Being harassed on FB

So, best thing of this whole experience: 2 ladies contacted me because of the news story. A woman who lived here as a child, and her niece. They’re coming over on Sunday to see the house they have memories in from decades ago! Now I’ll get to have some more fun stories!

Plus, the outpouring of support from people I’ve had little contacts throughout the years who have commented on the various articles and posts has been amazing.

I also had my suspicions confirmed, and it’s the people who live directly across from me are the ones who have the issue. They’re second generation to their house as well, I guess they never realized it’s going on 28 years that this little guest house has been rented out to all sorts of people. They may not also be aware that there’s at least 4 other guest houses within 4 blocks, and at least 1 other Airbnb listing. And I’m be one ruining the neighborhood. Not in the article but on the first airing, the reporter ended the story with: “one neighbor said if she wanted to live next to a hotel she would have bought a house next to a hotel…”

Another fun story: we just helped good friends move into a house across the street yesterday. While they were staging their furniture outside the old house to load, a councilman stopped and asked what was going on. They replied that they were staying in the area, and moving to Thorpe. He replied “oh, we’re having issues on that street. Someone is wanting to run an Airbnb, and we don’t think we want that here.” They kept their cool and didn’t let on they knew us (or that they’re intending to turn the old house into an Air). They said “oh, we love Airbnb, and have stayed at some really nice ones. It’s great how hosts and guests can chat and read reviews and decide who stays, and it brings tourism to the area.” Councilman: “oh, well, what are your plans for this house?” Friends: “Well, we’re holding onto it. Just waiting to see what happens before we decide how we’re going to rent it.”

Meanwhile, several neighbors and others who have relationships and pull with council people are coming to attend the upcoming meetings as a show of support. Some of the worst days of my life have turned into some of the best in many ways.

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Also, just from the video footage of you place, it looks like you are kind of in a compound, with guests parking on your own property. How this affects the busybodies I am not sure.

Honestly, I might consider filing some sort of complaint for harassment. Or a TRO or something. If you want to have family or your neice live there, who are they to dictate? At least you have narrowed down the harassers and know who is doing it.

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Yeah, I’ve got 2 acres with parking for 8 cars behind my house. The only neighbors who are truly affected fully support me and are planning to come to the meetings. It’s just that the people directly across (and at least 200ft away) like to sit on their front porch and can see the people’s cars and them walking to the door with luggage… They also may be annoyed by the occasional car pulling out of the driveway with headlights shining toward their house. Who cares that we have an actual street across from us and we get lights shining in our bedroom window :wink:

Who cares that at night THEY park 4 cars on the street and watch our house like stalkers. Oh well, I’m far enough away that it doesn’t really affect me, other than the feeling of being watched. There’s always that one neighbor. They think it’s us, but the rest of the neighborhood knows it’s them, lol. I had 2 other neighbors warn me it was probably them!

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I want to be your side but you are hosting without permit. Why not wait till your city approves it? I think your neighbor does have a ground to repeatedly report you. Airbnb is a trust based system. We as hosts need to fully comply with bylaws in order to be trusted by neighbors and travelers. I hope to hear good news about your situation soon.

Well as I understand it, that IS what she is doing. The neighbors are harassing her even when she has family stay. Nothing about what they are doin is right or legal. I would be contacting an attorney to file a complaint for harassment.

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Here’s the situation. When I first opened about 2 years ago, I researched the ordinances. There were no rules against AirBnB or renting rooms in your home, etc. The only thing I could find was either renting out a home/apartment as a long term rental needing occupancy permits, and they had something about home businesses if you have advertising on your vehicle or have customers come to your home, but I didn’t really notice that at the time. After 15 months of running, I had a cease and desist letter arrive. When I called about it, they said they have an unspoken rule that home businesses are allowed until you get a complaint, and then you go before zoning and get a conditional use permit and a business license, and then as long as you stay within the guidelines of your permit you are covered against further complaint.

I almost was able to get out of it as I was just renting out to my apartment and it wasn’t anyone’s permanent home, but since I was actually advertising my space and not just doing craigslist or word of mouth for a roommate and making a profit and not just covering costs, they said I have to be business licensed. We tried out the roommate thing for about 6 months, as the $1000 or so in fees and surveys, the several month process, etc, seemed too prohibitive. But after realizing when our friends moved out that within 3 months of being open again we’d break even, we decided to go for it.

