Why Are Airbnb Services Even Allowed?

Posted on August 12, 2019

I just don’t understand why this type of service is even allowed. I moved into my neighborhood several years ago as a young family with plans to provide my son a happy and loving childhood. Now, because of the Airbnb that recently “opened” next door, that dream has been shattered.

I wanted my son to grow up in a community where everyone knows one another and neighbors watch out for the kids as they play. Instead, every few days, we have strangers living next door that have absolutely no respect or concern for our community. They are loud, disrespectful, and inconsiderate.

Last night, one of them parked in my driveway and attempted to enter my home while we were sitting in the living room watching TV. Do you know how terrifying it is for a four-year-old to have a couple of strangers attempt to walk inside your home? Neighborhoods should be focused on building a sense of trust and community, not utilized as a way to make money while jeopardized your neighbors.

These uncaring “guests” trash our local park, park in front of my driveway so we can’t get out, leave trash in my yard, and stay up causing commotion at all hours of the night. In a time where you can’t even feel safe going to the store, now I can’t even feel comfortable in my own home. This sense of entitlement to doing whatever you want with “your” house is ridiculous and completely defeats the purpose of living in a neighborhood.

If you want a short term stay, go to a motel or hotel; that is for what they were made. A house should be reserved for preserving a sense of community within those that live in the neighborhood and providing a sense of peace and comfort to raise a family. Thank you Airbnb for robbing people of this American dream.

This is a horrible concept and I hope cities crack down hard on how these services are managed. What a complete disappointment in those that have no respect for their neighbors (mostly because they don’t actually live there) and exposing us to a constant set of inconsiderate strangers that destroy our sense of community for a few extra bucks. What a shame that this is what has become more important to people.

Airbnb Guests Destroy Neighbors’ Property

Posted on July 2, 2019

The house next door has been an Airbnb property for about a year. Until last weekend it wasn’t a problem. I arrived home from work on Saturday afternoon to discover that a large section of privacy fence that my husband and I had installed to divide the properties had been destroyed. This damage apparently occurred during the very large, very loud party that went on there over the entire weekend. I have attempted to contact both Airbnb and the property owners but have so far not gotten anywhere. I guess the next step will be to get a lawyer.

Airbnb Provides Noisy and Unruly Neighbours

Posted on May 5, 2019

For nearly two years, my life has been completely disrupted by an Airbnb next to my apartment. This is a mirror image of my apartment, and while I live alone, mostly, up to 14 people have been accommodated next door. The floors of this place are tiled, so all sound is amplified.

I have listened to countless nights trying to sleep, through drunken, drugged behaviour, people roaring and screaming, night and early morning. Nothing has been done to address my objections and my life has suffered greatly. The owners of the apartment are registered in Belize and the entire operation is shrouded in secrecy.

This is definitely a tax evasion, and possibly a money laundering operation. My apartment block is a small residential one with medium to long-term sublets. The people at Airbnb are completely disregarding the laws in the pursuit of profit, and ruining my home life.

The Love Shack… Just Groovy, Airbnb

Posted on April 22, 2019

I live in a quiet suburban neighborhood in Farmers Branch, Texas. Homes in my neighborhood are 50-60 years old, some remodeled, many not, averaging 2,000 sq ft. It’s a quiet neighborhood with many elderly, some young families and mid-life couples/families.

In November 2018, a homeowner two doors down listed his home on Airbnb as “The Love Shack.” The home is very nice inside and has a great outdoor entertaining area with a pool. I would estimate he gets about 80% occupancy. Over the past six months, our neighborhood has increasingly become angry about the activity at this house. Here are a few examples of what we’ve seen and experienced:

Loud parties late at night and into the early morning hours
Many cars parked on our street taking up spaces in front of our homes
Cars racing down our street
Drunk teenagers
Marijuana use (resulting in arrests)
Trash left out for days, then strewn about by critters
Thug and hooker traffic
Vomit in the street
Beer cans/bottles and party waste in our yards and streets

There are often large teenager parties involving very large quantities of alcohol (hence the vomit). We see thug and hooker parties. Now we are beginning to see prostitution in the neighborhood this past week (April 13th).

One night, a bed was delivered to the home (there’s already three bedrooms in the house). Later that night, there were very bright flashes coming from the house. Based on the attire and thuggery in the house that night, there’s no doubt this was a porn shoot.

The owner has been contacted multiple times. He is disputing the city’s code violations for trash and he has revised his rules to disallow bad behavior. However, he isn’t actively monitoring the activity in this house for the sake of being a good neighbor. In fact, he has asked us to call him if we observe guests breaking his rules. I am not his personal security detail.

