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Asking for a friend… (lol)
Have you ever had a guest like this who turned out in the end to be an acceptable guest? Have you ever had a guest like this (wanted special favors, exceptions to the rules, etc) and been able to turn the situation around by having a frank talk with them about their expectations and behavior?
No, I prefer this. Many will just break rules without asking.
Hard to comment without understanding the context.
Do they want to pay directly?. Bring animals where none is allowed? Have a wild party?
Is your friend the host or the rule breaker 
Asking for a friend was tongue in check. I’m really asking for myself.
The context isn’t an AirBnB situation. I have three AirBnB houses but I also have unfurnished single family houses. A prospective tenant is driving me nuts and I’m considering not renting to her because she’s being a pain in my patootie.
I have my own way of running my business, for example, we provide lawn mowing and garden care on our rental houses. This applicant wanted to do the work herself and get $100 a month off in rent. She wants to give me a copy of her credit report, rather than me having my tenant screening service run the credit check. She wanted samples of all the paints used in the house, so when she moves pictures around she can repair the holes and touch up the paint herself. I sent her a draft copy of the rental agreement we use for all our tenants and she told me what she thought should be in it. She has sent me more emails in a week than I received from all my past tenants put together. I’ve written her repeatedly to call or text me rather than email, but she continues to send multiple, lengthy emails daily.
I’m considering having a frank talk with her and telling her that if she wants to rent from me, she needs to realize who is in charge here. I was not looking to rent this house long term. In fact, I didn’t even have it advertised for rent at all. I was looking forward to turning that house into another AirBnB. But she stumbled across me, found out I had an unfurnished house and she desperately needs one ASAP (coming here for a new high executive position and has to start on Dec first). She’s wanting to rent, won’t come and look at the house in person, has 50 million questions and wants to do things I don’t allow. When I tell her “no” she often continues to push. I’m beginning to think I really don’t want her as a tenant because I don’t think she’ll ever be happy and she looks like being a major PITA.
Has anyone ever turned around a PITA by laying down the law and making it clear who is in charge? Or is it hopeless?
Leopards and spots…
Pita and pita…no body tells me what they want to do in MY house!
Go with your gut feeling… I would have binned her a lot earlier. We’ve several LTR properties and there are so many red flags flying for your prospective tenant I can feel the draught from here!
JF
Hello @Keugenia, the tenant candidate already proved to be a real “PITA”, imagine what will be next if you rent the house. In my experience, in such cases, you can never come to good terms. Run while you can!
Why are you even considering her? She has trouble written all over her.
If she is really moving for a high level executive position why she is quibbling over a $100 a month.
Just put it on Airbnb as you planned.
By the way why weren’t you just honest in your original post and say that it was your situation and what was concerning you?
The only one of her requests that sounds reasonable to me is the paint samples.
Wanting to give you her own copy of the credit report? ALARM BELLS!!!
Getting a discount for doing the yard work? Will a person with a high powered executive job have the time and energy to do it to your standards? Also, wouldn’t she be earning a high salary? If so, why so much effort to save $100 per month?
Doesn’t really add up. In addition to being a PITA, sounds like she might be some kind of scammer or at least lying about certain things.
EDIT: The more I think about it, she sounds like a classic grifter. She’s bombarding you with minutea like paint samples, so you are kind of dazed and confused and don’t notice the huge red flags like the credit report and wanting to change the wording of the lease.
Don’t do it!
IF (big IF there) you sit her down for a frank talk about her behavior, as part of telling her to bugger off, you’ll be doing other hosts a good deed.
The tons of emails and questions would make me want to back out. It is just huge red flags. Try to avoid it.
I’m giving the situation a thumbs down, she is already sucking up too much of your energy. Tell her frankly, that she is not a good fit, and the property is not longer available…send it via email as she apparently prefers that method of communication. Block her email’s and run away as fast as you can!!
Do not rent to her. My gut feeling is you’re going to regret it.
To answer the original question, yes. An Airbnb guest TOLD me what time they’d be arriving (something crazy like noon) and what time they’d be leaving on check out day. (Equally crazy - 7 pm or something because that’s what time they’d need to leave for the airport).
Also in the pre-stay message (I used IB) there were other demands that I can’t remember now but there was something about demanding the wifi to be strong and uninterrupted and something about quiet being a must…
In my thank-you-for-booking message I told them exactly what times they needed to adhere to for arrival and check out, that I can’t guarantee constant strong wifi (they’d have to deal with the provider if they demanded no outages or interruptions during the three week stay) and that although we are in a very peaceful place, we can’t guarantee that the properties around us won’t have their lawn service people making a noise etc. etc. etc.
They were delightful, lovely guests
We turned down a long-term tenant once, even AFTER we added another bathroom in the space at his request (and because it was a good idea.) But he continued to push on things like assuring him it would be OK to have music events, and that he wouldn’t have any problems with the neighbors if he stopped the music at specific times, etc. He was shocked when we told him it wasn’t going to work out, and we still talk about how it was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.
Run far away from this woman!
The OP said this is for a long term rental not an Airbnb.
On the other side of the coin we’ve had long term tenants who have seemed to be excellent at first but have been awful. One couple had even rented a neighbouring apartment with no problems at all and came highly recommended by the owner even. They were so bad that it was thanks to them that we decided to only do STR.
@Helsi I’m guessing you aren’t from the states? I was being honest. Here, when someone says “asking for a friend” folks know they are asking for advice or help for themselves. It’s a wry way of putting it, meaning you are showing that you find a bad or difficult situation slightly funny or amusing.
@GardenGnome She’s legit. I’ve checked with the hospital where she will be CFO. I have a copy of her offer letter. I’ve met the guy who currently holds the job; he came and looked over the house for her.
She’s an older single lady and she happens to be a Master Gardener (I used to be) and gardening is her main hobby.
They don’t change, in my experience, the confrontation can make it worse. I used to do long term rentals and we turned it into an Airbnb because of one nightmare tenant in particular. Long story short, she didn’t like that when she asked to not renew her lease…we didn’t renew the lease and <gasp!> she had a specific date to be out of the unit. The nerve of us! She went from nice-enough to full-on lunatic.