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We just received an anonymous message from a “neighbor” on Airbnb. I say “neighbor” because we have direct contact with our actual adjacent neighbors and they would not contact us in such a way.
Our home is in Silicon Valley where we have been successfully renting for almost 4 years. Our main guests are business people and families. We do not allow parties.
This so-called neighbor writes that she is about to call the “noise compliance” on our house because a rager/very loud party was thrown last night and there are bottles all down the main road (we are located on a small cul-de-sac street off this road).
The funny thing is, we did not have any guests last night. Or the night before. In fact, we have been closed off every weekend for several months because we are currently selling our house and Sotheby’s has been doing Open Houses.
From the message of this neighbor woman it appears as though they’ve been talking about our home on Nextdoor and unfairly blaming us for any or all noise/parties in the area. She condescendingly uses the phrase “this is a family oriented neighborhood.” Which is funny to me because I’m currently pregnant. And even funnier to me because this past weekend I personally picked up a ton of trash that was left on the street by the construction people building a house at the corner of the main road.
Airbnb didn’t invent the house party. When I clarified that this was not our Airbnb she didn’t even apologize to us. So rude. Now I’m just venting because both our rentals operate to the highest standard. Which is more than I can say for our actual neighbors who have been known to leave trash outside, let their dogs roam, never blow their leaves, and block the road.
In my personal opinion, I didn’t want neighbors who clog up all the cul-de-sac parking, never maintain their yard, or let their dog (and drunk husband) wander outside. Just because you aren’t an Airbnb doesn’t mean you are a good neighbor. However, I don’t make idle threats to those neighbors like this one felt the need to with us.
The point is it was never our party to begin with. People have a predisposition to blame Airbnbs when they really don’t bother to look at their neighborhood. This so-called neighbor does not live next to us. We know our neighbors and we talk to them directly. She is just projecting boogeyman ideas onto ambient noise she hears (I imagine she is not the only one scapegoating Airbnbs… ). And yes, everything we do is always legal and permitted.
We also live next to an Airbnb in Los Angeles and it doesn’t bother us. That Airbnb makes less noise and is less of a disturbance than the other residents. The phrase “no one wants to live next to an Airbnb” is a projection until you actually live next to one and it actually is a problem.
What? Huh? Where do you get your information? You feel sorry for the neighbor who is inventing problems & lies?
Here is an interesting shift in perspective—my neighbor told me she prefers Airbnb rentals Nextdoor vs. long term rental hosts because Airbnb hosts are motivated to keep the interior of their units up to date thus keeping resale values up.
A house party can happen at an owner occupied home, long term rental or Airbnb the owner has a responsibility to try to keep events on their property under control and reasonable for the neighborhood
This sounds like s busy-body neighbor who has embraced the stories in the news about parties at rental properties (the media calls them Airbnb’s but the last two I’ve seen were vrbo rentals).
Original poster-you are selling your home. Ignore the trouble maker and move on.
I have neighbors who use the Nextdoor app frequently. I try to avoid it. Nextdoor in my area has become the app for negative people to complain about EVERYTHING.
I think that app has potential to do good things but whiners and complainers who don’t want to be part of the solution have ruined it for my neighborhood
It is a horrible app! We avoid it at all costs. I originally signed up for an account during the vote to ban Airbnb in Palm Springs. I had to delete it after a week because I couldn’t stand being so mad.
Ahhhh New England… here I am in RI. No place like home!
I agree with some if the others- I have a horrific neighbor who is a long term renter and several of the neighbors have tried every method to get her out. She leaves her property a gross mess, is drunk too often, hosts loud parties regularly, etc etc. I think my neighbors far prefer my airbnb and the other just a few doors down! Tidy properties and respectful folks! We are also a tight knit area and if there are any issues we can simply call eachother or walk across the street! There will always be the mean busybodies who will try to bring others down because thats just who they are. Ignore. Onward & upward!
@MissSwan don’t know how legislation works in the US, but is there not a process by which you can report your anti-social behaviour to your local government, the police and the landlord.
