Want To Rent Your Home to Visiting Super Bowl Fans? Make Sure You Know the Rules

HOUSTON, TX — The teams are set — it will be the Patriots agains the Falcons — and their fans are booking their flights, ready to land in Houston and cheer on their teams when they do battle at NRG Stadium on February 5.

Many of those fans will be staying in hotels, but there's a hot market for short-term home and apartment rentals during Super Bowl week, with booking prices of as much as $10,000 a night being thrown around.

A quick perusal of Airbnb and other sites turned up apartments and homes available during the Super Bowl for nightly rates ranging from $1,500 for a place near Galveston to $10,000 for a sprawling seven-bedroom manse in Missouri City. And here's one in central Houston for $9,500 a night.

Want to get in on the game by renting out your home? Not so fast, say officials.

First, if you live in Houston, there's this little thing called the Hotel Occupancy Tax, and it must be paid. Here are the details, according to Houston First Corporation, a local government entity formed in 2011:

Hotel occupancy tax is imposed on the rental of a room or space in a hotel costing $2 or more each day. The tax applies not only to hotels and motels, but also to bed and breakfasts, condominiums, apartments and houses.
Persons leasing their houses, or rooms in their house, must collect the tax from their customers in the same way a hotel or motel collects the tax from its guests. Property management companies, online travel companies and other third-party rental companies may also be responsible for collecting the tax. The hotel occupancy tax rate is 7 percent (.07) of the cost of the room.

Texas also has a hotel occupancy tax: 6 percent of the cost of a room.

In addition, many homeowner associations prohibit residents from renting their properties, and the fines can be hefty.

And how about your insurance coverage? It's wise to inform your insurer that you plan on renting your home, of course, and you may be required to have an additional policy for the period. (The visions of rowdy fans turning your pool and backyard into a block party to end all block parties is not as far-fetched as you might think.)

And speaking of insurance, make sure that you have an updated and complete inventory on hand, complete with photographs and serial numbers, in the event of theft or damage.

Finally, consult an attorney who knows the ins and outs of regulations and laws in your area; dreams of quick income can quickly turn to nightmares of losses and lawsuits faster than a Brock Osweiler interception.

— Image courtesy housuperbowl.com