I used Airbnb when i was homeless. Rental contracts in London tend to be a minimum of 6 months…I was in between places and needed somewhere to stay for a few weeks. It was hugely expensive though and in the end I moved to Poland for the month rather than pay Airbnb rates nightly …
It might be worth mentioning that strictly speaking homeless only has one meaning: without a home. Although there are all sorts of negative stereotypes typically associated with homelessness we have no way of knowing if those apply to the family in question.
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@Scullard89, your statement that you would put the guests’ belongings on the curb and give them a “30” day eviction notice, plus this made up $30/hr charge indicate to me that you are in way over your head. The advice to get lawyer is a good one, and you should anticipate the worst and do it pronto. I agree with @SandyToes that trouble is a-brewing, but it was kind of visible from a mile away. Best of luck! Please tell us the resolution.
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Yes we can’t assume. Like you say it’s being without a home, which was my situation for 6 weeks due to a contract on my new place falling through. I wouldn’t identify with people on the streets though; at the time I was fully employed and it was really just chance that conspired against me.
Still my boss had to deal with stuff from my old place appearing under the desk, in the cupboards etc as I had nowhere else to put it.
For me it was very much a temporary situation and these guests may also be between homes.
Interesting solution! Where in Poland? Did you like living there? I’d really like to visit but I don’t think I have time on my upcoming trip to Prague.
I LOVED Poland!
I’d recommend it to anyone … lovely people, very cheap, lots of history and some beautiful architecture. Some awful architecture too but that’s true of everywhere.
It was a fantastic solution to an irritating problem, and it meant I could absorb the costs of having stuff in storage for a month very easily. I spent less that month I was ‘homeless’ than I would have paid had I been renting normally in London.
At the time I think some of my friends though it was extreme, but it seemed to me paying close to 2k to stay in a London Airbnb for a month was more ridiculous.
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Awesome idea of yours to do that. Saved money and got to experience another culture. What did your Poland Airbnb cost, just curious?
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£250 for the month. Huge win as the London Airbnb would have been 2,000.
All in I spent about £800 all in that month for food, transport, entertainment etc. That was barely above the cost of my London rent for the bedroom I had been renting. My living costs dropped to about 40% of what they had been.
But yeah as you can see, not the typical homeless person at all.
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You are quite the wanderer! Is this in keeping with your IR studies? You have an affinity for experiencing other cultures? Are you between school/jobs in order to do this? I assumed you were early 20s? But now I am thinking mid to late. Here in the US you’d be about 24 or 25 before finishing the PhD program, depending if you went straight through or took gap years.
800 is so cheap…!!! Prague is not as cheap, but then it is high season at Christmas. I got a hotel for $51 a night. All the Airs and Wimdus were too pricey over NYE. We are a bit too far from Poland for a day trip, maybe if we did an overnighter.
So I did talk to her this morning she has been making more of an effort to clean. and we moved all of her baby stuff to her room. I called Airbnb they said that squatting rarely happens but they will make a note about it. They also told me that she has stayed at an Airbnb for two weeks prior to being here and seems to be looking for another place after times up here. The Airbnb fellow also said that they would “step in if she and her boyfriend do decide to squat.” - not sure what that means.
Since she has no money I asked her what her plans were and
She asked if she could take over the lease at my house in January as an surrogate Airbnb host (because I mentioned that I might be putting my house on the market soon month-to-month). I told her straight out no. She needs to go after this trip is up and she seemed upset about that. --That’s when I called Airbnb.
She was on the phone with family today. Hopefully she gets it together. (BF has three other kids and works at a hemp startup. if he does get paid it won’t be for six more months) Now that a case is open with Airbnb I feel better about everything. It’s true about setting boundaries though you can’t just assume that people will respect common spaces. Good news is it’s a slow month so I don’t have a constant flow of people coming and going.
[quote=“SuiteInSeattle, post:25, topic:10182, full:true”]
@Scullard89, your statement that you would put the guests’ belongings on the curb and give them a “30” day eviction notice, plus this made up $30/hr charge indicate to me that you are in way over your head.
I’m telling ya I used to have a big problem with guests staying past check out and ever since I’ve posted that they will be charged $30 an hour past checkout pulled from their deposit I have not had a single person “forget” and stay one minute past 11am. - Helps out my house cleaner a lot.
Wow… So maybe she was planning to overstay? Glad you said something, don’t let these people get ideas!
Airbnb cannot do much about squatters, although in the case of our one forum member named on the above thread I posted, Air stepped in and moved the guest, presumably to a motel to get her out of the woman’s house where she was professionally squatting. This was an egregious case, and Air is right, it probably does not happen all that often.
As for this guest, geeze… you have to wonder about the judgment of someone who hooks up with an unemployed guy who already has three kids. I thought the hemp industry was booming now that Oregon is legal. Why is he having trouble getting a job?
Yet none of this is your worry. Glad you planted the seed that she can’t stay and she has run out of options at your house.
I would really think twice before accepting long term guests. Read carefully through the articles and threads I posted and then I think you will agree!
My max is 21 days.
Keep us posted!
I was last in Prague in 2000 (and Romania for three months! Imagine what that was like!) It was very cheap then. You have to go further east now if you’re after bargains.
Yes, I’m very much a wanderer and I think it’s because I’m not risk averse, very inquisitive and frankly, nosy. I’m 38. I just ended a decade long career in higher education to follow my dreams and start my own business.
Don’t feel bad about thinking I was much younger; even people who meet me in person put me at late twenties.
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You can achieve the same result by being FIRM. Sorry, absolutely no late check outs. I have limited time to turn the house over for the new guests. Thank you for your cooperation.
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This is definitely sounding more and more messy by the minute. I think the chance that she will try to overstay unlikely but best start thinking about how to cope in that eventuality. I would call air and ask them to talk you though the procedural process should you need to take action.
In the meantime, are there any local charities you can point your guests to? Some many be able to help them in terms of assistance re-housing them …
Unless they’re comfortably off, using Airbnb as a stop gap is going to hurt their wallets big time. They really do need to start actively looking for solutions
When did Prague break free of Soviet rule? It was like 1989 I think… ? Or maybe later?? In any event, it would have been great to go when it was first “liberated.”
I admire your gumption to travel! So you taught at University?
I threw the California rat race off my back when I was bout 34. I left my good paying job, my BF, my house and my family to move to Hawaii. A leap of faith. Take the leap and the safety net will appear! And it always did. That was some time ago. I found work here and saved enough to buy my own house over looking the ocean. My babies are now 21 and finishing university… ahhh sunrise, sunset… quickly pass the years!
What would you say your favorite place is of all the ones you visited? I guess Skid Row would be dead last! 
Oh i totally agree about long term guests. I had one AMAZING guest stay for a month and now we are good friends, but the gamble is just not worth it.
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Read our post above… Air essentially did nothing regarding the procedure and only called the guest to try and get her out, and ended up placing her in a hotel. But our friend was still dragged into court for harassing the kid about cleaning up ice cream, I kid you not.
I think good LTR guests are possible! Just make them sign a standard lease!
Is she very young? ‘Making an effort to clean’ isn’t really good enough.
That it itself makes them seem like real losers.
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