Airbnb is Not Safe for Neighborhoods

In April 2019 I purchased and moved into a brand new neighborhood of luxury town homes within a five-minute walk to the metro and nearby shopping and restaurants. It seemed like a nice and quiet neighborhood of families and young professionals who want to live close to the city, but want to avoid the high costs of living and crime in our nation’s capital: Washington, DC.

Once my neighbor moved in, she and her husband started listing rooms in their brand new home as Airbnb hosts. This is where my nightmare began. I started getting Airbnb guests ringing my door bell at all hours of the day and night thinking my private home was an Airbnb. I even have Airbnb guests trying to put in a code and access my keyless doorpad. My dogs bark from the disturbance. It seems like a constant flow.

Since Airbnb does not conduct background checks on guests, this has caused a huge safety concern for myself. I’ve had to install cameras and a security system on the perimeter of my home and put up a sign on my door stating, “private home, not Airbnb.”

I have contacted my neighbor and Airbnb with no resolution. Airbnb put me on hold and said they would send me a link to file a complaint. Some of her guests even seemed like they were on drugs when they were ringing my doorbell and trying to get into my private home. This has caused me huge concern about the safety of the neighborhood and the safety of the homeowners in the neighborhood; some random person could walk into our place if we were not constantly monitoring that our door is locked and our alarm systems are always active.

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7 Comments

  1. Kaylee,
    Hotels and motels do not need to do back ground checks because they are not in a residential area, 10-20 feet away from the house next door. This is a safety consideration for communities and neighbors. I live in the Tampa bay area and in Sept a man wash shot and killed over a dispute over airbnb parking. There was also a shooting in Brandon Florida in July. Allowing this to continue unregulated as it is is egregious. Our neighborhood is turning into an unattended hotel district. Many hosts do not even personally check guests in. Owner occupied homes are not a problem and people renting their second homes It is the private investor, sometimes owning multiple properties creating the majority of problems and there are many.

  2. We have an ongoing problem with this. The homes on both sides of ours are used as air bnb properties. Because of this we installed a six foot privacy fence around our home to protect our property. We posted a very clear ” private property no trespassing” sign on the front gate. However almost daily we discover free range tourists ( we live in Deadwood s.d) roaming our yard, sitting on our porch, rattling the doors trying to get in, & on 1 very memorable occasion the group who rented one of the next door properties had a wild drug fueled party & pulled down the fence separating our property from theirs. All attempts at resolution from air bnb as well as the property owners have of course been ignored & the expense & hassle of replacing the section of fence as well as other damaged property naturally falls to us.

  3. Really sorry you are suffering this. Yep… we also suffer badly from Airbnb neighbour who couldn’t care less about us … yes, we have drugs, noise nuisance antisocial behaviour and yes we call the police. Yes, we are now suing this so-called Super Host…. in the UK for harrassment. Don’t expect Airbnb Neighbour Customer helpline to do sweet f.a. … its tokenism. So what can you do? First check your deeds, lease, or whatever — see if there are any clauses in it that restrict use or some such, because if yours does, so does your neighbour and I’m guessing you can get a copy of theirs – many sufferers have used this and found something to pin on the Airbnb’r to shut it down. Keep records of all nuisance – a fag I appreciate – but its necessary – do photo’s when possible. Call the police and record it. Some people have been successful in booking the place and leaving a bad review … its cheaper than a Lawyer…

    As for Kaylee….. lady you havent’ a clue whats going on with Airbnb and the trouble it causes — Airbnb in my case are fully aware of whats going on and ignoring it — why??? Because they are making money/profits and to hell with us as neighbours.

  4. Well, from the beginning of the story the first thought was to purchase some kind of safety equipment like camera, smart locks with remote control like here https://wisepick.org/best-smart-lock-for-airbnb-more-convenience-less-hassle (I am choosing one for my guest house), but you are done with all of these… even the sign… That’s interesting because there are many positive reviews on her page. and after you placed the sign they still disturb you?

  5. Since this is a townhouse, so this is something to bring up with your Home-Owner’s Association.
    Document when it happens and take your grievance to your HOA meetings, you may find there are already by-laws in place to help you.

  6. Hi, I’m so sorry you are going through this, because I know exactly how it feels, I live next to an airbnb, this is the 3rd year, and it had cause disasters in my health. I’ve been threaten, YES a lot of the guest Do use drugs, EVEN THE OWNER ADMIT IT!, she said “oh, well… they must had been on drugs”.. my door was kicked at, they say to me, “you’ll see what happens to you”, the fact that they were trans girls much taller and bigger than me, wasn’t really the problem, but the fact that they tried to hit me. the owner did nothing. Constantly having people going in and out, not only those who the owner accepts but also people who are brought by those people, like this Russian girl, who brought a different guy every day, and I had obscene noises ALL DAY LONG, couples seams to think that this is a motel just to have sex, noises of every kind, one Saturday I remember they kept slamming the door every one hour, I listen to them walking, and then leaving, every hour, AT NIGHT, I wasn’t able to sleep at all. AIRBNB gives you NO SOLUTION whatsoever, and my home is now insecure I have health problems because of the stress that this situation is causing me. so…
    yes… I understand what you mean, but as long as countries allow airbnb to keep on operating this will never end.

  7. Sounds like you just have a very stupid and disrespectful neighbors.

    As a host it’s their responsibility to ensure their guests know which house they are going to.

    As a host for over a year, AirBnB itself is not what’s unsafe. It’s the hosts who don’t care about enforcing rules and making sure they don’t piss off their neighbors.

    Hotels and motels do not do background checks on their guests. Unfortunately the negative things being heard in the media are only a small percentage of problems that are happening.

    Airbnb does not have the resources to check on all their hosts. It’s bad hosts who give a bad name. It’s their job to enforce rules at the place they are renting, and if they don’t, then all hell can break loose.

    Good luck!

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