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We are having a hard time with a long-term guest. Despite having glowing reviews, she has been a problem since she arrived. She has paid late every month. We have had to politely mention to her a few times over the months to take out the trash because we can smell it through the entire house!! Once it was rotting fish smell!! Everytime she accommodates our request and says she has a bad sense of smell. We took it as an isolated incident, until our friends were hired as dog walkers when she left for a few days. They gave us a report, and it was not good. The dishes had not been done in months and growing colonies. My friend did the dishes for her because she could not stand to walk away from the mess and she had to throw out a few dishes. My friend said there were many stains on the carpet from dog pee and throw up. Some stains she had not even attempted to clean up. I am so sad that our beautiful apartment is being treated this way!
We have decided to do a surprise walk-through and set some ground rules for the space moving forward. I am just worried that we will have to kick her out. If we do, we loose out on the money for the month left of her stay. However, if she stays she might further damage our space. I also am not excited about the prospect of trying to convince her to pay for hundreds of dollars worth of damage she has caused. Has anyone else has this problem? What did you do? What was the outcome?
This is an Air guest? How can she be paying late? Do you have a lease with this person? I hope you have not transacted outside the platform. But if you did and donāt have a lease, you may have a squatter on your hands and may need to take her to court to evict. Give her notice to pay or quit and get her out now!
It is an airbnb guest. She has paid through the system late two months in a row. Last month they gave her two weeks to pay or else they would cancel the reservation. She paid on the last day. Luckily they have charged her a late fee at least.
I would never except cash because of my fear of her squatting. From my understanding, airbnb contract serves as a protection from that.
Noā¦ it absolutely does not!!! We had poster here who can tell you otherwise. Airbnb does not protect you against anything. If she decides to stop paying, she has now been there longer than 30 days, has been converted to a long term tenant status and can claim she is owed due process and she would be correct. You are in a tenuous position.
This is why most of us do not rent longer than 30 days.
I am more-so not excited about putting a lot of energy into getting money that I am not really expecting to get. I WANT her to pay for the damage, and not myself.
I wish I felt like I would be covered in this circumstance, but I am not confident.
We have had many many pets stay with not problems at all! I think if I were to change anything moving forward, I would refuse long terms stays over a month and insist on a refundable deposit (if airbnb has that option)
Google the Palm Springs squatter case. In the case of our own member here, i thought it was worse, because the person was inside their home and began calling the cops on the host, asking for TROS so that the host would be banned from her own home. It took her months of due process before she could get her out. And no, you cannot turn off the utilities or anything like that. They are fully protected until evicted.
You are on your own. You now have a person there who is a long term tenant with no lease. I would contact a lawyer because you may need too give notice the right way.
Waaaaiiiit a secondā¦ you did a āsurprise walk through?ā Iām not sure what the tenant laws are in your state but in mine this would get me (fellow landlord to a longterm tenant) in big trouble! I either have to get explicit permission from the tenant or have to give notice of entry for 24 hoursāIād be surprised if other states didnāt have a similar law. So uh, tread carefully.
But in any case, she definitely doesnāt sound like a great guest! Let her know you are going to enter to do a quick inspection to see the condition of the houseāyou can even crouch it under the guise of, āI need to start scheduling routine maintenance once you head out, and just need to check out the state of the homeāIāll be taking a few pictures as a heads up.ā From there, Iād start snapping photos of the damage. Iād be letting Air know ASAP to expect a request on their deposit (which Iām hoping you haveā¦ right?). Iād also recommend telling Air you want to begin the eviction process lest she try claiming to them that youāre breaking the rental agreement and tries getting a refund or something.
I suggest being super nice to her. Hopefully sheāll head out. If she doesnāt agree to leave, and starts playing hardball, Iād say, "look, you have two options: 1) Iāll give you $200 to be out of here by x date [trust me youāll save money in the long run if she just goes away quickly]. 2) I can start the eviction process and you will lose, at which point I will make sure to get your wages garnished to repay my court fees and all damage to my place which is already well documented. Your pick.
I would call Air and ask what their host guarantee covers. I know there are a lot of exceptions and animal damage may be one of them. However, I would still have a basic conversation telling them that you have been informed the place is not being taken care of. Itās at least a start.
Also, I would specifically ask the Air reps. about the policy below and if Air is going to pay you if the guest doesnāt pay up. If the Air rep. says āyesā then get it in writing. Because I have never heard of Air. paying double the amount when a guest overstays. And I have never heard of Air swooping in to pay legal expenses, Air hides and runs for as long as they can. Notice it says the host can charge the guest double but they donāt say what happens if the host isnāt paid and no way to collect:
Overstaying without the Hostās Consent
Guests agree that a confirmed Booking is merely a license granted by the Host to the Guest to enter and use the Listing for the limited duration of the confirmed Booking and in accordance with the Guestās agreement with the Host. Guests further agree to leave the Accommodation no later than the checkout time that the Host specifies in the Listing or such other time as mutually agreed upon between the Host and Guest. If a Guest stays past the agreed upon checkout time without the Hostās consent, they no longer have a license to stay in the Listing and the Host is entitled to make the Guest leave. In addition, Guests agree that the Host can charge the Guest, for each 24 hour period that the Guest stays over the agreed period without the Hostās consent, an additional nightly fee of two times the average nightly Accommodation Fee originally paid by the Guest to cover the inconvenience suffered by the Host, plus all applicable Service Fees, Taxes, and any legal expenses incurred by the Host to make the Guest leave (collectively, āAdditional Sumsā). Airbnb Payments will collect Additional Sums from Guests pursuant to the Payments Terms.
