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Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

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Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#371
post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can visit for 90 days but what you're allowed to do is restricted to tourism and "temporary business". The US substantial presence test is actually something like 31 days in the current year, and ~180 calculated as a weighted sum of presence over all visits in the preceeding few years. That's just to determine if you should pay tax, and note that vacations to the US contribute. Whether you can legally work in the…

> Most Europeans have access to things like cross border permits e.g. Switzerland/Germany and within the EU freedom of movement means it doesn't really matter much. You just register with the City Hall or wherever in your target country. This isn't as easy as it seems, even inside the EU. There are talks going on about laws regarding what constitutes "local hiring". Basically, the issue is that some companies hire pe…

I don't see a problem with this if the visiting workers are there less time than it takes to be considered a tax resident, eg. you have 3 months on-site onboarding and then proceed to work remotely.

After some time you're considered a resident so it doesn't make a difference compared to a local hire ?

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I can understand it: 1 - I'm proud of having cheated Airbnb out of their commission when helping me find housing so I could live like a hipster 2 - I hate living next to Airbnb hipsters Needless to say: not a lot of coherent thought in that comment...

I mean, AirBnb helped destroy housing for citizens where I live. It's now almost impossible for a local to find decent housing in my city. I know this is also fault of the administration and the landlords themselves, but I won't certainly ever feel any pity for this multinational. AirBnb is basically another mean of accruing wealth in the hands of landowners, while people who don't own anything are now in an even har…

It's not just your city. It's happening everywhere. I'm a homeowner and I absolutely hate it. It destroys daily life and livability. I would never rent my house on it - or, frankly, to anyone who wasn't like me and wanted to stay a long time and live there and respect the place. People see a quick buck and take it, and don't give a shit, but they're driving their own property values down.

[edit] What I mean is, I don't see it as really accruing value for landowners either. I see a lot of short-sighted landowners making money from a system that is going to drive them to ruin in the long term when there is no functional city left in the place they own their property... ultimately the only people who profit from flipping the geography of a city into a hotel are airbnb investors and absentee landlords in the short run.

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you have any thoughts about the home owners around you while you were doing the same thing?

Yes, I did. The whole point is that I wasn't just a one-or-two-day ghost. I lived in these places for as I said 3-6 months (in one case almost a year). So I knew my neighbors, and treated them as I would neighbors in any other apartment I rented as a regular tenant. [edit] I should just add that I'm as embarrassed to make noise or screw with anyone's living space as a homeowner as I was as a tenant. I could make $400…

What it is that leads you to believe the 3-6 months thing is so significant? There are (a very small proportion of) AirBnB guests who are awful. There are (a very small proportion of) longer-term tenants who are awful. At least with AirBnB, the awful guests are gone after a couple of nights.

I know some AirBnBs are used as party destinations, and that's different -- but it's a problem with those hosts, not with the platform. AirBnB make it pretty easy to telegraph that your property is completely unsuitable for loud gatherings, and anyone who puts a piano in a short-term rental is an idiot.

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#374
post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, but consider if you're a multinational corporation, and your employee asks for permission to work remotely from Japan for 90 days. Will your policies allow you to give permission for something illegal?

Why should they care? The liability is with the person, not the company.

> The liability is with the person, not the company.

Why would the liability be solely with the person? Especially if that company has a representation in the other country I highly doubt this.

In e.g. NL the company has to "take care" of the employee. A company cannot just ignore such a question, or take it as "not my problem".

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#375

https://www.remote.com/ is a proxy company with subsidiaries in all countries allowing you to hire employees legally in any country. I discover it the other day, it's a game changer for remote international teams.

There are plenty of competitors in this space.

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not an immigration/tax lawyer and could be completely wrong but if you're from EU/US/UK/AUS etc I'm fairly sure you can work in another one of those countries for up to 90 days (and sometimes upto 183) without paying tax there or getting a work visa - as long as you're still resident and being paid in your home country under the Visa Waiver program. I've worked in NY offices and got paid in UK (admittedly a while…

In the EU and FoM countries you're still supposed to pay social contributions where you work. There are many complex rules for people who are regularly on the road (like truck drivers, artists on tour) and dispatched workers, but as the average tech worker you can definitely get your employer in trouble if you work more than 20% outside the country of employment. That's why cross-border commuters can't work from home…

The 20% rule only applies to Switzerland and the "Doppelbesteuerungsabkommen" with the neighbor countries or EU. This was the reason I quit my job in switzerland and moved back to germany (without taking a huge pay cut ;), more vacation days and only 35hour/week), now the 183day rule for social contributions and tax apply as long as I live in germany. So now I can work from portugal during winter :)

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#377
post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Governments tell people what their property can be used for all the time. Even laissez faire countries like America use things like 'zoning' and 'setbacks' to control what you're allowed to do on your own property.

Well, sure, but you bought property in those areas depending on if you wanted to run a business or use it as a residence. Maybe there should be a separate residence-as-business zone used for Airbnbs. Banning short-term rental properties feels like a quick bandaid to gain political points, not a solution to a market with a large demand.

> Banning short-term rental properties feels like a quick bandaid to gain political points, not a solution to a market with a large demand.

Seems more that you want government to facilitate running a business where it's not in the interest of that government, nor in the interest of the locals. Airbnb's aren't beneficial, plus they aren't checked as properly as a hotel.

Usually it isn't banned, what they're after is that it is limited (days/year), plus the AirBnB income is properly taxed.

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never heard of a landlord who’d rather have a string of short term rentals than one continuous long term rental unless there’s some renter protection law that makes you an effective permanent tenant. Just rent through Airbnb and then talk to the guy about a normal lease. If you want, text me where you are, I’ll put up $10k for a bet and then if I can find you a 3 room office, you give me $10k. If I can’t, I’ll give y…

>Never heard of a landlord who’d rather have a string of short term rentals than one continuous long term rental unless there’s some renter protection law that makes you an effective permanent tenant. or unless you can make significantly more money as a short term rental. Also if you can theoretically hide your earnings (although I guess you can't most places anymore) also, I believe most EU countries have some form…

For illustration, where I am you can make up 1 month of long term rent in about 5 nights of Airbnb. The rest of the month is just pure profit.

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, AirBnb helped destroy housing for citizens where I live. It's now almost impossible for a local to find decent housing in my city. I know this is also fault of the administration and the landlords themselves, but I won't certainly ever feel any pity for this multinational. AirBnb is basically another mean of accruing wealth in the hands of landowners, while people who don't own anything are now in an even har…

It's not just your city. It's happening everywhere. I'm a homeowner and I absolutely hate it. It destroys daily life and livability. I would never rent my house on it - or, frankly, to anyone who wasn't like me and wanted to stay a long time and live there and respect the place. People see a quick buck and take it, and don't give a shit, but they're driving their own property values down. [edit] What I mean is, I don…

I see yes, in the long term it might even be harmful for landlords.

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#380
post #355

https://www.remote.com/ is a proxy company with subsidiaries in all countries allowing you to hire employees legally in any country. I discover it the other day, it's a game changer for remote international teams.

Beware, I can't speak for this exact one, but in my (pretty significant) experience these companies take a 35-45% cut of your gross income.

Their fee is some hundred dollars, and on top of that they need to pay local taxes.
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