Rental Arbitrage - Signing their lease

[Eric P.]

For those following a STR rental arbitrage airbnb strategy (or homeaway, vrbo, etc), when you sign a lease with a landlord or owner: 1) what do you do about the clause in their lease that prohibits subletting, airbnb, etc? do you simply cross that line out before signing?, 2) do you make them sign a separate contract that you provide instead of (or in addition to) their standard lease that says it's ok for you to sublease the unit, you're not liable for the subletters' behavior, etc, etc - to protect yourself? I would think most owners and landlords would be averse to using anything except their standard lease

[Ethan Cooke]

@Eric P. - I will respectfully disagree with @John Underwood and @Paul Sandhu. I run a growing, 11-unit rental arbitrage business  in San Francisco and just south. I add a 1/2-page Sublet Addendum to the standard lease agreement, cross out the “no subletting” clause and write “See Addendum”. 

I avoid problems with landlords by treating them like royalty and make everything very easy for them. I’ve been doing this for over a year, and all the landlords I work with have offered to extend the lease for another year. I handle all minor maintenance and they hear about it only after it’s done. And they get their rent early every month. 

There are always risks with working with landlords and tenants, but you can mitigate them significantly by maintaining strong, win-win relationships.

Good luck!