Rebecca, Thank you! Since I’m new to this, what is the Bad Guest Lounge? I’ll gladly give her information.
In the U.S. tenants are by law to have “peaceful enjoyment” of their rental units. If the poster takes the advice to make a lot of noise in the wee hours, she is setting herself up to be successfully sued:
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Once the guest is there for a certain number of days, the guest becomes a tenant with all the rights of a tenant. There does not have to be a lease or any type of contract in place to establish tenancy. This is one reason why many hosts are only permitting short term stays.
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I just read it, but what if there is another renter in a house and the other guest makes a noise. Then landlord is trying to stop it but does not succeed
Yes, the landlord is responsible for the tenant having “peaceful enjoyment” of the rental unit. Therefore, the landlord cannot make noise that would violate “peaceful enjoyment”.
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Like the case Yana mentioned of no heat, no hot water…It seems there would be some things you could do and the tenant would be hard pressed to prove it was on purpose. A/C broke and I have no money to fix it because I depend on rental income. I have to disconnect the cable and internet because I can’t afford it. If someone is squatting they can’t afford a lawyer to sue, can they? What a nightmare.
I am trying to think of ways to make her so miserable that she will leave herself. Does she use internet, i am sure her daughter does. How about to disconect internet? Or change password. or not pay electricity bill, or water, saying you dont have funds because she is not paying and you depend on that income.
My friend once disconected washer and dryer with one guest because he would do laundry every day, and then hang out in a living room waiting to change cycles.
As I’ve said, I live in California where tenants have more rights than pretty much anywhere else. In the case of the Palm Springs Airbnb squatter, the host did turn off the utilities. The squatter threatened a lawsuit and probably would have won. I don’t know about internet. I would think that as your Airbnb listing promises internet a “tenant” could successfully sue you if you disconnected it. In California we have attorneys who specialize in getting pay outs for tenants who have been evicted for non-payment of rent. Here is a link to an article about one of them.
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You can’t do these either or be accused of harassment. Never ever rent to anyone longer than 30 days!!! In some states it is less!
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If she’s in a room in your home, she’s not a tenant, she’s a lodger or boarder and the police will haul them out as trespassing–check your state law.
One of the points of tenant protections is that the landlord isn’t supposed to make the rental uninhabitable to drive the tenant out. I’m not an attorney, much less a real estate attorney, but I think that a tenant could successfully sue if you terminated their access to amenities that are on offer per your Airbnb listing. In the case of the Palm Springs squatter, the host did threaten to shut off the utilities. The squatter threatened to sue for the shut off utilities and many other things. In California, you can use small claims court if the amount you’re seeking to recover is $7,500.00. This means that you can be sued for up to $7,500.00 for merely the small claims court filing fee.
One thing I would recommend to any host renting a whole house for more than the amount of time it takes to establish tenancy in their area is that they turn off the utilities prior to the guests’ stay and have the guest set up utilities in their own name.
She’s now a long term tenant. She stayed longer than 30 days. None of that applies now. The police will do nothing to help you.
According to this article, eviction for non-payment of rent is the same:
Kona is correct. The host would be accused of harassment. The tenant can use an attorney for free, either a non-profit tenants’ rights lawyer, or one who will work on contingency. The host will have to pay legal fees. We really researched this issue and that is one of the main reasons we decided on short term rentals.
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I’ve been on HomeAway / VRBO for many years and I always use a physically signed contract that specifies the arrival date and the departure date. I use it on Airbnb as well. Does that not prevent a potential squatter from trying to claim residency?
I could be wrong but I think Air’s contracts supersede yours. If you don’t rent over a month, you won’t have anything to worry about.
Air has a contract? (must be 20 characters)
Yes… the contract between Air and the guest.
I like the idea of switching the internet off or changing the password. Who can live without the internet? But it’s not like turning off utilities which make the place ‘uninhabitable’.
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29 days is my max. Even that would make me very uncomfortable. 30 or more days and it turns into a legal shit show.
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