Being Blackmailed

Introduction
35

Jeez, tell him to feck off, to do his worst and that if he costs you a penny you’ll have him and his seventeen children on the street within a month.

Inform Airbnb that you are being extorted by a third party contractor, and provide them with your PP.

The way things are with Airbnb just now, a) they never acknowledge your approach and b) they’ll have no idea how to deal with his “complaint”

Ignore it all, its just background noise and get on with what you do.

Oh, and get listed on VRBO and BDC in the interim :smile:

JF

3 Likes
36

That’s my boy! Where have you been?

Back to basics, if you get my drift…

37

Hiding under the stairs :wink:

Our infection rates are driving me to drink, safely. The cupboard under the stairs is cosy.

I can always put the OP in touch with some guys from Manchester who will make his issue disappear, but I really don’t think he has one.

Mi dos céntimos…

JF

1 Like
38

Hut, I think you are way overthinking this and being freaked out about something that may never happen. Hosts have had guests threaten to sue them and that’s all it is, an empty threat, because they don’t have a leg to stand on, they are just trying to intimidate the host for a refund.

This bad builder may never follow through on his threat, so just do what’s been suggested here and get a letter from your building dept. or someone official confirming there is no safety issue with the house and try to relax about it.

Make sure you have contact info for your guests, so on the off-chance that the builder does contact Airbnb (BTW, the almost non-existent Airbnb customer service lately works in your favor- he may find it impossible to contact them even if he tries), and on the unlikely chance they should suspend the listing and refund the guests, you can contact the guests and arrange their booking directly.

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39

I wouldn’t worry his chances of getting through when there is no Imminent booking are slim to zero :grin::grin:

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40

It is very different here! Building Control will only inspect if it is a complaint about structural safety.

We have written to the builder today using our solicitors advice, suggesting he doesn’t carry out his threats as blackmail is a criminal offence.

I’m holding out on the police until tomorrow- hoping our letter stops him contacting Air BnB, which is my main concern. I am absolutely confident that a court would order him to pay gor repairs. I am much more concerned concerned

Your advice really has been invaluable, thank you.

The survey is to prove that the building work is not up to scratch and in breach of contract. It is going to cost a lot to put right- we have had a quote for £14,000! We will need to go to the small claims court to try to claw back the money, or some of it, in order to do the repairs. So we need an expert witness in court, hence the surveyor.

I spoke to Building Control yesterday and asked them to do a visit. I offered to pay, but they said no. They said that they would visit only if it is reported as an unsafe structure, and that from what I describe it is not unsafe. The safety aspect he is going to talk to Air BnB about is his belief that if there were a landslide the whole structure would collapse due to the position within a valley. The building regulations officer laughed and said that is the same as anywhere else in this vicinity. He wouldn’t put anything in writing to give to Air BnB though, because he said he can’t guarantee the safety of the land that any structure is on. My builder says there is inadequate drainage which would cause a landslide. He is making this up because we have asked him to fix the building work and he doesn’t want to.

I spoke to planning who basically said that once planning has been granted there is nothing they can do. I have emailed the planning officer and asked him to visit though.

I hope I am being over dramatic, but I have read many accounts of people having their listings and bookings pulled by Air BnB and that they refuse to communicate or re list. So I am very worried that they will do that, as he is planning to state that there is danger of loss of life to anyone staying at my listing. This is why I posted on here- just for advice of how I can avoid that.

I have another listing and they are my only income. I have stuck with Air BnB because it has worked so well for me. I am number one in the search and I am never empty. I am now going to list on booking.com and another site as well.

My main worry is losing the bookings. I won’t be able to pay my mortgage and bills unless I get the dates rebooked. The builder knows this.

41

Rule One: The second you get a booking, you save the guest’s phone number and all the booking info in a separate file on your PC, and you make backup copies. Even if Internet is down or if Air cancels, you will be able to reach them.

Rule Two: See Rule One.

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42

I think you said in an earlier post that this is a new venture for you, in a new area. If you had a full survey carried out, were potential landslides raised as an issue?

You really do need to list elsewhere if this is your only income. You can’t have all your eggs in the Airbnb basket.

You should also get some marketing advice, get your own website set up, liaise with your local Tourist Information gang, get on Facebook, etc etc.

If you’re lucky, our marketing expert in the name of @Helsi will chime in soon!

1 Like
43

Hi Joan. No none of this was brought up in any survey. He is making it up. We are in a valley, but so are 67 other houses on my road. For reference , we are on the coast in Cornwall.

44

Yes, I have their numbers. I don’t know how I could persuade them to book direct though.

We do have a website, and now on bookings.com and hopefully another listing site later today.

45

You go Hut! We sued an architect once due a completely imaginary roofing design that our builder consequently had to make up as they went along, resulting in significant additional expense and a rather odd looking addition. We had a cut off as to how much we would spend on legal action and so eventually dropped it. I understand your anger and frustration, believe me! You are taking all the right actions. The only thing maybe I would have done a bit different would be to have your lawyer put that letter to the builder on their letterhead. That sometimes is enough to get someone to back off.

46

Well, that is some good news. At least you have some documentary evidence.

47

My ex, who was a carpenter, said he hated it when clients had something designed by an architect, because while it looked good on paper, it was impossible to construct :slight_smile:

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48

I have found that paying an attorney $75 to have his secretary type a letter I wrote on his letterhead and sign it can save thousands.

That’s why the rich and powerful pay them monthly retainers.

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49

So you can put the whole incident behind you and move on? You know, real world stuff.

50

Sorry I don’t understand?

This guy is threatening my livelihood.

51

Hi @richard815. This is @Hut’s thread, not mine.

53

Why are you posting this here when you posted the same issue elsewhere on this forum?

1 Like
54

Closing this old thread.