through agents from as short a time as one day all the way up to a year and everything in between without any problems in a well known condo building in Jomtien, until very recently?

[Colabamumbai]

I would stay away completeley as an owner or renter. It is like buying bitcoin.

 

 

[Lacessit]

There are quite a few stories about airbnb landlords who have had massive damage done to their properties when the renters have decided to throw a party. Permit me to doubt it is worth the risk.

[Mangkhut]

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

There are quite a few stories about airbnb landlords who have had massive damage done to their properties when the renters have decided to throw a party. Permit me to doubt it is worth the risk.

That could happen to any hired out room/flat/house regardless of how you you rent out your accomodation. Using an agency to rent it out, rent it out privatly, using Airbnb - none of them gives any reasurance that the guest/renter will f*** up something.

 

On the Airbnb platform the person who hires out state his houserules and a very common statement is «not suited for party/gatherings» or «partys not allowed». Of course this wont scare the truly idiots but at least it sends a clear signal.

[mr_lob]

we rent our villas out through airbnb - an excellent company to deal with. We have got a hotel licence (a complete ball ache and very expensive and lengthy process, as it involved re-writing all house plans)

[toughlove]

I would stay away completeley as an owner or renter. It is like buying bitcoin.
 
 

In what way?

[Colabamumbai]

You dont know the actual location until you book. They may have cameras watching you, it may not be as advertised and you may trash the place or use it for drug dealing etc.

[topt]

4 hours ago, mr_lob said:

we rent our villas out through airbnb - an excellent company to deal with. We have got a hotel licence (a complete ball ache and very expensive and lengthy process, as it involved re-writing all house plans)

I may be wrong but I would have thought you were one of the very few who has actually gone the route of being fully legal for a standalone house/villas - unless you are a Hotel with individual villas as rooms?

[Bkk2061]

On 20/01/2018 at 4:27 PM, Colabamumbai said:

I would stay away completeley as an owner or renter. It is like buying bitcoin.

 

 

Someone doesn't know much about bitcoin..... 

[sandyf]

On 1/20/2018 at 8:38 PM, Mangkhut said:

That could happen to any hired out room/flat/house regardless of how you you rent out your accomodation. Using an agency to rent it out, rent it out privatly, using Airbnb - none of them gives any reasurance that the guest/renter will f*** up something.

 

On the Airbnb platform the person who hires out state his houserules and a very common statement is «not suited for party/gatherings» or «partys not allowed». Of course this wont scare the truly idiots but at least it sends a clear signal.

Quite, and the Thais seem fairly laid back about it. Last year a friend of mine asked me to see about getting a house in Bang Saen for a couple of nights. There was 12 of them in total coming and we managed to get them a 5 bedroom house for the 2 nights. The company had several properties in a small soi just across from the beach and they gave us a bundle of keys and said have a look around, the were managed from a condo block around the corner. When my friend and his family arrived we picked up the keys from a guy sat on the corner and went into the house. It was a bit short on crockery and a few other things so they just went round to the condo block and a few minutes later a girl turned up with everything they had asked for, no checks or anything. On the way out they just gave the keys back to the guy on the corner, all very casual.

 

As for Airbnb, they can be quite careful. As it happens I have just made a booking for 3 nights in a condo at Hua Hin and during the booking process they took my photo to compare with the one they have on file.

[skraach]

1. register a business

2. obtain an operating license

3. notify immigration of foreign guests

4. pay income tax

 

what type of operating license is required and what government office does one contact for that?

can immigration be notified by phone/email, or do you have to go in person?

[Peterw42]

At the end of the day, is there any money to be made renting a single house or condo on Airbnb ?

 

I dont think people consider the costs involved. You need to have a property fit-out for short term rentals, furniture, appliances, plates, cutlery, cooking utensils, linen towels, unlimited electricity, water, internet, cable TV etc, not to mention appropriate public liability insurance, smoke alarms etc.

