Airbnb’s new policy mostly bans rental agreements and limits how hosts collect guest information. Short-term rental attorney Katie Johnson, founder of STR Law, explains what changed, the 4 exceptions that still allow rental agreements, and how hosts can protect themselves legally.
Katie graduated from Michigan Law and has practiced law since 2011. She has hosted since 2015, and today she owns five vacation rentals and manages five more. So she has both drafted the rental agreement and dealt with the guest who ignored it. She joins Mike Sjogren and Mike Reilly to explain Airbnb’s latest update in plain English.
What changed in Airbnb’s new policy?
Rental agreements are mostly banned. Allowed contracts must be uploaded as a public PDF, and Airbnb won’t collect signatures or enforce them.
Hosts can’t collect guests’ personal information, which affects Wi-Fi capture tools like StayFi.
House rules are standardized, and anything you ask of guests must be “reasonable.”
Violations bring warnings and possible removal, and may lower your listing’s visibility in search.
Hosts can cancel without a penalty if a guest breaks the house rules or says they plan to.
When can Airbnb hosts still use a rental agreement? Airbnb allows 4 exceptions:
An HOA or the law requires it
It covers an optional amenity, like a golf cart
The stay is 28 days or longer
The listing is on Airbnb Luxe
Some states, including North Carolina, Michigan and Wisconsin, have guest-screening or ID-collection laws. Katie explains how hosts may be able to use those laws to keep screening guests.
Do Airbnb’s terms of service protect hosts? Not really. Katie reviewed about 2,000 lawsuits involving Airbnb and found that its terms mainly protect Airbnb. In some cases Airbnb got out of the lawsuit while the host was still in it. Your own rental agreement can include protections for you, such as an arbitration clause and a jury waiver.
What should every short-term rental agreement include?
Jury waiver and arbitration clause
Assumption of risk and liability waiver
Amenity rules (no diving, no jumping)
No-party and occupancy limits
Lost items, utility interruptions and chargebacks
What if you drop your rental agreement? Strengthen the other 3 pillars of host protection: a properly set-up LLC, strong insurance (including errors & omissions for property managers) and guest safety. Also track your listing views month over month so you can spot a drop in search visibility early.
In this episode:
The $11.6M Alabama pool verdict, and how warnings could have helped prevent it
How a guest ID helps you fight chargebacks
Homework: give your full insurance policy and your listing to an AI tool and ask, “Am I covered?”
Why property managers need their own liability insurance
Chapters 00:00 Airbnb’s latest update ticks off hosts 00:37 Why Airbnb is restricting guest data 02:33 How will Airbnb enforce this? Warnings vs. bans 06:21 Should you leave Airbnb? Legal exceptions by state 09:36 Airbnb’s terms protect Airbnb, not hosts 11:20 Party prevention and the $11.6M pool verdict 13:09 The 5 parts of the update, explained 15:30 Rental agreement workarounds 16:38 Shadow banning risk: know your metrics 18:43 The 4 pillars of host protection 20:46 Must-have rental agreement clauses 22:07 North Carolina rental agreement rules 23:24 Chargebacks and guest ID 25:18 Insurance for property managers 26:51 Run your insurance policy through AI 27:51 Errors & omissions explained 29:20 Katie’s #1 secret to success
About Katie Johnson
Katie Johnson is an attorney, Airbnb host, and founder of STR Law, a firm built specifically for short-term rental owners and managers. She has helped hundreds of hosts protect their businesses from liability, guest disputes and costly legal mistakes. She hosts the STR Law podcast, where she breaks down the risks hosts take on and how to manage them. She also speaks at conferences, workshops and webinars about the legal side of hosting, no law degree required.
Connect with Katie
Email: Katie@KatieJohnsonplc.com
Instagram: @strlaw.with.katie
Podcast: STR Law