Airbnb invites activity into our neighborhood that people don’t want to do in their own neighborhood. Then what the hell makes you think I want it in my neighborhood? This comes in the form of drunken teen parties, sex parties, porn activity, prostitution, perhaps sex trafficking, drug use and generally, undesirable people and activities.

This is degrading the safety and security of our neighborhood, so much so that several of us neighbors have had to install security cameras and additional security lighting. Numerous complaints have been filed with Airbnb. We get nice letters stating they shared our complaints with the owner. Nothing changes. The homeowner could care less. He is getting his bone at our cost. I believe Airbnb has a good and viable purpose, but not in my neighborhood. This means war.

Landlord Exploits Long-Term Guests on Airbnb

Posted on April 12, 2019

My landlord has turned two rooms of the house I’ve lived in for nine years into an Airbnb. Last night three dudes checked into one room. Nobody in the house had any notice about these strangers. The first thing they did when they got there is let my cat out of the house, which resulted in my roommates and I spending hours tracking him down.

Two of the guests are allergic to cats and the landlord didn’t mention it in the add, so I gave them some of my own Benadryl. The landlord had purchased no amenities like toilet paper, hand soap, garbage bags, towels, ect. All of those things were purchased by my roommates and I, who also pay for the internet the landlord advertised on the listing.

The appliances, like the washer and dryer, are also owned by me, as well as the TV and other electronics the landlord has listed as amenities. The room the guests are in is plagued by leaks and isn’t insulated. The roof has been leaking since 2016 and the landlord refuses to repair it. She just plasters over the water damage in the Airbnb every time it storms.

The landlord or “host” made the guests pay up front outside of the Airbnb app. They decided they wanted to leave, but she demanded a week up front for a special price, so they’re out that money. They rented the room out for a month.

I managed to get enough people to report the listing to take it down, but the guests are still here, at the house, using the stuff we bought. Three guys in one room. They party and drink all night, leave doors and windows open, make messes, and use dishes that I then have to clean. Imagine if you had strangers treating your house like a hotel. My landlord expects me to eat up all the Airbnb expenses and do all the Airbnb labor while she nets all the profit.

Rowdy Guests Results in Police Arresting and Evicting

Posted on April 6, 2019

I’d like to share a recent video an incident involving the adjoining condo in my building and a rather unpleasant Airbnb guest. Our building has had numerous issues with Airbnb guests and it’s changed the sense of community we once had now that half the building is used by far-flung owners as income properties. We no longer know who is coming and going; it’s all unfamiliar faces with the very real threat of the unknown. We also share half our building with the Menno Simon College, so there are students actively in the building. I just wanted the share my horror story.

Airbnb Nightmare Scenario: Destroying Communities

Posted on April 1, 2019

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have an Airbnb but not have to deal with the hassle hosting? Then follow along, dear reader, for I have much to tell you.

This all started in early September. Our landlord informed us and the two other tenants that he was selling the building. Surely this wouldn’t affect us much because our building wasn’t near anything important and had full, long-term occupancy. We were wrong.

December arrived, and my girlfriend and I had just returned from visiting family for Thanksgiving. Suddenly, our upstairs neighbor appeared at our door with a surprise letter from our new landlord. According to this letter, his lease was not going to be renewed. Our neighbor only received this letter because his lease was up in 45 days. We had to ask our new landlord if the same terms would apply to us come August, and sure enough, there would be no lease renewals under this new landlord.

After some basic Google searches we discovered that our new landlord owed 17 buildings in town. All of those buildings were dedicated Airbnbs. We are the last to leave this building, as well as this block. There used to be multiple apartment buildings up and down the street, but all that’s left is a Thai restaurant and an advertising agency. Every residential building is owned by the same man and each unit is rented out as an Airbnb. No one actually lives here any more.

So far we have had to deal with extremely loud guests in the Airbnbs above us, restrictions on our ability to receive mail, and our new landlord demanding we have cameras in the entryway because “the ATF raided the Thai place across the street” (an obvious lie). Two important packages have been returned to sender because the property manager the landlord hired doesn’t care that we still live here.

If you visit a new place, don’t rent from “Superhosts”. Nearly all of them are big time landlords who use Airbnb to destroy communities and drive up rent. Rent your spare room – that’s fine. Don’t buy property just to evict the current residents and convert to short term rentals. If you rent and don’t want this to happen to you, form a tenant union before it’s too late.

