You want to know how to Airbnb without getting caught if your apartment or city does not allow short-term rentals. The point is not to get found out and evicted by your complex or landlord.
The average person would say, “Don’t do it.” Well, your Airbnb guests will not have to tiptoe around or feel awkward and give you bad ratings if you have a good rapport with them.
How to Airbnb without getting caught
As a long-term renter, it is not legal to Airbnb your apartment without your landlord’s permission, even if Airbnb is legal in your state. Even with sublease rights, you need to inform your landlord for a good relationship.
Meanwhile, do the following to Airbnb without getting caught:
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Review your local law
Suppose Airbnb is illegal or only allowed after obtaining a license in your city. If you go ahead to rent out for the short term, Airbnb will not disclose your information to the city. However, your city catches people by making reservations and then checking in to cite and ticket you for no hotel license.
Airbnb uses a review/rating system for guests and hosts. As such, do not approve guests without at least 3 ratings/reviews. Do not also approve guests with ratings/reviews all in the same city. The point is to get real travelers as your guests.
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If your city allows subletting for the short term, then you have nothing to worry about them.
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Look at your lease
Check your lease for what it says about subletting the property. Since you charge Airbnb guests, they are no longer guests. Airbnb may be referring to renters as guests as but they are subletters because they pay to stay.
In many cases, your lease with the apartment may not mention “guests” but uses “sublet”. This also includes Airbnb since you collect money from the guests.
Besides, Airbnb is a vacation rental company, so “rental” is their operative term.
If your lease does not say anything about subletting or allowed subletting, you may just have to seek your landlord’s permission. If the landlord turns down your request, you may just go ahead anyway, but you risk eviction. If you already know that your landlord will turn down your request, there is probably no need to tell them.
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List only a part of the property
Do not list the entire apartment on Airbnb to minimize the chances of your landlord, complex, or property management seeing and identifying it. Moreover, listing only a part of the property will make it difficult for your city to identify the property if you are operating Airbnb illegally.
Try to advertise only the room or rooms you want to Airbnb without getting caught. Do not include pictures of the exterior part of the property.
Do not also share pictures of the exterior with your potential guests to prevent the possibility of revealing your location and ID to state-sponsored investigators.
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Minimize the number of reviews
Since you are trying to rent out on Airbnb for the short term and not get caught, try not to gather too many reviews.
Ask some guests not to leave a review. Explain the situation to them if necessary. Having many reviews can attract the city’s attention to check if you operate legally.
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Prohibit pets and smoking
Do not tick pets and smoking in your listing on Airbnb. Pets can be noisy, for example, dog barks. Pets can destroy the property, which is bad, especially if you do not want to get caught by your landlord. Moreover, some neighbors actually rent the apartment because pets are not allowed. They may question the landlord about it, which could get you caught.
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Do not also tick “smoking allowed”. The smoke may disturb your neighbors, who will immediately inform the landlord to do something, which exposes you.
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Have a good rapport with your guests
A good rapport with your guests will prevent the landlord or other neighbors from knowing that you Airbnb your apartment. Ask guests to refer to themselves as your family or friends.
Some guests will be discreet but for the most part, they will be worried. You can reward guests by returning a few dollars to make up for their compliance.
Understand that not all guests follow instructions. Some will make a ton of noise despite “no noise” instructions, clamoring in the hallway with luggage, which makes it obvious that you rented out your apartment.
Ask the guests to comport themselves until they leave. Otherwise, neighbors will report seeing many strange people hanging around. Try to get guests to avoid late-night comings and goings as well.
How your landlord can know if you Airbnb the property
Some landlords rarely check their rented buildings, so they hire management companies to handle everything about renovations, maintenance, or tenants.
These management companies get managing agents to do the work. They do not necessarily check if you Airbnb the apartment but may notify you if it becomes too obvious.
For a landlord, if they suspect that you Airbnb the rental, they can search Airbnb for listings similar to the property. If you did not list the entire property, the chance is that they will never know. Landlords who catch tenants who Airbnb their apartment typically come across the listings by chance.
Checking if you Airbnb is additional work, and, depending on your state laws, it may not even be worth it for the apartment management to pursue.
As long as you reduce how often you Airbnb, pay your rent, keep the property in good condition, and do not disturb neighbors, you will not get caught.
Don’t cancel the booking if you are caught
Airbnb not only fine hosts for cancellations but also takes away your Superhost. They leave a cancellation notice on your profile, which shows future guests you have previously canceled a reservation. Note that the canceled dates cannot be rebooked.
Instead of canceling reservations, consider going to the HOA (Homeowners Association) to see if they can work out a deal with you, or take the fines if they are less than the Airbnb penalty.
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Ensure to contact Airbnb so that they can be aware of the reservations you need to upset when you decide to cancel.
Take permission from your landlord
Airbnb without getting caught may be a form of passive income but understand your city and landlord’s concerns. For the city, it is one of the reasons housing prices are on the rise. Moreover, you are making money from another person’s property without their knowledge, which is illegal.
Regarding your landlord, Airbnb can cost them money for property damage. These guests do not stay for long, so they may cause expensive damage before leaving.
The security of the property is another concern. Even the neighbors’ safety is questionable because you may not know the history of the Airbnb guest on the property.
Another situation is that if Airbnb is not allowed in your city or your apartment has no operating license, it could be considered illegal subletting, which incriminates the landlord if you get caught.
Final thought
Airbnb without getting caught is fun until you get caught. It violates the lease, and, perhaps, the city’s subletting law. If the risk is too high, and you have no reasonable backup plan, do not do it. You could get caught for the slightest loophole.
