Whelp, they threw a party and the police won't trespass. Help!

Guest broke the house rules (2nd time we’ve had this in 1 month… making me hate this) and when I called 911 to have the guest and visitors trespassed, they wouldn’t do it. They asked if they had an agreement to be at the home and since they did (the reservation) they wouldn’t send a unit out to remove the party goers. They stated it was a civil matter and had to be handled that way. I chuckled, since I was under the impression that the police handled çivil’matters.

Has anyone done this before? What is the best route here, they are drinking after a wedding and are set for the home these next 2 days. We wanted to kick them out and cancel the reservation but have so many other people mentioning it is a legal matter.

Help! (and thank you!)

No! Police deal with CRIMINAL matters! Why aren’t you getting the reservation cancelled via Airbnb for breaking the rules? I assume you do have rules about parties, visitors, quiet time etc…

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The Police are correct it is a civil matter and up to you to deal with. They are not trespassers because you gave the main guest permission .

Strange comment from you about the police’s role. In most countries I know they deal with criminal matters.

I presume you have already contacted the guests and told them they are breaking your house rules, to stop the party and tell unbooked guests to leave. What did they say?

Reinforce through Airbnb messaging and call Airbnb to cancel the booking. Only then can you get the guest out. But anyone who hasn’t booked and paid you can go and turf out now.

Either you or your cohost need to go over there to assess damage/ensure the party has stopped.

Either ask The booked guest to pack and leave with other guests if Airbnb has cancelled the booking. Or if you are feeling generous and trust them not to damage the place, let them leave by your checkout morning time .

Make sure you or your cohost is personally there to oversee.

This advice is based on the assumption you have basic house rules such as no parties, late night noise, people on premises who haven’t booked

For personal safety issues,
I have a personal rule not to interfere when guests are drinking
( unless it is a criminal manner and then I could call police but this has never happened )
I dont want an angry drunk guest pulling a gun on me, or getting worked up to do destruction.
So I would keep a close eye on the place from a calm distance, and use the ABB dash to communicate .
What rules did they break?
Do you have a contract with those rules clearly stated?
What do you guess will happen over the next 2 days?
I am surmising that you have no Security Deposit in hand…

Personally as a host. If there was a party at my place I would call the guest to get it shut down.

If I lived in a country where guns are common, I would not allow them in my listing.

If guests ignored my request I would go there in person with some friends and get it shut down in person. I would then be at the property to ensure minimal damage before the guest left.

Sometimes as hosts we need to make tough decisions and do things we would prefer not to, if we are going to manage our properties effectively and minimise the risk of damage.

It doesn’t really matter whether this host puts a deposit on their listing or not. Both a deposit claim and the Airbnb guarantee goes through the same process.

I certainly would not knowingly let a party rage with guests doing untold damage to my place.

What were they doing that you wanted them kicked out?

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To build on this: Were they loud with loud music & bad behavior, maybe destructive? Or did your guest invite a few friends over to socialize & drink? How bad was it?

In my area, loud music and loud voices are considered disturbing the peace thus is a police matter. The police won’t ask people to vacate the premises but they will intervene about the noise.

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This is pretty obvious when you think about it. The people in the rental had handed over good money to stay there so they are not trespassing at all. Their visitors on the other hand could be but if they are there by invitation of the guest and if you don’t have a strict rule then the police are not going to intervene.

I don’t understand why you didn’t just go and tell them to get out?

Parties are not illegal. Drinking is not illegal. So the police can do nothing as the people are on private property. So call Airbnb, then go to the rental and kick them out. Easy.

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We are explicit in no parties or visitors beyond the registered guest count. They had a reservation of 10… that turned into a drunken post-wedding 23 people. Sad thing is; from the moment we gave her a walk-thru she appeared to be incredibly smug, almost to the point of knowing she was going to break the rules. In hindsight, and based on the ages of the guests that came through the door, she booked it on behalf of someone under 25 so that they could use it while she stayed in it.

We saw a neighboring AirBnB state in their rules that if guests outside of the registered count appear, they are immediately accessed a $200 fee. Can this be done through our platform?

Thank you for the help!

Guests/visitors exceeded the total number in the reservation… and they were having a party. 10 guests… 23 people in the home.

One thing; we have a max occupancy set at 12, I’m wondering if we should have had everyone kicked out that exceeded that total.

The cops sound correct on this, for sure. A civil matter… a tenant/landlord dispute.

Your visitors have the same rights as would a long term renter with a lease.
You can’t have people removed from a space they legally obtained just because you
feel they are being naughty.

you can invoice them through the site for sure, but no guarantee they will pay.
I would invoice someplace between $500 to $1500 for the illegal party, and it is in my contract too.
where is your property?

no, everyone goes, this isn’t Schindlers Shitting List, or Sophies Shitting Choice.

Which ones leave? Then how long do you wait to make sure they don’t tiptoe back in?
Happy to leave the rule breakers in there?

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I think that the problem is that he/she didn’t kick them out - or at least address the matter - immediately. It’s a bit like having guests who stay for a week, then complain and want their money back. If a guest is breaking rules, then it should be addressed straight away. If the guests aren’t alerted immediately to their bad behaviour, and it’s allowed to continue then their response to the invoice could be ‘you should have dealt with it at the time and we’d have stopped’. By not dealing with issues, hosts can be seen as endorsing behaviour.

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They are explicitly breaking the house rules they agreed upon and have exceeded the home’s occupancy by 11 people. You’d allow this?

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Rather than asking questions, it would be great if you could answer those you’ve been asked. Why haven’t you just kicked them out?

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No but it seems you did. Or did you go there break up the party and get Airbnb to cancel the booking so you could evict the paying guests @Coho

I’m trying to answer where I can, sorry for being beside myself at the moment. Thought I’d have some understanding from others… and even a mod. Sheesh. The poster stated a position and I asked for a follow-up.

I didn’t kick them out because I was getting a run around by a lot of people and having a house full of drunk college-aged wedding goers left us out of fear our home would get destroyed. Civil matter, cancel, do this, do that, don’t do this, don’t do that.

My sincerest apologies for trying to figure this all out and not being able to answer questions in an expeditious matter while having my hands full.

Thank you to those posters here that have been attempting to help and understanding the frustrated state an owner is likely in during this time.

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It’s a lot easier to understand if we have the full picture. You say this happened to you before - how did you resolve that?

I tried to get the police there with me while I kicked them out, though the confusion came (and my hesitation) when they said it was a civil matter… then my worries over the canceled reservation and what legal implications that could have on me. This was a difficult night.

From what I’m hearing:

  • Be overly explicit with house rules
  • Put forth a penalty
  • As soon as trouble comes, hit AirBnB and drop the hammer
  • (Cancel reservation and then officially trespass them)

Is that what others have done here from what I have gathered.

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