Installed IP Camera in the common area of the apartment block

1

Dear fellow hosts,

Since I live about 20 minutes away fro m my AirBNB apartment I decided to install an IP Camera in the corridor leading to my apartment door in a way that I can monitor who is going in and out. At the moment I have the first guests since I installed the camera. I have just seen them going up the stairs leading to the roof, I think they are hanging their clothes on the roof to dry. I do have a rack for drying clothes in the apartment and I just saw them taking it up on the roof. The thing is I never mentioned to the guests that they can access the roof (neither did I disallow it specifically), nor is the roof access listed in my amenities.

All I mention in the house manual is “Restricted areas: Please note that you are staying in an apartment block. You are not allowed to access any of the rooms in the block apart from the apartment marked 10A on the 1st floor. Please respect all private property.” Do you find this open to interpretation, should it be a house rule as well? My main concern is the guests safety since although there is a wall on the roof it is only about 3 feet high.

As a guest I would never dream to go out hanging clothes on my hosts roof without asking permission.

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Personally, I think it would be better to add this into your house rules.

You mention not accessing any of the rooms in the block but don’t mention them not accessing the roof.

3

Well as you have not mentioned it in the rules or spoken to them about it - how are they meant to know? … I take it it’s a whole house Airbnb.

In many places places people use the roof areas like extra living spaces … especially when we were in London! Haha

4

If you don’t want guests up on the roof, you will have to specifically restrict them from it in the house rules – and stringently enforce the rule.

5

Its a learning experience every day. Thanks for the info, I guess ill be updating the rules soon.

6

I would also put a sign at the roof door. Think defensively - pretend you’ve been sued and have to show the jury all the ways you tried to keep people from accessing the roof.

And, can you not keep the door locked? That short wall sounds like a hazard.

7

Wow… What an eye opener! You never would have known otherwise.

I would confront the guests.

Hi,guests. My security cameras showed you guys going up to the roof. As indicated in my guidelines, this is not allowed. Just a reminder to stick to xyz of the building. Thanks!

2 Likes
8

And also be sure to mention in the listing that you have cameras ‘for guest’s security’.

1 Like
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Hi, i think from now on you should include both things in your house rules, first mention that guests are not allowed in the roof and then also say that for security,etc there is a camera located outside the apartments front door.If it is not clearly stated in the house rules then is more complicated to blame the guests(this is generally on everything so always include even the most obvious things).

I am considering installing a camera outside the apartment too so basically on the corridor, i have zero experience with this, anyone knows if it is easy,etc the installation? Because if i need to make a hole on the wall or something like that it might be too much and i don’t know whether the building will have a problem with this.Any advice?

Thanks!

10

If anyone is interested I got the Yi Home Camera. This is indoor only. This is the manufacturers website: https://www.yitechnology.com/yi-home-camera

I bought it from AliExpress for about €45. It has a mobile app that sends you a 7 second video on the phone/tablet whenever it detects movement. You can also connect to the camera live any time. It has an SD card slot that records and saves the whole action (not just the 7 seconds). So if you insert the SD card in a say a computer you can view the whole recordings. So far its working pretty well and I can monitor when the guests check out or if they bring people over.