Straight
answers.
25 questions, grouped. If yours is not here, ask it on the call. We would rather answer an awkward question early than have it surface after you have paid us.
Ownership & eligibility
Can I run a short-stay rental business in the USA or UK from India?
Yes, and this venture suits remote ownership better than most. Neither country requires a company owner to be resident. Guest messaging, bookings, pricing, reviews and coordination are screen work by nature. What must be local is cleaning, laundry, maintenance and occasionally key handling, all of which is contracted per job rather than employed.
Does owning property or a company abroad give me a visa?
No. This is the most important sentence on the site. Ownership confers no immigration status of any kind in either country. It does not entitle you to a visa, residence, or the right to work inside the country. If your objective is relocation rather than investment, this is the wrong product and we will say so.
Can a non-resident own UK or US property?
Generally yes, subject to reporting and tax. An overseas entity acquiring UK property must register its beneficial owners before title can be registered, and both countries tax rental income earned by non-residents. Your accountant should advise on the structure before you buy.
Will my name be public?
In the UK, yes. Beneficial ownership appears on the public register, and overseas entities owning property are separately registered. In the US the position varies by state, with federal beneficial ownership reporting applying. Assume you will be identifiable.
Models & capital
Do I have to buy a property?
No, and we would usually advise against buying first. Co-hosting means managing properties owned by other people for a share of revenue, with no property and no void risk. Consented arbitrage means leasing long and letting short with the landlord's written permission. Both let you learn the business before committing capital to a specific building.
Which model should I start with?
Co-hosting, in almost every case. Six months of it teaches you what guests actually complain about, what cleaning really costs and how much messaging a property generates. That knowledge is worth more than any spreadsheet before you sign a lease or a purchase contract.
How much capital do I actually need?
It depends entirely on model and city, which is why we publish no single number. Co-hosting is the lightest by a wide margin. Arbitrage needs a deposit, furnishing and a real cash buffer. Purchase is a different order of magnitude. We build an itemised budget for your specific plan.
Is the engagement fee the investment?
No. The engagement fee begins the process: city assessment, feasibility and the proposal. The capital required to build and run the business is a separate and much larger number, stated in full in your proposal before you commit further.
Can I lose money?
Yes. Every venture carries the risk of loss including total loss of capital. Occupancy can disappoint, a city can restrict short letting after you have committed, a landlord can decline to renew, and furnishings depreciate. Anyone presenting this as low risk is not being straight with you.
Regulation & consent
What happens if the city bans short lets after I start?
It is a genuine risk. Regulation has tightened steadily and several major cities have effectively closed the market. We weight city selection toward stable, published regimes rather than the highest headline yield, and we structure leases and commitments so a rule change is survivable rather than fatal. It cannot be eliminated.
Do I really need the landlord's written consent for arbitrage?
Yes, and we will not proceed without it. Most residential tenancies prohibit sub-letting and short-term letting outright. Operating anyway is a breach of contract that can end in eviction, a forfeited deposit and a claim for the landlord's losses, and it voids your insurance at the exact moment you need it. A great deal of arbitrage content online treats this as optional. It is not.
What is the London 90-night rule?
Short letting of a residential property in Greater London is limited to 90 nights in a calendar year. Beyond that it is treated as a change of use requiring planning permission from the borough, which is not routinely granted. Platforms track and enforce the limit. Any London plan has to be built around it.
What about the building's own rules?
Homeowner associations, condo boards, freeholders and managing agents frequently prohibit short lets independently of local law, and many have introduced bans specifically. A property can be entirely lawful under city rules and still be off limits to you. We check this before you commit.
Is my normal home insurance enough?
No. Standard homeowner and landlord policies generally exclude short-stay commercial use, and platform-provided protection is not a substitute for a policy. You need specialist short-term-let or commercial cover placed through a licensed broker.
Operations & money
Who cleans the property?
Local cleaners contracted per turnover, with a backup provider identified from the start. Our desk schedules them against the live calendar, confirms completion with photo evidence and escalates if a turnover risks missing a check-in. We coordinate; we do not clean.
What happens if a guest has a problem at 3am?
Our desk answers. That is one of the few genuine advantages of running a US or UK property from India: the overnight window in both markets falls inside our working day. If the problem needs someone physically present, we dispatch the local contractor and stay with the guest until it is resolved.
How is revenue different from what I keep?
Substantially. Platform commission, cleaning, linen, utilities, consumables, lodging tax, maintenance, insurance and replacement all come out of the headline booking figure, plus rent in the arbitrage model. The gap between gross bookings and net profit is larger than most first-time operators expect, and we model it explicitly.
Can you guarantee an occupancy rate?
No, and nobody honestly can. Occupancy depends on season, demand, competition, pricing, reviews and platform ranking. We show planning ranges with stated assumptions and we model the quiet months first, because a plan that only works in peak season is not a plan.
Can you guarantee a bank account?
No. We prepare a complete, well-evidenced application and lodge it with institutions known to consider foreign-owned entities. The bank decides under its own rules. Any firm guaranteeing an account is describing something outside its control.
Working with Akontec
What exactly do you charge?
Three components: a setup fee as a percentage of establishment cost with a stated minimum, a flat monthly management fee for the guest desk, and a share of net operating profit above an agreed threshold. Property purchase and furnishing are excluded from the setup fee base.
Do you take equity in my company or property?
No. The profit share is a contractual right under a management agreement. We take no interest in your company or property, we appear on no title or register, and we have no claim on a sale.
What if I want to end the relationship?
You keep the company, the lease or title, the furnishings, the listings, the platform accounts, every document and the operating manual. Listings and reviews transfer to your control rather than being retained by us. A transition plan is part of the agreement from the start.
Do you take commission from suppliers?
No. Third-party costs are paid at cost against invoices. If a supplier offers a referral fee we tell you and credit it against your fee. That is written into the agreement.
Who is actually doing the work?
Coordination, documentation, listings and the ongoing guest desk are handled by Akontec's team in India. Regulated work — legal, tax, insurance placement, safety certification — is performed by licensed professionals in the relevant jurisdiction, engaged directly by you. Cleaning and maintenance are contracted locally.
What happens on the first call?
Forty-five minutes covering your capital range, your objective, the city and model we would recommend, and the regulatory position for that choice. No slide deck and no pressure. If we think it will not work for you, we say so on that call.
Still have a question?
Ask it directly. We answer awkward questions the same way we answer easy ones.