Have you used Airbnb to rent out rooms in your home?
Would you rent out rooms in your home? Toronto's Lisa Marion has. She's been using Airbnb, a popular site that streamlines the process of renting out extra bedrooms for short-term home and apartment stays.
What's not to like? Avoid high hotel rates, get to stay in neighborhoods where there probably aren’t hotels at all and connect with plugged-in local hosts as well. Plus, the best listings will have plenty of photos and reviews from other users.
Ask someone who lives in a condo building how happy they'd be if their neighbour was using Airbnb a few days a week though.
At the best of times, the landlord-tenant relationship can be tricky. But when you're then subletting the same space, it becomes even more complex -- particularly when you find you're actually breaking the law.
That's what happened to one unsuspecting New Yorker. After renting out his place, he racked up several violations for running an illegal transient hotel. Added together, the potential fines looked as if they could reach over $40,000, the New York Times reports.
Clearly, he didn't read his lease to see if this sort of subletting was acceptable and Airbnb doesn't do much to help in that regard, it seems.Tempted? Well, you better determine what your province's landlord and tenant act says about such things as a landlord's right to evict or just who can stay where for how long.
Or perhaps you already have?
Have or would you consider taking in the odd traveler now and then? Have you been that short-term tenant? How have things worked out so far?
By Gordon Powers, MSN Money
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