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hi everyone, I would love to have your thoughts on this and if somebody has similar experience I would love to hear.
This morning, our airbnb guest (staying 1 month and NP so far) sends us forms from the local government and about an hour later, the local migration government office calls me to inquire about my boyfriend (legal tenant of the apartment where the guests are staying). Turns out that our guests are planning to move here and now registered with the city using the current airbnb address - without any of this having been agreed upon.
My BF would need to prove that he is their “landlord” and the city is of course wondering where he is living while the guests are there.
While I understand that they registered with the city as they should have (needs to legally be done during the first 2 weeks for people moving here) I am very upset that they used the address for official purposes without asking and even gave my phone number out etc. How should we best deal with this? as I couldn’t find a relevant thread on airbnb or here, I’d appreciate all your inputs so much as it feels uncomfortable and I am quite upset.
I would be weary to allow that. Documenting a residence at your boyfriend’s address could lead to them being able to claim tenant rights. For me, the simple fact that they did this without my knowledge or permission would make me say no. I would simply tell them that because you had not been informed of the process prior to their arrival, you do not feel comfortable providing their registration under your address - if they wish to complete this process now, using an address, they would need to establish their own residency at a seperate address.
thank you. I also feel like that it is something that should be brought up prior to arrival on their end. “we are moving to Switzerland and legally asked to register within 14 days. will it be possible to do this temporarily under your address”.
it can be an important “feature” of a listing if this is possible - but I have a hard time imagining that many other hosts would allow that…
I think it is incredibly rude of the guests to use your address without asking your boyfriend whether this is okay. And they shouldn’t have given out your number.
I didn’t quite understand your point about your BF. Is there an issue in your city about him having to be resident in the property in order to do STR? or is there an issue with him sub-letting on his lease? If not, why does it matter to the city where he is.
Now it is done, all I can suggest is that you mark them down for communication and update your house rules to say that guests are not allowed to have post delivered to the listing or register it with the local migration office without prior written permission from yourselves.
Also inform them that they cannot use your address going forward as their official address for say their bank, telephone providers etc.
I’d be very upset as well for not telling ahead of time. Establishing residency can’t be done with STR. To me it’s a conflict of terminology. They will have to legally rent something long term to do so. Actually if I were you I’d ask them to leave and rent a LTR from a landlord.
Establishing residency means your address will be used for their bank account driver’s license etc… You don’t want that associated with your status as host. I wouldn’t.
Unfortunately it has happened now and you can’t change that. So is there any reason why you (or your boyfriend) can’t simply confirm that they have rented the place for a month as short term tenants?
As @sobepuppy says, do be sure that they haven’t any legal rights if they stay for thirty days.
I agree no good will come from this. There was one host on the AirBnB forum that had them basically for over 2 months free and it cost her a small fortune in legal fees to get rid of them because they became the residents of record even though it was a shared listing they owned. The guests got a pay as you go phone with the address, bought an insurance policy on their car and they registered to the home, used that to open a bank account, then used it to get a DL. The owner had a bunch of mail from them including shipments from Amazon that the card used bounced and they are still getting mail over 1 year later. This is only one nightmare on this, NEVER let a guest use your address for anything.
Not to make light of anyone’s nightmare but for every horror story there are multiple “everything went well” stories. I’ve only had a guest use my address once and it was fine. It can be a problem but there need to be multiple other warning signs concurrently.
My house rules say that they cannot receive mail here or use the address for any purpose, and that any mail that arrives for them will be returned marked “Not At This Address”.
One of my very first guests used my address, shrugging “I had no choice’. Two years later I still get bills and bank statements. So I put them back in the mail stating " return to sender. No such person here.”
there is no reason that we cannot do it and if the city requires it we probably should do it. anyhow, it is nothing I have seen with airbnb so far… good questions about the legal rights. as I understood they already found a place to stay from Oct 1… and given @LiveOakVineyard s comment - we must ask them for solid proof of that.
@Helsi - there is no reason that we cannot do it but it is super strange that the city would now start inquiring about my BF. maybe there is a problem of “fake residents” that run airbnbs? it is just super strange and I am glad for all the input and opinions here…
wow ok. thank you for the story. seems like we first need to see proof of their long term address and that it is on all their papers… I assume if they have a real address then there is no interest in hijacking ours…
That sounds good then. Just let the authorities know the situation. Remember that the people who are investigating are concerned about the legality of your guests, not your boyfriend. It’s doubtful that they’d become involved in anything else. If your boyfriend is operating without a licence or doing anything that infringes the law (or the lease) in your area, then this is a wake up call for him to fix the issue. Otherwise, with these local authorities, one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing - and the migration people are only concerned about the guests
I would absolutely endorse not allowing guests to use your home as legal residency.
I have had that happen to me, court fines arrived for non payment of things ect ect. Despite phoning banks and insurance companies telling them my address was used fraudulently, I’m still getting letters ! Three years later !
It can seriously cause you major problems, affect your credit rating ect ect. Get rid of them immediately ! Apart from being completely taken advantage of and disrespected, you need to protect yourself.
There are actually some very good reasons here in Ontario why I should not. Firstly, it’s fraud. He can create a driver’s license, etc. and basically claim Ontario residency. He also got himself a cell phone using my address etc. So for me the easiest was to put it back in the mail. That way they KNOW he isn’t here.
I understand that it is necessary for everyone immigrating into Switzerland to register with the local authority and therefore, although she should certainly have asked you beforehand, she actually would have no choice other than to register with your address. According to the information from official sources it is quite acceptable for her to register at a temporary address, though when she does move your guest will have to change it to her permanent address. She is not establishing permanent residency at your place, rather an intention to stay in Switzerland for more than 3 months
@jaquo’s advice is sensible and as long as you/your boyfriend are not breaking any Swiss law by renting out the flat I really wouldn’t worry. Yes, tell her you are annoyed about her not letting you know beforehand, and maybe mark her down in your review but really, what purpose would it serve by “booting her out” as has been suggested?
thank you everyone for your sensitive and helpful feedback. I had a serious talk with the guests who apologized for not asking, giving out the number and creating a negative situation. we have agreed that my BF will not to fill out the forms as they already have a permanent address with which they could register permanently - which is what the authorities were most interested in anyways.
if the authorities want to inquire more about our living situation and the airbnb remains to be seen - according to the guests their IT system was down the morning they went there… hence this may explain the “over motivated” call to find out more about us
let’s see but I hope the saga to be over here…
