Ohana is helping hosts legally sublet their NYC apartments

With New York City taking a tougher stance on illegal short-term rentals via Local Law 18, owners and renters looking to supplement their income have had to adopt new strategies.

Many former hosts are turning to subletting or renting out their space for 30 days or more to stay on the right side of the law. But this “mid-term rental” model comes with some risks: How do you find reliable guests or subletters? How can you ensure you’ll get paid? And how do you protect yourself from the nightmare scenario: a subletter turning into a squatter and asserting tenant’s rights?

Mid-term rental marketplace Ohana solves these problems for short-term rental hosts through an array of safeguards designed to vet prospective tenants and bring you peace of mind.

The company offers an ID-verified vetting process, payment guarantees, and significant protection from squatters. In addition to paying $25 million in rental income to NYC hosts in just two years, Ohana is a trusted housing partner of OpenAI, Oracle, Palantir, and Snap.

ID-verified guests and video-call vetting

When you open your home to someone—whether as a roommate or renting out your entire space—it’s essential that you feel comfortable. 

That’s why before any money changes hands, Ohana connects hosts and ID-verified potential guests on a live video call to introduce them to each other. A member of the Ohana team also joins the call to familiarize them with the Ohana platform, provide some initial vetting, and a tour of the space. 

“On our platform, the video calls help hosts a lot, because they can ask, ‘What brings you to New York?’ ‘What's your job?’ It's a little bit like an interview process so that they feel comfortable renting their space out,” said Ezra Gershanok, co-founder of Ohana. According to Gershanok, over 3,000 former Airbnb hosts in New York City have joined the Ohana platform since Local Law 18 passed.

Funds guaranteed: Two months paid upfront

Scams and inaccurate listing information plague the NYC real estate market, with shady behavior occurring on both sides. If a guest or renter shows up to an apartment that’s not as advertised, Ohana will help them find another, equivalent place to stay. 

To bolster host protection, Ohana requires guests to pay one month’s rent upfront as well as a security deposit equivalent to one month’s rent. 

“We won't let them in unless they pay a security deposit and first month’s rent upfront, which is a much higher bar than Airbnb,” Gershanok said. “We make sure that the payment has cleared before they can move in. The cash is in hand so that we can release it to hosts the day someone moves in.”

Serious squatter and damage protection

While not all that common, squatting, i.e., a renter who refuses to leave, is perhaps a long-term host’s ultimate nightmare. Theoretically it’s a threat because any tenant in place for more than 30 days has tenant’s rights. Evicting a tenant is a costly, time-consuming process that can also cause stress about potential damage to your property. 

That’s why in addition to securing two months payment upfront, Ohana guarantees squatter and damage protection of three times the renter’s deposit for worry-free hosting.

Are you a short-term NYC rental host looking for a safer and more secure way to rent out your space? Check out mid-term rental platform Ohana to start hosting with confidence and earning income.