You need to have someone available 24 hours a day, check-in, check-out, is case of emergency etc. Every stay the property needs to be cleaned, new linen and towels, inventory checked for missing and broken items. Guests can use any amount of electricity, water, internet etc, they can run airconn all day and night with doors open, lights on etc. 

 

Unless the property is near the beach or tourist strip, transport, 7/11 etc, who would want to stay in it.

 

Legal or not, I cant see that there is any money to be made unless you have several properties in a popular location etc.

 

Costs could easy run to a couple of thousand baht a day and there is a ceiling of what people will pay. Very easy to get a villa in a resort, swimming pool , gym, coffee shop etc, for probably less than a house in the suburbs.

 

[Colabamumbai]

1 hour ago, Peterw42 said:

At the end of the day, is there any money to be made renting a single house or condo on Airbnb ?

 

I dont think people consider the costs involved. You need to have a property fit-out for short term rentals, furniture, appliances, plates, cutlery, cooking utensils, linen towels, unlimited electricity, water, internet, cable TV etc, not to mention appropriate public liability insurance, smoke alarms etc.

You need to have someone available 24 hours a day, check-in, check-out, is case of emergency etc. Every stay the property needs to be cleaned, new linen and towels, inventory checked for missing and broken items. Guests can use any amount of electricity, water, internet etc, they can run airconn all day and night with doors open, lights on etc. 

 

Unless the property is near the beach or tourist strip, transport, 7/11 etc, who would want to stay in it.

 

Legal or not, I cant see that there is any money to be made unless you have several properties in a popular location etc.

 

Costs could easy run to a couple of thousand baht a day and there is a ceiling of what people will pay. Very easy to get a villa in a resort, swimming pool , gym, coffee shop etc, for probably less than a house in the suburbs.

 

Yes and you do not get the address to see the street you are on until you book. I was talking to an owner/ren

[Colabamumbai]

And you do not get the address until you book. I told an owner/renter I would be coming by Baht bus, he told me the location would not be good for me. Nor did he offer how to by taxi.....leaves a lot to be desired.

[toughlove]

It's not illegal unless owners vote it in. A stand alone house no problems.

The only place it's illegal is phuket where the mayor under pressure from hotels made it law

[Colabamumbai]

They need a person working for them in every city they operate in, it should be law. 

[sandyf]

On 1/23/2018 at 11:29 AM, Colabamumbai said:

And you do not get the address until you book. I told an owner/renter I would be coming by Baht bus, he told me the location would not be good for me. Nor did he offer how to by taxi.....leaves a lot to be desired.

That is a bit of a niggle but you do have the option to cancel within 48 hours without cost.

I made a booking for Sheffield and did not get a full postal address. Twice I asked the owner for the address and after a few days when there had been no reply to the second request I had come to the conclusion I should cancel. I was away from home at the time with bad internet so decided to wait till I returned, however before I got home Airbnb cancelled the booking, I got full refund and they removed the listing.

[Colabamumbai]

I had not booked yet as I knew many hotels in the general area.I wanted more info before I commited.

[mr_lob]

On 21/01/2018 at 3:10 PM, topt said:

I may be wrong but I would have thought you were one of the very few who has actually gone the route of being fully legal for a standalone house/villas - unless you are a Hotel with individual villas as rooms?

We have 5 villas in total. If you have more than 9 rooms in total, you are qualified as a hotel.

No to mention wanting to get ourselves legal - we had a ''visit'' a few years back from Krabi Immigration Police who kindly relieved us of 150,000 baht (no receipt) as a fine for forgetting to report 1 group on the immigration website (which wasn't working anyway). They said they could cause us big problems if we didn't get a hotel licence....

[Coconut007]

On 1/20/2018 at 4:27 PM, Colabamumbai said:

I would stay away completeley as an owner or renter. It is like buying bitcoin.

 

 

You mean highly profitable?