The top ten locations to rent out your home in London on Airbnb
Tower Hamlets is the most popular area of the capital - beating the pricier central London
LONDONERS living in the East End should consider renting their homes on Airbnb as it's the most popular destination in the capital.
Flats and houses in Tower Hamlets are occupied 94 per cent of the time they are available for rent, research reveals.
The area is near to tourist hotspots such as Canary Wharf, and has links into the West End without blowing the budget.
The average nightly rate for accommodation for a two-bed flat in Tower Hamlets — which includes Spitalfields, Bethnal Green and the Isle of Dogs — is £140.
Properties advertised as available next month include a £158-a-night Brick Lane loft and a two-bedroom flat near Crossharbour DLR station, with stunning views of Canary Wharf, for £121.
Hackney is the second most popular borough, with 90 per cent occupancy and a £165 average for a two-bed, followed by upmarket Kensington and Chelsea, where two tourists will pay £225 a night.
The City of London has an 86 per cent occupancy and average price of £160, while Highbury and Islington is occupied 83 per cent of the time with £160 as the average.
A two-bedroom in Hammersmith can take an average of £130 and Camden is slightly pricier with an average cost of £170.
Westminster is occupied 75 per cent of the time despite its average price of £210, while Southwark's nightly rate is £140 and Lambeth's £125.
My Property Host managing director Elena Lopez said: "Letting out your property through Airbnb is a quick and efficient way to make some short-term income, and the high occupancy rates across London show the strength of demand from visitors.
“Tower Hamlets and Hackney consistently have the highest occupancy rates, with hosts there able to let their properties nearly every night they want to.
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“The popularity of these two boroughs is down to their combination of good transport links, trendy reputation and competitive nightly rates – factors which are prized by millennials, the people most likely to book an Airbnb stay.
“But as Airbnb’s popularity increases among families and business travellers, the map of Airbnb hotspots is likely to be redrawn. Larger homes in zones 2 and 3 will appeal more to families, and we expect properties in the City of London to do well as corporate travellers embrace Airbnb as an alternative to faceless hotels.”
Although Londoners can make a bit of extra cash from Airbnb, there are some risk factors to take into consideration.
Millions of homeowners risk losing their flats if they rent them out following a landmark court ruling in September.
People whose leases state their properties can be used “as a private residence only” cannot rent out their homes short term.
Those who breach their contract could face legal action by the freeholder – and ultimately lose their home.
The “private residence only” clause is a common feature of leases, lawyers say and there are an estimated four million leaseholders in Britain.
What is Airbnb?
Airbnb is a privately owned accommodation rental website which enables hosts to rent out their properties or rooms to guests who use the website to find somewhere to stay.
The company began in 2007 when roommates Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia started AirBed & Breakfast on the living room floor of their San Francisco apartment. The friends provided three air mattresses and homemade breakfast to guests who were unable to find alternative accommodation in the city.
In 2008, Nathan Blecharczyk joined AirBed & Breakfast and Airbedandbreakfast.com was launched - the website name was shortened to Airbnb.com afterwards). I
Airbnb, which generates its revenue through service fees to hosts and guests, was valued at £21 billion in June last year.
Home owners letting a property directly run the risk of invalidating the terms of their mortgage, meaning that in a worst-case scenario a lender could ask for full repayment.
Mortgage brokers say most lenders will not look kindly on borrowers who host on Airbnb. Some lenders say they are open to a room at a time being let, but handing over the whole property to a paying guest would lead you into trouble.
There are similar issues with renting as landlords can evict tenants who sublet without their permission.
If the sublet makes the property into a large “house in multiple occupation”, which is a property where at least five people live in more than one household over three or more storeys, a landlord could be fined up to £20,000 by the local authority for not being licensed.
Landlords’ insurance could also be invalidated, and if landlords are leaseholders they also risk violating the terms of their lease.
As a result, growing numbers of landlords are launching legal proceedings against tenants who sublet the property.
There are other rules, too – Londoners are forbidden from using their home to provide temporary sleeping accommodation for paying guests for more than 90 days in each calendar year.
And there are the horror stories too - in February, opportunists nicked an £8,000
original Banksy print and left condoms, laughing gas cannisters and cannabis at their Islington home.
Flatmates Dominic Jones and Jack Clarke rented their Islington flat via the website for a weekend.
But they returned to find a number of their belongings missing and the premises filthy.
In January, landlady Christina McQuillan rented out her £500,000 flat in Putney on Airbnb and was horrified when the tenant threw a New Year's Eve bash for 100 people.
She returned to find scores of revellers pouring in and out of the building, a couple having sex as a man looked on, floor damaged from the broken glass and rubbish trodden in and walls damaged from furniture moved around flat to make space for music decks.
In Silicon Valley in the States, Sharon Marzouk's home was trashed by a sex worker using it to shoot a porn movie.
Among the items she found when she returned to the flat were a vibrator left in the bath, handwritten notes of planned porno shoots and sex toys strewn across the floor.
And in February, a group of pals found a rotting corpse in their rented pad's garden in Paris.
But it also works both ways - last month an Airbnb host admitted filming people having sex on hidden cameras and swapping the footage with other landlords.
My Property Host, who conducted the research, offer insurance cover for Airbnb users.
Managing director Elena Lopez said: "Letting out your property through Airbnb is a quick and efficient way to make some short-term income.
“But most conventional home insurance policies won’t cover the property while it’s being let out – even if it’s just for one night.
"Airbnb’s one Achilles heel is that it offers no proper insurance cover as part of its letting agreement, making insurance a worrying blindspot for hosts. It’s essential that you check your home insurance policy closely or take out additional cover."
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