But they explicitly said they wanted a place to themselves.<p>&gt; <i>Our intent, actually, was to stay at least 30 days at each place, so our hosts would be on the right side of the law. Rental of a private room in the city for less than 30 days is legal only when a permanent resident  is present during the stay, and we wanted the places to ourselves.</i><p>I read that as meaning that they chose to stay for over 30 days, because otherwise it would be illegal.