Evicting Loud or Partying Group

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I have not yet had to face this yet.

I have a duplex in a densely populated neighborhood. I make it clear no parties or events or loud noise is permitted the agreement and in the listing.

Of course, some people will occasionally ignore this and can imperil my neighbors Goodwill.

My thought process wives to shut off the power in the basement, attempt to reach them until they must stop, and then go over and evict them immediately. This is all in the agreement.

I get the feeling calling Airbnb CS is a waste of time. And I don’t want to wait hours until they ineffectually try to reason with the guests and my neighbors become aggravated.

I do not want to involve the police if it all possible. I’m not seeking to annoy them if I can avoid it.

How are you handling this, if it happens to you?

2

Turning-off the electricity to your guests’ rental unit is a brilliant idea!

No power means no loud party music to play or lights to help in the dark.

You do not want your neighbors to file complaints about your rental unit, which the local authorities could fine you and/or force you to shut-down your Airbnb.

3

Isn’t it … um … sort of illegal?

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Shutting-off water and electricity is illegal, if it applies to a long-term renter with a lease agreement. Not a weekend rental guest who violates your house rules and disturbs the neighborhood.

The power can always be restored after the party guests leave.

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Wow. Good to know :slight_smile:

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Isn’t this a bit broad in scope. Wouldn’t different countries, states, cities, towns, etc have their own laws and rules?

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You’ll need to decide quickly what outcome you want and what (if any) funds you wish to retain for the reservation.

If you cut Airbnb out of the discussion prior to evicting guests, they may choose to interpret it as a host cancellation. Any nights not stayed will be refunded and they may also refund the night(s) they DID stay. They can fine you for the cancellation and remove SH status (if you care about such things). I’d only choose this option if guests are actively destroying my house and each moment wasted on Air CS means money out of my pocket.

If you call Airbnb to alert them to the issue, and work through the system, you can at least recoup the nights stayed and possibly the nights not stayed. (My house rules state that if guests break house rules or cause major disruption I’ll ask them to leave without refund. I haven’t tested it, so I don’t know how enforceable it is).

As an in-home host I’d do the following:

  1. Message guests through Airbnb system, asking them to quiet down.
  2. Knock on the guest’s door and ask them to quiet down. Reiterate this message on Air.
  3. Call Airbnb CS and tell them what’s going on. Ask them to cancel the reservation for rule violations. Ask them to tell the guests to leave.
  4. Once the reservation is cancelled, the guests are trespassing on private property. They also lose exclusive rights to my suite (as laid out in house rules). I invite my most intimidating friends over and we move into the space with them, play polka music, and are a peaceful but annoying presence. Maybe we take the bathroom door off the hinges. If at any time guests are threatening, I call the cops and charge them with trespassing.
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Lynick4442: Think about the guest standing before a small-claims court judge, saying:

“Yes, your Honor, I was hosting a loud party that disturbed the surrounding neighborhood. How terrible it was for my friends that the Airbnb host turned-off the electricity so we could no longer enjoy our unauthorized party!”

Boo-hoo!

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I don’t know that I’d take that wager, Don.

Those laws are there to protect the habitability of rented spaces. I can’t find anything that says a hotel or STR can do that, but a landlord can’t.

At the least, I wouldn’t turn off any essential services until you have canceled the reservation. At that point the guests have no right to be on the property and you should be able to turn off services (electric) and turn on others…like your own music.

This is my eviction jam:

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Message them via Airbnb. Call them on their phone. Call Airbnb and have them inform them that they need to vacate. Call the police and file a complaint yourself, creating a report record for Airbnb as well.

If you don’t want parties, unregistered guests and visitors on your property, put that in your house rules. I have a posting at the door that entry is allowed only by the owner’s permission. My local laws call this “conditions of entry.” IMHO, anyone who is not a registered guest is trespassing and I can proceed on that level.

Cutting the power may quiet the music, but may result in retaliation. I would rather have them all leave. If someone has crossed the line that badly, I wouldn’t expect them to suddenly get more responsible.

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Love this! Just flick the rocker panel until you score.

