This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
I actually got compliments from the woman who lives upstairs from my Airbnb, as she told me that she barely notices I have guests whereas the long term tenants who used to rent from the previous owner were just awful and noisy neighbors.
So the upside when you have bad Airbnb guests as neighbors is that they’re here just for a few nights
Most people in my neighborhood, and the neighborhood (same town) where my Airbnb is actually enjoy that there are tourists… It gives a cosmopolitan feel to what would otherwise be just a leafy suburb and most tourists are smiley, happy people.
My place is on a resort island in South Carolina. Out of about 4000 properties, around 3/4 rent. If they banned short term rentals (and there has been some talk of this over the years) they would have to rename it “Foreclosure Island”!
When I had my “experience” with the code enforcement officer a couple months ago, and when I spoke with an attorney to apply for that variance…he tells me “if they grant you that variance, then everyone else in your neighborhood will want to apply for a variance and start Airbnb, which will cause your neighborhood to be full of transients, which the township does not want”. I laughed. First how will the news have spread throughout the entire neighborhood? If i did go that variance route, only nearby neighbors would have known. Those neighbors have all their rooms full with family members, so they have no room to spare for Airbnb. same with other neighbors…and some simply do not feel comfortable allowing strangers in their home (especially if they have children), even if they had an extra room.
There is someone on the next street who is a chiropractor and has his office in his home, and expanded his driveway to allow customer parking. He is right off the main street, and his driveway is right by the main street so the traffic would not come that far into the neighborhood. I am sure he had to go through a lot to obtain this variance. Now did that prompt all the other neighbors to start a chiropractor business? No!
And the attorney wanted you to go through with it!!! Hope you didn’t spend too much money with this person. I think your code enforcement visit was a non issue.
Nope I didn’t spend any money on him at all. Attorneys do not want to get involved in STR issues, and will take the township’s side instead of the client’s.
This is all very interesting. Attorneys and definitely public prosecutors do not relish getting into the STR issue, since it is a legal and social quagmire.
If granting a variance is going to open the door to other people seeking that same variance, then townships might as well change their ordinances …actually I should say to get in the modern age …and adapt to the sharing economy. The sharing economy is growing and will continue to do so. Many jurisdictions have very outdated ordinances.
As long as Airbnb does not create a disturbance to neighbors or anything like that, Airbnb is a way of expressing freedom to use our properties. Ordinances, to some extent, is an intrusion on ourlifestyle.
Some communities may just have to deal with the increase of transients coming into the neighborhood, however, the township has the right to tax and collect revenue.
When we lived in our condo, I would have been overjoyed to have random Airbnb guests staying in the other units, instead of the owners that lived there. Just saying.
