Guest Wants to Have Packages Delivered

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First, I will note that “squatter’s rights” are nearly non-existent in my state. They are prohibitively difficult (10 years plus a lot of other conditions) so I don’t have that concern.

That being said is there any other reason to not allow a guest to have packages delivered to my address? And would just having her send them “care of” be sufficient if there are other issues?

I’ve seen numerous discussions about not allowing guests to have mail or packages sent and it seems like it’s only an issue of tenancy and squatter’s rights but I just want to make sure I didn’t miss something.

Edit to add: She’s staying 19 nights and taking some kind of class.

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I would suggest having packages delivered and held at a UPS or FedEx type place. My concern would be for what they are sending to my home, and if illegal, could I be implicated.

Sorry, advice from a cop’s kid :wink:

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I don’t have any concerns about it as long as they ask me in advance.

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Two of my guests that I know of have had Amazon packages delivered. They did not ask me first. My listing is a whole detached house with it’s own address, so I personally don’t care.

There is one potential issue, though. The neighborhood has cluster mailboxes for all letters and small packages sent via the US Postal Service. I don’t provide the key to guests, so they would have to tell me to get their mail.

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It’s up to you. I wouldn’t do it unless I felt very comfortable with the guest (they’re in my home, after all)… Believe it or not, identity theft. They can use your address for lots of reasons. They get mail there, they can get false IDs. And that’s for starters.

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Three concerns: One…the contents of the package–could be drugs or something illegal.

Two: one host (I think on this forum) allowed it and the guest shipped loads and loads of stuff to the point that it seriously inconvenienced the host who had a small space and had to store the stuff until the guest’s arrival. I think the guest was coming for a conference or something and was going to be selling merch.

Three: You would potentially be on the hook if anything happened to their package–like porch pirates stealing it (big thing in our area), another guest taking it, or even someone accidentally damaging it.

I might allow it (it says I don’t in my house rules but I do make exceptions to them) but I would want to spell things out to make sure how many packages, what was in them, how long I would have to store them, and that I would not be responsible for loss or damage.

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I mean this in humorous way, so I hope no one gets mad but…

I think it’s funny that some people seem more worried about the packages someone would have at their house than the people who ordered them at their house. Just take out package and sub in person:

Don’t let strangers in your house because 1)they could do something illegal, 2) you could be inconvenienced 3) you could be held responsible if something bad happened.

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LOL - Now that’s funny! :laughing::joy::rofl:

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I wouldn’t allow any government, tax, bank etc., but a few packages are okay.

I’ve only been asked once. It was a couple ex-pats visiting from overseas who wanted to to take back some things that were cheaper in the US. They were very polite about it! They asked whether it was possible and how much space would be convenient. :+1:

Guests also use our wifi, which has the same risk of illegal use. I should hope we’re not responsible for what content they download.

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I really appreciate all of the answers! There are a lot of diverse perspectives and a lot of things I didn’t even think of and that’s exactly what I really like about this forum.

The guest asked me, prior to arrival, and asked very politely and also said specifically “a couple of amazon packages”.

I have now gone ahead and okayed it with her and told her that I appreciated her asking. I also told her she should use her apartment number on the packages. It brings up an interesting issue.

Our home is a legal mult-unit building. I never thought about these issues when we had “real tenants” but don’t know if we’d be liable for anything illegal. I think that even though it’s airbnb it’s still a separate unit so am not too stressed about that issue (though will surely be back here freaking out if I am wrong ,).

I am doubting it would be drugs since they are just driving from a couple of states over so think they would probably just bring drugs with them. Alternately, it’s easy enough to just get drugs once they’re here so am not sure why they would mail them. Again, if I’m wrong, I will come back here to freak out about it.

I definitely hadn’t thought of the ID theft angle. That one got me for a minute. However, how would it be any different if a long term tenant did it? I’m not sure. Our multi-unit situation must affect that somehow. On some days, we get mail for 8 different people, only 3 of them have we ever heard of (we bought the building 1.5 years ago).

For the first time ever, I don’t worry about porch pirates. It’s so odd to me that my current city is somehow devoid of this petty crime (probably busy with nastier crimes). My neighbor leaves packages out for so long that I bring them in so they don’t get ruined by the weather. Even if it were to happen, the guest should take it up with the sender. I guess she could blame us and cause a fuss, in which case, of course I will come back here and freak-out ,)

As far as how many. I definitely hadn’t considered that. But I plan to set her packages outside her door anyway. If she orders too many, she’ll certainly get tired of moving them to get in and out :rofl:

Okay, wish me luck and thank you all. I have to admit I’m a little anxious because she and her guest will be our longest stay ever. I usually limit to 9 days but she asked for the 19 and I said okay. It’s complicated because that’s 19 days straight that our house will have “guests in the nests” without even a few hours empty at change-over so that’s new for us. I so tire of putting pants on just to take the dog out :rofl:

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I understand. My longest was supposed to be 22 but ended up being 17. But I was gone out of town for about 10 of those days. It was problematic only in the sense that his dog caused damage. Thank goodness I decided against the 6 months he asked about. BUT…you might find it to be a relief with fewer changeovers. Last fall I had a guest who was golden. He was here most of the fall but would go home most weekends and I rented on Airbnb in the interim. So you never know.

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She did say they will be in class all day and gave me the hours (8am to 6 or 7pm?) and that there was a 3-day break and that she’d be leaving for that. If all goes as planned then it will probably be wonderful!

I was more worried until today when she and I went back and forth messaging about her stay. She gave me an arrival time and is really excited, etc. For the last couple of months I’ve been worried that she would cancel or something - such a long stay in a slow month would be hard to recover from.

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I keep hoping some guest will have drugs sent to my house…

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If a guest sent something to my address without permission I would never sign for it and if I found it I would open it and give it to the local help center.

But that is not the case here, the guest asked you.

Gary

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They still do that? No matter what it is here, they leave it.

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I only allow food deliveries. What if the package delivered contained something illegal. Not willing to take the chance.

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Whether to allow packages largely depends on the type of listing. Yes, the issues describes above call all happen including the drugs thing.

I don’t have anything about it in the house rules, in fact I don’t really have any house rules, but on several occasions guests have asked if it’s okay to receive packages (or mail) and it’s always been fine. If a host thinks there could be a problem, then he/she can specify that it’s okay as long as the packages are coming from a recognised source (such as Amazon) and from within the country.

There are Amazon lockers nearby though and that might be more convenient and safer for the guest. I’d recommend, for example, that any high-ticket item goes to a locker.

Anyone who is hosting without the local permits though, or without HOA/landlord permission and so on should probably be a little more wary. It would be a few minutes inconvenience for a ‘legal’ host to be questioned by the police - ‘he was an Airbnb guest’ - but people who shouldn’t be hosting for whatever reason probably wouldn’t want to explain that.

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That’s even funnier to an English person! :rofl:

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I doubt that the dog cares.

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We’ve had a few travelling nurses and contract workers stay for several months at our property.
They asked if they could receive Amazon packages at the address. There was no issues with this arrangement. But our one problem guest this past summer used our address for their week long rental car and did not tell us. Apparently they had an accident with the car and we received corospondence addressed to them from the company. She was such a horrible guest I tossed the letter.