Hey folks,
I have no idea what to do and am very much in a bind.
Unfortunately, upon arrival yesterday to our Airbnb, we uncovered that the air conditioning was not working (noting that air conditioning was listed as part of the included amenities). The house was very stuffy and I suffer from asthma, thus it was very hard for me to breathe. We contacted the host immediately as we weren’t able to successfully get the air conditioning working - the central unit was not running nor was there air coming from the vents. The host sent a technician over to the home who tried to turn the fan on, however, minimal air was circulating through select vents. The technician informed us that the unit was completely frozen inside and outside of the house. The host informed us that the technician would be back in the morning and he left this morning around 7:30am. Unfortunately, as I write this, the air conditioner continues to remain broken and I have had 2 asthma attacks since being here. In addition, I am severely allergic to dust and realize that the fan has been circulating construction dust, dirty insulation, concrete debris and other particulates from the open construction that is happening in the basement. When we went to talk to the technician yesterday, we noticed that there was a lot of dust, debris and bag of concrete mix sitting at the bottom of the air intake area. At current, I am still struggling to breathe in this property despite having an air cleaner running.
Aside from this, this home completely compromises our security and we did not realize how bad it was until this morning. When I spoke to the host before checking in, he stated that there was a separate entrance into the basement where the owner may come and go and that the A/C technician was going to be accessing the basement using this entrance so that they didn’t have to enter into our living quarters. When we went to speak to the technician at the side of the house this morning, we were in utter shock and fear to what we saw. There is a full-size doorway entrance at the side of the house, however, there is no door. Instead, the doorway is covered by a sheet of plywood that the technician lifted off to the side to gain entrance to the house. The plywood is secured to the house by a small piece of wood that is propped against it on the outside (thus, it is able to be removed by anyone to gain access to the home). Once the plywood is against the doorway, there is still a 1-1.5ft gap at the bottom of the plywood board where small to medium sized animals could fit through. We also came to learn that there is no security separating the basement door from our living quarters aside from an unlocked door. We couldn’t believe that we stayed in a house that could be accessed by anyone from the public.
This is extremely worrisome because we rented this home as a 3-month stay because our pre-construction home was delayed due to COVID, however, we are so incredibly disappointed in the lack of safety the host displays for their guests. Between circulating air consisting of exposed insulation and construction debris to the lack of a door on the side entrance to the house, we feel extremely unsafe staying here. To think that we’ve moved so many valuables, particularly our work equipment, into this home and anyone could walk right into this house and into our living quarters is extremely terrifying. I have contacted Airbnb as we cannot continue to stay here. If anyone can shed some light on how to navigate this situation quickly and efficiently, I would greatly appreciate it! Right now I am at the mercy of Airbnb to assist in relocating us to another property.