Sexual Predators Can Use Airbnb Freely

Posted on March 27, 2019

A local Airbnb was being hosted by sexual predator (now serving multiple years in prison). He lived in the house with guests before his court date, which took two years. He was not allowed to have anyone under 16 at his house. I called Airbnb and let them know that this was occurring and single women might not be comfortable sharing his hot tub and pool if they were aware. They did nothing. Please Google your hosts and guests if you’re sharing a house.

My Airbnb Neighbor Hell Begins Today

Posted on March 5, 2019

My Airbnb Hell season begins today. I live in a small 36-home community in Myrtle Beach, SC. We purchased a home here because we didn’t want to live around the tourists, but wanted to be close to the beach.

The short backstory is my neighbor’s wife left him last year around this time. She hastily signed a lease for an apartment and they reconciled in a few days, presenting their family with an issue of having an apartment that was unable to be sublet and a house in a residential only community. Our master deed states our homes are residential use only and the husband requested to rent his home on Airbnb.

Before we were able to have a Board of Directors meeting regarding his request, he had set up the account and had half the summer blocked off. We denied his request and had our attorney give an opinion in our case. Our attorney has sent two cease and desist letters but he has continued to book this year.

Last summer ended with Mustang Week: 22 Mustangs revving all night and day – fun times, right? Our homes are huge, so he fit more than 24 people in his home at times. The summer was full of riffraff in and out every three days that thought all the houses on my street were vacation rentals.

I have a pool so several renters tried telling me that my pool was the community pool and I had to let them use it because they were “paying for it”. A group of frat boys were catcalling at all the old ladies that walk the street for their workout. Several groups were so loud, I couldn’t let my children sleep in their own room.

Today, we have a new group in the house. It’s a small group but my children have school for a few more months and I’m worried about noise levels from vacationers, child molesters, and drunk people roaming my community again.

Airbnb Parasites who come to Asheville

Posted on November 28, 2018

Most of Buncombe County is blocked from Airbnb hosting. However, we still have the crooked landlords doing it and racking up daily fees. I’m a native here of western North Carolina and as a neighbor across the street from a home converted to Airbnb use, I’ve had nothing but private property/trespassing related issues. These are the most stupid and disrespectful people.

You get a neighbor once in a while from urban areas that walk their dogs on your property to pee or poop. You deal with these people accordingly to set the tone on the definition of “private property”. I get more traffic off it from the Airbnb guests just walking their dog on my property like they own the place.

Randomly I’d find a fast food cup or bag thrown in my lawn or a take-out container thrown in the bushes. I never had issues with neighbors littering on each other lawns before this. I was changing my spark plugs in my carport one day and saw the Airbnb guest flick their cigarette butt from their car window into my lawn as they pulled in. That guy became very aware I saw him and approached him, stating he should get over here and pick up his trash.

His Airbnb host contacted me and said if I harassed her guest she’d call the police. I stated she’d better get her butt down here and pick it up then if she’s giving her guests the green light to litter on my lawn. If I knew that landlord’s address I’d ship the trash I’ve been picking up straight to her. They don’t mind playing the hotel alternative but they certainly don’t like addressing the housekeeping problem outside their unit. Neighborhoods with even one Airbnb unit should shoot for a tax credit proposal because it’s making basic neighborhoods look like a refugee camp from negligent landlords.

One night when I was coming from work there was this car in my carport. I looked across the street and their Airbnb unit driveway was packed with cars. The distant sound of music and shouting and laughing indicated there was a party and a visitor was using my driveway. I didn’t even bother to knock and say move your car… I just had it towed.

Four hours later, a banging at my door and shouting woke me up. It was the car owner and the guest demanding to know where the car was. I filled them in and gave them the towing company contact information. They said it was inconsiderate and with the driveway being unoccupied why should I mind? I should have just asked them to move it.

My reply was: “You barked up that tree just from thinking you have some kind of right to use my property when it’s mine and I pay taxes on it… you have zero legal rights to use my land. Considering your parasitic behavior and ignorance I think you’ll get the message on what private property is. Asking you doesn’t send a message to your brain regarding your actions; it’s just tolerating your mindset that’s practiced wherever the hell you came from.”

It’s so stupid here in Asheville. They’re putting up more hotels and more housing developments which makes the landlords drool more for Airbnb. There are no big businesses here, so there’s no economic growth to take on the population influx. Airbnb is just so parasitic and nomadic in its nature… it’s just destroying communities. People need to get involved and get Airbnb out of their states and countries and cuff and jail the hosts getting by doing it illegally.