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The police report gives the OPs statement credibility. If the bad guy reports to Airbnb first, I feel like Airbnb will shut the listing.
Being proactive takes power away from the bad guy. Otherwise the OP is reactive and doesn’t stand a chance of controlling the situation.
This is a difficult situation. There is no perfect answer or solution.
The OP will need to decide path he will follow.
It’s a bad situation. Right now I would be concerned about calling Air at all - since he does not have a police report. It is a potential “he said / she said”. And Air may well have a policy of "we may have reason to be concerned - just shut him down, just in case. ".
We have no faith whatsoever that some Air CS agent will protect our interests before during or after. Especially these days.
@Hut This may very well just be a threat made to intimidate you into paying him, which he might not actually follow through on, but it’s certainly concerning.
I agree with @Annet3176 to pre-empt this by letting Airbnb know. I wouldn’t call them, but send a message, so you have a written record. I understand what others have said about some clueless CS rep deciding this is some reason to scrutinize or investigate your listing, but I think you can avoid that by how you word the message.
If I were in your shoes, I’d word it something like:
" TRUST AND SAFETY DEPT. ISSUE. (I’ve found starting off with a direction to the correct dept. avoids a clueless CS rep from making their own call as to how to deal with an issue, or putting you on the back burner until they get around to replying- I think they are quite happy to have you basically tell them who they can pawn it off on)
This message is to alert you to a situation which has me quite concerned. I’ve recently had some building work done by a builder who has done a shoddy job and I have therefore withheld some of his payment pending him making good on his work.
His response to this has been to try to extort me by threatening to report me to Airbnb for what would be false claims of property safety. These may hopefully be empty threats, and I am currently speaking with my solicitor and the police regarding his inadequate workmanship (which will all have to be redone by someone more competent) and threats, but I wanted to get this on record with you, in case he follows through on his extortionary tactics.
Thank you for your attention, Hut."
I would say “work done by a builder who has not completed all the improvements as contracted” rather than “shoddy job” so that Airbnb does not get confused that there is maybe a safety issue, albeit created by the builder. They will be focused on the possibility of guest injury or bad experience, so in the worst case might shut you down until it’s all sorted.
@dpfromva Thanks for the wording alternate, excellent. I was thinking about that as I was writing it, but was struggling on how to say it so it didn’t set off red flags. You nailed it.
Thank you! That is perfect.
what happened to the report from your building inspectors?
Is there anything you can do with this to report him somewhere?
We have a Consumers Tribunal. You can search business names on our tribunal as a public document.
I wonder if this is his first time to threaten…
I would not do any of this without first speaking with your solicitor / lawyer and police report. If you contact Air before you have your ducks in a row, who knows what will happen?
Remember Air is very guest centric. If you give them any cause for concern, they may react poorly and shut you down all on their own. Then, you will have caused your own issue.
Right now, this guy has (assumed) not called Air. Soon enough you will be speaking to the police and solicitor/lawyer. I urge caution - do not risk creating your own problem …
That will let you sleep at night
Yes, all in writing and have even offered mediation. Have asked him to repair.
I am having a survey next week at huge cost.
The main issue is losing £20,000 worth of bookings. I have another listing too which I assume they will pull even though it is totally separate.
His claims are unfounded. I have spoken to the council planning and building control who won’t inspect the safety issue as they say it is unfounded!
Has anyone any ideas what I could say to guests who have upcoming bookings if my listing is pulled?
I have all their numbers but presumably Air will contact them to say that there is a safety issue?
I thought maybe I could say there has been a misunderstanding and their reservation has been cancelled in error but that they can book direct and pay by credit card. Also maybe showing a screenshot of my most recent reviews? I’m also going to list it on booking.com tonight so could show them a link to that?
This feels so unfair.
In the US, a mere contractor can’t officially claim as to structural integrity - that would require a Professional Engineer or Architect. A PE usually only costs about $350 for such an assessment.
More to the point, what happened with the lawyer and/or police?
With the “council planning and building control” in your country are they authorized to inspect and certify for safety or structural integrity? If yes, something in writing from them might be nice to have as I expect that you PAY them for permits and inspections?
Get this in writing from them please. I had to cancel guests last year under extenuating circumstances, after our two new kittens arrived with a campylobacter infection - a notifiable disease!
Airbnb needed a letter from our Vet to verify this. You will probably need to verify what BC are saying.
My apologies. I fired off a response to @Hut before reading all posts.
In the UK you pay through the nose for building permissions et alia. Our Local Authorities have been cut to the bone by central Govt, and are barely able to fund their statutory obligations, such as child & adult safeguarding and social care in the round. So they charge fees in areas where they can make money to fund their statutory obligations, such as parking and planning. God help them during Covid… They are responsible for funding people who need assistance at home, elderly care home and for those with learning disabilities.
Sorry, I’m ranting: back to basics;-
Our OP, @Hut, is unlikely to get much help from the police at the moment, and though paying for a lawyer will be at cost, we are a far less litigious society than the US.
I’m having a bit of difficulty here. You’ve told us that the workmanship is shoddy, but is it shoddy enough for people to complain when/after they stay or is this really simply a dodgy builder trying to rip you off?
I also don’t understand about the
Why? If BC say you are safe, your premises are safe. As long as they are in a fit condition for guests to stay in, and I do mean safe, I would contact all your forthcoming bookings directly. I am assuming these are probably all from the UK at the moment?
If this is the case, I would contact all of your upcoming guests and say that "I have recently had some renovation works carried out on my …, that will not affect you enjoying your stay, but the dodgy builder concerned is refusing to remedy his dodgy works until my final payment is made; even better, he is threatening to close my business on Airbnb!
" Please rest assured that I have full backing of the local BC dept that my premises for your holiday are safe, including adhering to Airbnb’s Covid 19 cleaning requirements. Should the Dodgy Builder do his worst, I will contact you directly with regard to your booking being safe, with details of how to make payment."
Or something like that. Keep it short, to the point and make light/some fun of the matter to your guests; they will all understand the issue of dodgy trades people!
Just keep the drama out of it.
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 
JF
That’s my boy! Where have you been?
Back to basics, if you get my drift…
Hiding under the stairs 
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
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.
I wouldn’t worry his chances of getting through when there is no Imminent booking are slim to zero 
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.