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Airbnb connects travelers and spaces for rent
07/07/2014 7:34 AM by John M
Airbnb is a service which connects travelers looking for a room or apartment and local folks willing to rent out their spaces. There are a number of spots available in Church Hill for tourists looking for an authentic Richmond experience, with prices ranging from $75 to $300 per night.
A sweet backyard trailer in Northside easily wins for most unique in Richmond, though.
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$24/night, comes with vegan breakfast
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Airbnb in Church Hill
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A bedroom in Union Hill for $70/night
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2 bedroom apartment on 32nd Street for $300/night
Just curiosity – and don’t get my wrong, I think Airbnb is awesome – but what’s the legality of this in Richmond, specifically? (I know people have run into trouble with city laws elsewhere.)
Didn’t know this was out there. What a great idea.
It’s illegal. Looked into doing it myself but zoning put the cabash on it. If any one reports it it will be stopped.
To broad brush the entire process as illegal is incorrect. Every situation would be viewed individually. As long as the occupancy conforms to the zoning guideline in that area…it may be fine.
The very first house pictured in this post where the whole home or apt is being leased (albeit for just a week) would be fine. If it’s a single family and the entire property were rented, no problem. The “landlord” has every right to have a lease agreement that lasts only one week.
Now, if you have a single family property and decide to rent out individual rooms to boarders, that would go against most zoning guidelines. The property would have to be zoned a boarding/rooming house. This would also require a business license to go along with the zoning.
The trailer in the back yard is a hand-down zoning violation. This would never get the nod from the city.
That’s my house in the bottom pic… got the idea to maybe rent out the upstairs apartment for the bike race next year haha. No bites yet!
@Justin,
A large group of folks on Chimborazo park are beginning to discuss the same thing. With 300K visitors expected over a two week time frame we should be able to pocket some decent $$. I have friends (outside of RVA) who’ve had lots of success on Airbnb. I think we need to figure out a way to market these properties to the folks who would be traveling to RVA for the races. A simple link from the race coordinators to racers and spectators would be super helpful.
You can rent a room by the month with no zoning problems. However airbnb rentals are mostly for a few days which makes the majority of rentals here, the Fan, etc. illegal. There are some cities that have successfully changed zoning laws to allow for this use as a way for people to afford their homes.
@Tommy
I spoke with the race coordinators and they need to help fill the hotels first then they may help with individuals. I’m working on the same thing.
@Tommy & @Hillage – Air B’nB is well-known to most travelers, ESPECIALLY those coming over from Europe. My brother used to work customer service for them overseas in Amsterdam and then Dublin. You won’t need publicity from 2015 in order for people to find your property. Just make sure you have your ducks in a row by the start of next year/next summer when people will start looking. If you have a chance to rent it out a couple times before that just to get a few reviews on your profile, all the better!!
@Tommy… also just a note that the racers will most definitely be in hotels as opposed to Air B’nB-type places. These are elite, Olympic-level athletes — in fact, a great number of them have competed in the Olympics — so their host countries will be looking after them on a fairly high level. Just managing your expectations!!
This is a great idea. Sort of like the old “boarding houses” for travelers from years ago.
Possibly in the future some of us will be able to see about having a Bed & Breakfast business in the immediate area? But you need tourism for that and unless the city starts taking an interest in its own heritage along with preservation and renovation I doubt that will happen anytime soon.
Hey Tommy,
Ever work out of it’s legal or not? We’re thinking of it too and sent a message to the City – no response yet.