Anyway, I have NOT been running for 10 months now. I have had friends stay 3 times now (beyond the 6m roommates), and on 2 of those occasions I have had the city called to report a violation. Even though you will find no listing for me on any of the websites (though there’s one a block away, so that may be part of my problem), they call the city and say I’m running a hotel.

There’s still no ordinance against AirBnB, though they may decide, with my recommendation, to create an ordinance that homeowners who rent their own space at their residence out can have a quicker process of approval, inspection, and licensing. Or because certain council members are way behind the times and/or don’t like me personally because I call them out on their crap at council meetings, the council may vote no even after I’ve gone through this whole process, including updating my residence to business occupancy standards, had the fire marshal out, done a survey, and get approved by planning and zoning. A few on the council are sadly that petty against me, last time I spoke up about budget issues 2 actually rolled their eyes at me. But because I’ve been on the news now (and they covered the most recent meeting as they were thinking residents may arrive to discuss my AirBnB because of the negative posting) and have a huge support base, they should pass me. If not I will be demanding my application and inspection fees back! And going back on the news if they’ll have me. Thankfully there are a few young people on the council, one is a neighbor that supports me. At worst case I see it becoming a tie and the mayor having to be the deciding vote, and he likes to show up at my family’s funerals and knows who I am, so again, it would be pretty ballsy for him to do it.

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Believe me, if you look over posts from over a year ago, you’ll see me commenting in this same way. I had registered with the state, and I thought I was within ordinance of where I live. To top it all off, my dad had been renting it out off and on for 25 years before I bought the house from him. When we bought the house, I asked the city inspector how we could use the guesthouse, and he said that we wouldn’t be allowed to rent it as someone’s home as were weren’t zoned for 2 family residence, but if we wanted to do that we could apply for a variance. People we knew and short term stays were ok, or family and people we were willing to put on our own occupancy permit for as long as we wanted. This was before I had ever heard of AirBnB, so when I remembered that conversation and couldn’t find anything prohibiting it in the ordinances, I thought I was ok. And again, I ran for 15 months and with over 100 stays with no issues and most of my neighbors aware and supportive.

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Update:

So I had messaged the reporter to thank her again for the story. I told her how I was so worried about it, but that it has turned into an amazing experience with all the support I’ve been shown. And that I was pretty sure it was the neighbor directly across from us. This was her response:

“Sarah, I had the same fears for you, but I too have been so excited for you that the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.
Your neighbors across the street actually said it was a great idea based on your property size and they had no problems with the plan. Based on that knowledge, I’m sure you can deduce who that motel comment came from. Again, I think the support far outweighs the criticism so I hope things work out in your favor. I loved meeting your family and I thank you all for welcoming us into your home and sharing the story.”

So that means the people behind us, who I chat with occasionally and who I’ve talked to about it all are dirty liars! I guess then the timing of every report makes even more sense since it’s always been when someone stays with a dog and uses our back yard instead of walking along the street. I’ve never been a huge fan of people bringing pets (though I’ve only had one negative experience with pets), so now I’ll need to decide whether to stop allowing pets to be kind to the neighbors, or keep allowing it out of spite. :wink: I really need to harness my vindictive side. I also feel bad that my friends who stayed with us over the past few days gave knowing and over-enthusiastic waves to the people across the street every time they saw them… Hopefully they took it as overly friendly people, haha. I’ll have to make an effort now to get to know them.

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@Sarah_Warren, there are a lot of comments, and I haven’t been able to read through them all to see if this has been said. I think in most states, if you live in the home in which you’re renting 3 rooms or fewer, you are generally allowed to operate short-term rentals. And unlike actual B&B’s, if you’re not serving food, you don’t need to go through all the food safety permitting. I spoke to our Building Commissioner and once I said I live in the same property, he said I should be well within my right to use my home in this way. I also spoke to our local fire department and was informed that as long as my home meets the basic smoke and CO2 detection for residential homes, I should be fine.

Of course, if your property is not owner-occupied and more that 4 rooms are for rent, that would be different. But it sounds like you have a local NIMBY who has some kind of grudge against you. I’m dealing with sort of thing in my city. I am effectively the only functioning Airbnb in my city of 41,000, and the only actual B&B wants me to meet all the same food, fire, smoke, and other safety requirements which could cots thousands of dollars and render my listing impractical because I would need to retrofit my home with all kinds of fixtures.

