Our cancellation policy for landlords aims to keep HousingAnywhere safe and reliable.
Cancellations by landlords are rare, and sometimes unavoidable. But when they happen, they can disrupt tenants' plans and undermine confidence in our platform. That's why we impose fair penalties for cancellations that happen because of a landlord's actions.
In this article:
Your obligations as a landlord
If you can’t honor a booking, it’s your responsibility to cancel it in a timely manner so your tenant can adjust their plans.
Canceling puts your tenant in a stressful situation: They’ll need to find a new home and wait for their refund. It could take up to 10 business days for their money to be credited to their account — for many, this is a worst-case scenario when moving abroad.
Consider offering an alternative place
If you must cancel, try to offer the tenant an alternative place. If your tenant confirms that you've found them another suitable place, we may waive the penalties.
Penalties for cancellations by landlords
If you cancel a booking without a valid reason, or if a tenant cancels because of your actions (e.g., increasing the rent, encouraging the tenant to cancel), we’ll impose the following penalties:
We’ll charge a fee equal to 10% of that booking’s first month’s rent.
We’ll move the listing to the bottom of our search results page for 2 weeks.
These penalties reflect the cost and other impacts of cancellations on tenants, the broader landlord community, and HousingAnywhere.
When we start charging a fee
1st cancellation: Every landlord gets 1 free cancellation. Your listing will move to the bottom of the search page for 2 weeks.
Following cancellations: We’ll charge a fee of 10% of the first month's rent. Your listing will move to the bottom of the search page for 2 weeks.
How our cancellation fee is charged
If a cancellation fee applies, you'll get a separate invoice and more information by email.
Situations in which penalties may be waived
We understand that some cancellations are unavoidable. If you have a valid reason to cancel the booking, we’ll waive the cancellation fee and search ranking penalty.
Valid reasons for cancellations by landlords
If one of the following reasons applies, we may not impose cancellation penalties.
Major damage to the property (e.g., fire, flood, building collapse), which can’t be fixed within 5 business days of the move-in date.
The property is occupied illegally and the eviction process can’t be completed within 5 business days of the move-in date.
The tenant with a confirmed booking intends to break one of the rules specified in the listing.
The tenant with a confirmed booking has provided forged documents, such as ID or proof of income.
Force majeure events such as government-declared epidemics and public health emergencies, government travel restrictions, military actions and other hostilities and natural disasters.
We’ll determine whether to waive any penalties after evaluating all the available evidence.
How to request a cancellation
Go to your Inbox.
Select the Booked filter tab and find your booking.
Open the conversation and scroll down to see your booking details on the right.
Select Cancel booking and fill out the form.
Keep an eye on your email. Our Refunds and Cancellations Team will assess your claim and may reach out for more information.
You’ll receive an email confirming the outcome of your cancellation request.
View our terms and conditions
Go to Article 15 of our terms and conditions for all information about cancellations.