Listen NOW on iTunes
Back to Articles

Suggestions on What to Have in Your House Rules

house rules Mar 12, 2021

I hope you listened to Episodes 6 and Episode 7 - all about what to put into your House Rules. 

If you did, you know that in order for anything to be legal or really count, it MUST BE in writing; in other words, inside your House Rules.  This is your contract without being a contract.  It states all your Rules, Procedures, Fees, and Fines to Guests upfront and ahead of time.  We tell guests that they have to read and accept our House Rules in order to stay at our property.  This makes it, basically, a legal contract.  Especially when we tell our potential guests exactly what we will be providing for them; a home with a fully stocked kitchen, a clean and private space for their home-away-from-home during their stay, with fresh linens on the beds and clean, fresh towels in the bathroom.  We let them know through text (descriptions) and pictures, exactly what they can expect to get from us.  Our House Rules lets them know exactly what we expect to get from them or how we expect them to behave while staying at our property.  Hence, a contract is born.

 

If we want, we can get extremely legal in our description, making our House Rules even more iron-clad.  Adding verbiage like, “Your Stay: Your stay is defined as the dates you have booked through Airbnb, checking in beginning at 4 pm on X date and checking out by no later than 11 am on Y date. Your stay must be paid in full with Airbnb before you check-in with no exceptions,” gives an even better legal description of the terms of your agreement. 

 

Whatever verbiage you decide to use and whatever clauses you decide to add, I cannot stress enough the fact that you should have your attorney read your house rules over and give you suggestions on how to cover you better, specifically in your state.  This is a must and worth the $50 to $100 it may cost you.

 

Here are the topics or main bullet points we cover with what’s inside and some of the reasons we add what we do.  Again, to make this even more air-tight, have your attorney look this over!  I cannot stress that fact enough.

 

Disclose your Cameras, Smoke  & Noise detection devices, and place a "tampering, covering or disabling" clause in your rules that doing so results in immediate cancelation.

 

Remember, No Parties and No Smoking

Getting Here

Getting Around

  • Link to your Area Guide Book

Emergency & First Aid

Being a Good Neighbor

Parking

Occupancy

  • Limits
  • Booking Guest must be present (valid phone number)
  • Only registered guests allowed
  • Rules for Locals & Newbies (no reviews)

Pool/Hot Tub/Bikes/Snorkel

  • Rules about Pool Keys

Extra Amenities

  • Early/Late Check-in and out
  • Luggage Storage
  • Airport Pick-up
  • Grocery
  • Breakfast and other Meals
  • Special Occasions

Unwelcomed Guests

  • Living in the Desert/Florida/Hawaii

Cancellation Policy

  • No Refunds
  • Travel Insurance for Guests

Pets

  • Fees & Deposits
  • HOA restrictions

Applicable Fee Schedule

  • Pets without Permission
  • Smoking
  • Excessive cleaning fees
  • Late check-out (detailed)
  • Undeclared Guests

 

Other Rules

  • HOA/CC&Rs
  • State & local laws
  • Lease restrictions

Breaking Our Rules & Unruly Behavior (Our “Florida Man” Clause)

  • Immediate termination of the reservation
  • Canceled with no refunds
  • Removed from the property immediately
  • If you don’t leave, you will be trespassing and charged with trespassing.

 

Here's an example of a Clause as we have it written out inside of our House Rules:

Excessive Cleaning Fee:

Our guests pay a minimal cleaning fee per stay which covers what we call a “normal” amount of cleaning. Our guests are asked to treat our home like they would their favorite aunt or grandmother’s home. You wouldn’t leave trash around your grandmother’s home or dishes in the sink for her to do. Nor should you here. If the home is left extremely dirty after checkout, beyond what a courteous guest would normally leave a home, you will be charged extra for cleaning. Examples of this might be leaving dirty dishes, garbage not in trash containers, stains on sheets or towels, food left out or in the oven, spills, cigarette burns, moved furniture, scratched floors, broken items, stains on the carpet, liquids on the floor, dirty walls, anything in the hot tub that doesn’t belong, or things along these same lines. Our cleaning crew allocates a “normal” clean in a “normal” amount of time between guests. Anything above and beyond that will be charged to us and that fee passed on to you. This fee may be as little as $25 or as much as it takes to replace, repair, or clean in order to get the property back to good condition in a timely manner (before our next check-in).

 

Here’s a clause Sean Rakidzich suggests you add and we’ve included it:

Complaints:

If you have a complaint about any aspect of the property (any amenities, cleanliness, or otherwise) upon addressing this complaint to Airbnb or us, you are authorizing us to come into the property and solve the problem: fix whatever is broken, repair what needs fixing, or clean whatever it is that you need to be cleaned, up to the standards that you require. We do not require permission to correct any problem that you addressed as unsuitable or that needs remedying.  If you deny us the ability to correct the problem, we will not be responsible for any compensation you seek in the future.

 

Last but not least, make certain you include a clause that similarly states, "Anyone who stays in our property agrees to abide by these House Rules.  If you do not agree to abide by our rules, please cancel your reservation with Airbnb inside the refundable timetable, usually the first 24-hours, after creating your reservation.  Otherwise, breaking any of our house rules gives us the right to immediately cancel your reservation without a refund and, upon cancellation, you will be removed from the property, as staying without a reservation is criminal trespassing.  Trespassing will get you arrested."  Have your attorney check over your House Rules to make them even more legal, protective, and air-tight.  Then, post to all of your listings and be done.

 

Listen to our episodes to hear the specific verbiage we use for each of these categories.  Then, again, have your attorney go over this for you. 

 

 

Note:  Please feel free to cut and paste any part of this article for your personal use only, to use inside your personal listings.  Not intended to be shared for distribution of any other kind.  All rights reserved.

 

Go and Grow!

 

© The Prosperity Process, LLC  

for BNB-Boss

 

Want to hire a Virtual Assistant but don't have a clue about how to get started...

We've created a program just for you inside our membership, VA Advantage.  Not a member yet?  We've got you covered, too.  We've made this program available for "outsiders" for a limited time and for less than $20. Grab it now before it's too late!

Go and Grow...

If you want to become financially free, you need the right education. That’s why we created our Mini-Courses on investing in Short-Term Rentals.  If you are serious about investing your time and money into an Airbnb (aka Short Term Rental), you need a system.  Our courses are jammed packed with everything you need to know to create massive, passive income.  Plus, they're affordable.

and take a look at July's BNB Budget Makeover Series inside our blogs...

This month, we give you loads of great ideas on using your orphan days to make inexpensive changes to your properties.  Begin here, with Budget Room Makeovers: Weekend Projects for Under $1000.  

 

Find Our More

Don't miss a beat!

New articles, blogs, podcast episodes, and courses delivered to your inbox. 

We hate SPAM. We will never sell your information, for any reason.