Living long term in an airbnb vs renting a flat?

travelbuddy69 wrote:

Hi! I currently live at my parent's house but would now like to move out & live on my own. I've been wanting to move out for several months but because of the covid pandemic I decided not to.

Anyway I've been thinking about living in an airbnb instead of in an apartment for several reasons:

1/ It's cheaper! I don't have to pay any deposit fee, admin fee or any upfront rent. For example if I was to rent an apartment with a monthly rent of £300, I'd have to pay around £900 just to move in! ( Rent:£300 + deposit £300 + £200 admin fee)

Also I won't have to pay any bills i.e electricity, water, gas, internet, cable TV,etc at an airbnb vs an apartment

2/ I can find an airbnb in the woods, mountains, in the countryside. Most apartments in big cities or big towns in the town centre.

I'm not a city boy. I'm more of a country type of person. I prefer the countryside as it's more peaceful, calm, tranquil, quiet, less busy & less stressful compared to the city where it's stressful, busy, overcrowded & noisy

The thing that worries me though is that every airbnb host has a spare key. I don't think they should have one because they could easily steal something or one of my belongings i.e one of my clothes, cash, a piece of jewellery or any other random object. Even though it's unlikely, if the host was steal one of my things I wouldn't notice it since I have so many clothes, jewellery,etc

Afterall the host is a stranger so I don't know him personally so if I was to live there long term i.e 3-6 months, I can't keep track of every object that belongs to me.

Having a spare key, the host could come in behind my back, everytime I go out for example & snoop around my private stuff which is an intrusion of my privacy!

So the pros of living in an airbnb are that it's cheaper & I could find a place in the countryside or in the mountains but the cons is the intrusion of privacy & the fact that the host ( no matter how unlikely) could steal one of my belongings.

Has anyone lived in an airbnb long term instead of renting an apartment? Should I chose an airbnb or rent an apartment? What can I do to prevent getting one of my things stolen by a host?

Why have you posted this on the England forum as well as the USA?

I've just read the AirBnB T&C's, rentals are for a maximum of 6 months; in certain cities, they are for a maximum of 90 days.  In many cases, you're only renting a single room, with the usage of public areas.  The landlord can cancel your rental without any notice; AirBnb will refund your advance rentals, but no compensation.

I'd recommend you do some research before you leap into this and watch out for scammers.