We are planning on doing a surprise walk-through. Michigan has no statue for entering with-out notice. We plan on documenting everything during the walk through, and hopefully start the process of recovering money for damages even before her reservation has ended. This was suggested by airbnb. They also said we can cancel her stay at anytime for violation of house rules. And yes, we could do that, but she does still actually have to physically leave.
We have been very nice to her so far, which I think has been helpful in not escalating the situation. She also has been really pleasant and seemingly accommodating when a problem arises. Still not entirely convinced its malicious, just shes bad at life. If it is the former, I will know soon enough I guess.
@RobertDudley, I did. This was the quote that concerned me, which you would have observed if you chose to use your own reading comprehension skills (assuming you possess them, of course).
@Robert_Dudley, itās still a red flag if state laws prohibit it. In this case Iām glad it doesnāt, but the alarm is warranted if sheās a host who lives in a state and isnāt informed of the laws because sheās not used to being a landlord.
And even then, Michigan doesnāt have a statute which is not at all the same thing as permitting a landlord to enter because of a suspicion regarding its condition.
So yeah. āSurprise entryā still seems like a REALLY bad idea to me.
It seems like the OPās got this under control and thatās great. This couldāve definitely been an āoh crap I didnāt know thatā moment that couldāve saved another person a lot of trouble.
We ended up giving her 24 hours notice for entry. We did it under the guise of a walk-through to see what maintenence needed to be done before the next guest came in.
And the damage was extensive:
Stained carpets in every room, will need to have professionally cleaned
The e couch arm is broken off, will need to replace the awesome couch that all the guests loved
The whole kitchen will need a deep cleaning. The fridge was particularly bad and stuffed with food.
The thing that took me by surprise was the amount of STUFF! It looked like she had been living there for years! She has been there for less than 3 months.
AND what are you going to do about it? I do hope you gave her notice at the inspection? You clearly have a very unwell hoarder with additional squalor issues on your hands. This is a very serious problem and Iād say your carpets actually need replacing. This would put me off long term rentals for life.
I did more research and MI has a law that makes squatting illegal and a misdemeanor. If there was never a lease, they can get kicked out at any time. So as long as the police do not concider an airbnb contract a lease, then we are covered. Hopefullyā¦
I have talked to reps and they say we can cancel her reservation at any time. He did say air would pay for damages, but I did not get it in writing. Will though next time.
Still have not decided about the best route to take moving forward.
Can you send them an email now cancelling her booking and state in the email āas you have stated at x time on x date you will pay for the damages, I need to cancel the booking to mitigate any further damages to the propertyā
Oh my what a disaster, good you stepped in. Maybe Iāll get you to manage my new ABB in Saint Paul Iām looking at since Iām 30 hours away (on a flight!) and youāll soon be a pro!
For sure no more long term rentals, have decided on that.
She pays us her rent on the 1st. If we kick her out now, she does not have to pay us for the last month. We are trying to decide if it is dick move to wait until she pays, then kick her out. We certainly can not afford to not have that income for the month.
We would like to try to convince her to pay us for damages NOW (she for sure has the money) and then give her an ultimatum, clean up or get out. Then if this fails, move to more agressive options.
I really do want to kick her out though, its taking all my energy not to just rage on her. Good pratice for meā¦
The information in this thread could indeed prove very valuable. I think many Airbnb hosts have no clue what they are getting themselves in for when they accept LT reservations through the platform. Since itās all done through Air, they may not realize they have, in effect, become landlords and are now governed by state laws. And even if they have that part figured out, trying to learn the ins and outs of being a landlord can be onerous, to say the least.
We are in the middle of our first LRT for a room in our home, and itās been enlightening. There is so much to consider, and so many issues that can crop up that you never would have dreamed.
I see your predicament! I think she clearly has mental illness issues going on. I have had a few hoarder clients, most squalor too, most wealthy actually, itās usually in the family and they become an extreme example. Virtually impossible to manage, Iāve seen them trash multiple multiple million dollar properties and live like paupers as the condition is so pathalogical. All the vomit says to me alcohol issues potentially too.
I agree if she has money try to get it from her now for the damages. Give her a 7 day letter of demand for $2000, assume you have to buy new carpets in the quote. That should get you to exactly 31st and then boot her out on 1st for failure to comply with house rules if Airbnb will let you. DO NOT get any MH or support services involved. They will advocate only for her and take any legal action you wonāt be able to afford to defend to keep her there and youāll be stuffed. If you have any friends who are lawyers, or friends of friends, use them now to help you draft a letter. If not do you have free community legal centers there? They will usually draft a letter for you but that will take time to get an appointment.
For sure she is not capable of changing the behaviour in the short term so there is no point fixing anything while she is there.
My sister just moved to St Paul with her husband whose a landscape architect and they are going back to Paris neck week to get their visas as he just secured work so weāre thinking of buying a place in St Paul as an investment, please donāt let this lady rent off us or I can see where my investment will go before Iāve even seen it lol
