I don’t really understand why you have taken this guest so seriously. He sounds insane and there’s no reason to believe anything he says. What’s a nightmare? He’s a drunken jerk who tried to scam a refund. He’s gone. Try to forget about him.
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Yes, I am definitely getting a crazy vibe here.
RR
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That varies by location and it is not what makes something a felony.
and rape, murder, manslaughter, domestic abuse, child abuse, burglary, auto theft, larceny, assault, fraud, unlicensed weapons and a certain number of DUIs. (There aren’t any acceptable felonies, particularly not on Airbnb).
@theabernathync Personally, I’d appreciate you mentioning that the guest had a felony record. It’s public record so it’s 100% legitimate for you to mention it and it would help hosts that don’t run background checks like myself, like most hosts probably.
You should be able to get this corrected with Airbnb, but it will take a lot of your time. I recommend that you sit down and make an outline or a bullet-point list, just as if you were going to court and then approach Airbnb. Focus on the Felony and the threats that he made, because it is extortion and harassment. Use those words.
They actually do. That’s what the background checks and the ID verifications are about.
A year ago I may have gotten the same vibe but since then I have lived through much worse than this guest. We had a tenant for a year that was all of this and so much more. I am still in disbelief. And it still sounds crazy to me.
But yes he recorded us with both cameras and audio devices. And yes he called the cops when I texted him to stop repeatedly kicking a soccer ball into the side of our car. And also when he burnt bacon and set off his smoke detectors because he thought that the red “clean filter” light on the window A/C unit was setting of the carbon monoxide detector (electric appliances don’t produce carbon monoxide btw).
It would take me hours to write about all of the illegal and crazy things he did and said so I won’t. But it culminated in us filing an eviction to which he responded in an official answer to the court with a 57-page letter that never addressed his tenancy but just a 57-page egomaniacal rant about himself. We received a judgment (and a protective order) against him and he wasn’t even a felon (not that I found). He’s a guy with a professional job and status in the education field and a family.
So there’s a crazy vibe but I don’t doubt that it could be the guest. In fact, @theabernathync , is his name Mike?
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Same as the original review, you only have 14 days from when he checked out to right the reply.
I would keep it really short and factual. Like others said. Also, you have to deal with getting your account reinstated and you need to act professional
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Red flag - people who believe in Sky Daddy and think that anyone who disagrees with their fantasies need to be ‘saved’…
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I don’t usually believe in red flags (I mean, I don’t see them like other people tend to) but yes, that would be one that I would pay attention to.
So this guy was a tenant and not a guest?
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It is unclear to me why your account is suspended. Did Airbnb says it was temporarily suspended while they investigate his charges? and what are his charges exactly?
No, you can’t write a response to a response.
I know you learned a lot from this, but that your husband shouldn’t have put his hands on the guy’s shoulders is the least of it. When he started yelling at your husband was the time to kick him out. That is completely unacceptable.
Instead it seemed he stayed almost another couple of weeks.
And you should absolutely not allow a guest to bring a gun onto your property. What possible need could a guest have for a gun?
So what? What are attorneys going to do? How is he going to ruin your status on Airbnb?
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I know quite a few people with felony convictions from 40-50 years ago for marijuana possession. They certainly don’t pose a danger to anyone, and there’s no reason they shouldn’t be able to rent an Airbnb.
I’m curious as to where it’s written in Airbnb policy that a felony record disqualifies one from having an Airbnb account? It may be there somewhere, I’ve just never run across it.
That’s quite the story about your crazy tenant. It’s amazing how many people are walking around who belong in a mental institution.
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He was a guest. but in NC there still needs to be a short term lease. Is that why you are asking?
I totally agree. I shouldn’t let him get to me. I’ll give it a few days and then complete his review. Once I make a response, does he have another chance to respond or is that the end of it?
If he stayed for over a month, he isn’t a guest, he’s a tenant, subject to landlord//tenant laws. At least that’s true in most places.
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No.
202020202020220202
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I was under the impression that in the USA guests staying for 28 days were classed as tenants and not short-term guests.
Doesn’t a 56 day stay mean that he has tenants’ rights? I can’t claim to speak for every state in the USA but This guy wasn’t a short term guest. I only accept up to 21 days. Then, if there’s any trouble, it gives me 7 days to get them out before tenants’ rights apply.
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@theabernathync I’m just curious, are you new to AirBNB as a host? It sounds like this is your first ever review process.
I hope you are on another platform w/o the calendar linked to your Air listing while you’re working out the Air issues.
There are a ton of threads here w/ recommendations that will help you better avoid (no 100% guarantees when dealing with crazy!) these situations. There’s a lot that can go sideways if you don’t set the right rule & communication foundations & boundaries.
If you are new to Air or STR maybe consider starting slower with shorter stay limits until you get more familiar. Longer stays have different rules and issues and you’re stuck with “crazy” longer, as you’ve experienced.
So sorry you had this nightmare. Getting to the place of fearing for your safety is an entirely other level. I’ve been there. It’s horrible.
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Me too. And so you must also realize that the guest that @theabernathync is describing is not a marijuana possession kind of felon. You’ve made my point for me.
You actually have a lot more rights as a landlord than you do as an Airbnb host. I don’t recommend doing long term rentals from Airbnb (because it’s an uneccessary complication) but if the guest was bad enough, it would be worth it to get them to stay another week. Especiall for you in Florida which is one of the top 3 most landlord friendly states in the country.
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I was responding to you saying:
I wasn’t sure if you meant that Airbnb has a rule against convicted felons being able to book, or if you were saying you didn’t think there were any felony convictions acceptable as far as you were concerned, for booking a stay in someone’s home.
Hence me pointing out how silly it would be to be afraid of hosting someone who got busted with a baggie of weed back in the days of reefer madness, or Airbnb blocking them from booking.
Of course there are some convicted felons I certainly wouldn’t want to host. Probably most. But even someone who had been convicted of murder- it would depend on the circumstances. There’s women who have killed their husbands, or other men who had been abusing them severely for years- I wouldn’t necessarily be reticent about hosting them.
And have you read Airbnb’s background check info? They do not necessarily do background checks. Their wording has a lot of “ifs” and they only do them in the US.
And there is also this:
" Because our background checks are limited, we can’t guarantee that they’ll identify all past criminal convictions or sex offender registrations by a guest or Host. Therefore, you shouldn’t rely on them as a guarantee that the user has no criminal background or other red flags."
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Just as an aside, denying someone access to a service, simply because they have a criminal conviction, could potentially end up in court in the UK and several other European countries.
There isn’t the same categorisation (misdemeanour, felony etc) but as a rule of thumb, convictions that carry a sentence of four years or less are considered spent after a certain period of time, i.e. other than for certain types of job applications, you have no need to declare them. Obviously, there are exceptions, and if anyone’s really interested they can Google “The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974” 
To obtain information relating to someone’s criminal record, you need to either have cause (employment vetting for teachers, doctors etc) or a mandate from the individual. None of the information is a matter of public record.
I’m fairly sure that the Airbnb background checks are limited to the US, and possibly Canada, due to the ease with which this data can be obtained.
JF
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Thank you all for your input. I am calm enough now to complete the review. I do agree that no one should be discriminated against. If someone commits a crime and does the time then we hope they have changed their ways. The whole situation just stressed me out to the max. I have learned a lot!!!
Airbnb has reinstated my listing as of today.
Again thank you.
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Not Canada. Only the US.
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