Here in the UK you can do this and the tenant can receive fines and have legal action taken against them. Is that not the case in the US?
We have ALL tried! The police will deal with noise complaints but there doesnt seem to be a way to get her gone. There are no really enforceable laws in which the landlord can be made to kick her out. What is worse is that the landlord is a military man who doesnt seem to care. He bought this house in 2009 or so and only lived there briefly before he was stationed closer to DC. The nightmare has been there for 5 years now. Neighbors on all sides have put up the tallest fences allowed by code to block sight lines. When she leaves he will have at least $20k of repair work to do and thats just to the outside of the house. Even his hired landscapers have complained to him about the mess and work for him for a short time because they dont want their names associated with the property.
I’d amend this to say no one wants a bad Airbnb next to their home. Airbnbs span a wide variety of accomodation types. I can imagine a lot of airbnbs that I would not want to live next to. Some of them are hosted by people who post on this forum, lol.
I have a lot of people ask me how the neighbors react to my dog boarding and Airbnbing which is hilarious because I have the best kept home and some of the quietest dogs on my block (and the block behind me. In 6 years of dog boarding and 5 years of Airbnbing and 1000s of combined clients I have had zero complaints from neighbors. I have had no visits from Animal Control or code compliance.
@AFineHouse I do believe that that people scapegoat people due to Airbnb just as they do people of color, and a bunch of other things. People also don’t want to live next to the public housing, the new apartment complex, the shopping center, the hospital, etc.
Oh Helsi, if only that were true. Unless you can prove criminal behaviour, it is deemed a civil matter and police/local authorities are not interested.
We had 10 years of dreadful, ghastly neighbours who made our lives a misery. Parties of 2 (them…) with speakers placed against the wall full blast in an old house, wrecked shrubbery over the boundry fence, an endless litany. The police were involved when they damaged our boiler vent but did nothing. The Local Authority Noise Abatement came out many times but would merely issue warning notices. The only time I managed to get a formal Police caution was when the husband yelled drunkenly over the fence that Mr Joan was a fat, Jewish c…t. The first police officer said she could do nothing as Mr J is not Jewish ( very intelligent, this one), so I went to the top with a formal complaint. The world moved fast for a week and a caution duly issued. All quiet for six months, then all hell breaks loose again. We also found out that they had behaved in similar fashion with previous neighbours.
Eventually we gave up and moved. The morning we were going, he ran through our garden singing " we won, we won, we won". That really was the last straw but revenge was sweet, if not really something I would include in my playbook. We mentioned it to the Landlord and Landlady of the local pub as we said goodbye. We later learned that they barred them both and that Paul, Landlord, thumped him when he tried to come back in.
Oh dear, so the landlord won’t evict her and your local government won’t take anyone enforcement action?..what a shame.
Here in the UK she would be taken to court and be faced with anti social behaviour orders and large fines. And you could take action against the landlord.
You can file a nuisance suit (yourself) or suits against the landlord. This can be buttressed by any local noise ordinances say that require noise of no more than say 55 decibels at the property line. So focus on the parties and make the landlord feel some pain here.
This has been done. We also managed to force removal of her chicken coop as it was bringing rats to the neighborhood and damaging properties. She still lives there. Landlord doesnt seen to care one bit.
I agree, and I wanted to say this as well but didn’t want to appear hyperbolic.
I had responded to the so-called neighbor by volunteering to come over to her house and chat with her in person. No response of course.
The fear I have with the way these problematic people go about their accusations is that it leads to citywide bans or over regulation. In Palm Springs, I read the weekly hotline reports for short term rentals, and the amount of false flag calls is something like 90% of all calls. 5% leads to no action because the noise was temporary or the cars were moved. And the last 5% are actual citations.
My neighbors where I have my whole house Airbnb day they love it. They would only love it more if I moved back so they would see and chat with me more often than they do now. I am still there regularly for turnovers, maintenance and regular yard work. Yard work always seems to take 25% longer because invariably they want to chat while I am not running in or out with an army full of laundry! My nice neighbors are also sometimes mentioned in my reviews (even when they aren’t 5 star for whatever reason).