And yes, definitely involve Air before making your move. I was horrified that a perfectly nice CS person had to hear Mr. Toilet Tongue!

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In the UK it is illegal full stop @Don_Burns

it’s probably better if you preface your remarks with …"In the US … " or you could end up misleading your fellow hosts.

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Helsi: Thanks for the tip.

I sometimes forget that we Yanks take matters in our own hands to get the job done!

Give my best regards to Archie, the new Royal baby.

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I’m a republican ie an anti-monarchist, so I think our paths are unlikely to cross :slight_smile: @Don_Burns

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It’s important that you don’t give advice that could be counter to local laws. I really don’t think your sarcasm was called for.

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I would be curious how you are going to shut off water or electricity or any utility as at least in my area they are all located within the home. Unless you are proficient in removing the outside electric meter, which I wouldn’t even attempt. According to my attorney disruption of services are illegal even in STR’s. His advise and the one I followed was Call the local law enforcement have them escort you into the property for your protection, take pictures and clear the home. Call ABB, advise them of the situation and document everything to make a claim. In following his advise, I was able to clear the home, recvd payment not only for the rentals but compensation for the damage and extra cleaning required. But you would need to check and see what steps would be applicable in your area.

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17

I had something like this come up just this past weekend for the first time, out of 200+ stays so far.

A young couple booked the place, they were getting married, and asked if was ok if a couple of people helped them get ready in the morning. It was fine, I told them I appreciated them asking. I DO have a strict no parties/events rule (as well as no fires, shoes on in the house, or leaving food out due to wildlife… I’ll get to that shortly), and the rental is just for half of the house, as the back half is still being slowly remodeled, which includes a porch.

I get a text from them in the afternoon asking if they can move things off the porch. I hurry on over there, and discover that they’ve set up for a wedding reception, it’s already decorated and everything. On the porch that is not included in the reservation, on the back end of the house. They said just a few people were coming over after the wedding. I didn’t want to ruin their wedding day, so I decided to let it slide and keep an eye on the situation although normally I’d shut that down immediately (the listing is a guest house, it’s literally in my backyard). Later I notice that a big wedding cake is sitting out on the porch, unattended, for about 6 hours. This is for a listing in the WOODS with lots of wildlife, including tons of black bears. Hence the no-leaving-food-out rule. I message them to ask if they want me to move the cake so a bear doesn’t get it, no response. Later that evening, their guests show up before them, bang on my door and demand to be let into the rental. I said no. It didn’t end up being a huge party, but still around 20 people, and they were also tromping in and out of the no-shoes house with muddy shoes, and had candles covering the timber framed porch. I was seriously unhappy with this, but again didn’t want to ruin their wedding day.

My solution was to let ABB know every single thing that was going on as it was happening, via their message app, so that if a serious problem arose it was well documented and action could be taken swiftly. They appreciated that I didn’t want to disrupt the guests’ wedding and were also completely and totally on my side, due to the way I addressed it.

In the morning, I messaged the guests, telling them I hoped they had a wonderful wedding day, and that I’ll be in touch re: the special event fee, since events are not permitted. I also told them that the fee would depend on the condition they left the place. They did indeed leave it in great shape, profusely apologized, and paid my request for an additional $150 immediately.

Moral of the story: Have things clearly outlined in your rules, contact ABB immediately as soon as you suspect there is a problem, and remind guests that you will be charging them extra if they trash the place. And if you are really nice about it all, they may even leave you a good review (my partiers did)

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Keep in mind that my primary concern was an event that was currently disturbing my neighbors and I want stopped immediately.

I would throw the power switch in a second without any concern about their tendency or rights

And as I said, I do not want to involve the police because I am not looking for them to know that this is the house that has problems

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What a nice story with a somewhat good ending.

I get massively angry when guests lie to my face and I would not be able to compose myself in the manner you did, but good for you and thank god they didn’t trash the place.

PS: You should raise your event-fee to the double @banana light_smile:

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@Klatchers
I have not yet had to face this yet.
Why are you even worrying about this?

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