Anyway, I feel your frustration, but your situation sounds a lot more sinister.

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That is not true in either Charleston SC nor the bedroom towns around.
Renting a room is a violation of code, unless you meet certain specific criteria and get a license.
There are 6 licensed ( only ! ) in my town.
Charleston SC has outlawed nearly all and the ones that are left can only rent 72 days a year.
So, I am sorry to correct you, but your info is not accurate…it only applies to where you live.

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Interesting, there are over 300 listings on Airbnb in Charleston, SC. Weird.

Also, there’s a difference btwn owner-occupied properties (i.e., the home you live in exclusively) and investor proprieties (i.e., apartments, vacation properties, B&Bs, motels, etc.). I think almost everyone confuses the two.

I would say this is a vast overgeneralization. In many places renting a room in your home is not allowed at all, or if it is, it can be as heavily regulated as if you were running a standard B&B.

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Maybe I’m the one lucky listing. Although, my city is looking to regulated the 3 Airbnbs here. Big gov’t run by small Republicans.

I confuse nothing in that area. I am engaged with the legal depts and the advocacy people at both airbnb and HA in trying to ensure owner friendly legislation. The laws went into effect just this past month, and CHS took the owner occupied from totally illegal to legal under certain circumstances for 72 days with owner occupied at 4% property tax. City will be starting to fine, and close them all down shortly. and have added 3 enforcement officers and are implementing new back end software to catch everyone renting illegally. I know the laws and regulations to a “t” and I live and breathe local legislation. Here is a link for you to peruse since you seem to be doubting me (which I find very strange ) . It is very complex and very non friendly to STR at all. http://charleston-sc.gov/shorttermrentals

Well, elected officials in little cities like mine can hardly believe people would actually stay in this city, never mind at an Airbnb here. Yet the only B&B owner in town initiated a petition to effectively ban all other short-term rentals. So I am kind dealing with a similar issue. There are 4 (four) Airbnb listings in my city of 41,000+ people, approx. 15,000 households.

To be fair, Charleston has 135,000 people and 53,000+ households. I’m sure there are more Airbnb listings in Charleston. It’s not like the city would regulate Airbnb rentals if the rate of rentals was was the same as my city - that would be only 14 Airbnbs in Charleston!

Surely, if only 14 listing were in Charleston, your city would not invest the resources to hire 3 personnel. But this is what my little city is considering.

There is no standard set of requirements or prohibitions – depends on your locality and its rules. It is restricted to owner-occupied residence in my county, further subject to your lease if you rent, or condo and hoa rules if applicable. It cannot be an outbuilding (eg garage apartment), is restricted to 2 per bedroom, 6 maximum, no events, plus other proibitions. I pay for a permit and remit county lodging tax and state sales tax, just like a hotel does. I’m actually pretty happy under this regime, because a neighbor has little leverage to get me shut down. It provides certainty to all parties, which iswhat good regulation does so the market can function.

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Every single town in this country is starting to regulate Airbnb’s no matter how small the town is. Your town of 41,000 wants to regulate before it becomes an issue. I would not be surprised if charleston had 1000 rentals showing a month ago …so it has quickly dropped to 300 and will keep going down. They plan to use the fines to pay the enforcers. So they are planning on cleaning up with big fines.
As I mentioned, my property is NOT in Charleston ( although my son’s is ). My son has a duplex in limited commercial and they still won’t allow him to rent out because it is not his primary residence. My property is in a bedroom community of 80,000 people and growing. They are working on regulations now. When I started renting 8 years ago, there were only 5 rentals in town. Everyone who lives on site and rents a room is considered to be illegally renting at this time.

I’m guessing that he’s referring to that little box at the bottom of search that says “300+” homes are available, and that’s “entire place” not “private room.” When I put on the superhost filter there were only 184 SHs available for a date in early March. When I took the SH filter off it showed 300+. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are still 1000 total listings in the area today.

What’s disturbing is that these hosts have hundreds of bookings that will be cancelled, hotels will fill up and I’ll be looking at staying in Savannah or Columbia instead of Charleston. LOL.

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Does anyone have an email address to contact AirBnB about legal help? I’ve been talking to lawyers and they said I should try to work with AirBnB first. But I keep getting buried in their “help center”. I may try calling, but I don’t really want to deal with all the customer service people who will keep passing me along.