Guest gave us a fake SSN for a long stay background check

[Don-And-Emily0]

Hi lovely hosts,

Hope this finds you all well. What an adventure hosting on airbnb has become these days… 

We don’t usually host long term stays but accepted a reservation from a traveling couple for a 4 month stay.  

Our house is located in NY where (like CA and IL) squatter laws apply. This means that if a guest is in your home for 30 days, they have full “resident” rights and you can not get them out even if they stop paying rent… The only way to evict them is to hire an attorney to start the eviction process and it can take 6 months to 2 years to get them out, during which time you are not allowed to use your home, change the locks or turn off the utilities.

The gf agreed to a lease and when the time came to vet them, she resisted and delayed giving us the necessary information culminating with her giving us a fake SSN for her boyfriend. Also his name on airbnb acct was not the full name on his DL. She also refused to purchase renters insurance which is not that expensive. 

Not sure what she thought she would accomplish with a fake ssn but at this point, we no longer felt comfortable hosting them and contacted airbnb. 

To their credit, airbnb cancelled their reservation without penalty to us, but the couple became enraged and started booking the entire 4 month period in 29 day increments… basically demanding access to our home. There are hundreds of airbnb homes in our area, but they seem fixated on ours for some reason. 

Moral of the story is: if you live in NY, CA or IL, exercise caution with long term rentals. Now that the Covid Eviction moratorium has ended, it seems conmen and women are on the move to airbnb.

[Don-And-Emily0]

Please chime in if you host long term stays and let us know how you vet the guests. Thank you.

[Stephanie365]

@Don-And-Emily0 I would contact AirBNB citing the concerns again, flag and block them from booking or conversing with you further.

And just remember, AirBNB claims they verify who their guests are. This is proof they do not and it's why I ask for ID from all guests regardless of what AirBNB says.

[Don-And-Emily0]

Hi @Stephanie365 - we did block them with the help of our airbnb csr. I’m just curious, do you require ID from all the guests or only from the person making the reservation?

[Stephanie365]

I ask for ID for everyone over 16 who is staying. This is a guest suite within my home which is why IDGAF what AirBNB says about not asking for ID. I will know who is supposed to be staying in my home.

[Marie7196]

@Don-And-Emily0 

Sorry that happened to you, I'm glad the end result went to your favor.

I host long-term and I only allow one month booking at a time. It is stated in my house rules that they cannot receive mails in my house, instead they can use Amazon or USPS lockers. They can't have their own keys (they have to put it back in the lockbox before they leave the house).  As mu lch as possible I only accept guest who have a stable home out of state and they only come here temporarily. But since my IB was on, I got an unpleasant guest lately. I'm learning as I go.

[Gillian166]

@Don-And-Emily0  I don't do long stays, but apparently in Australian even a short term stay gives tenants some rights. So far i can only find 1 example of someone trying to stay, but apparently it's a similar process to the USA, you have to go to court to give the police power to evict them. 

[Don-And-Emily0]

Same here. This is the reason we don’t do long stays, because the law is not in your favor should a tenant decide to stop paying  rent. I have my issues with airbnb but in this case I have to say they were very understanding of the risk and backed us up properly. I’m sure they see their share of squatters in these 3 states. 

[Anonymous]

@Don-And-Emily0   I wouldn't consider using Airbnb for long stays at all, in your situation. And especially not with Instant Book on. Are there no other channels available in your area for finding fixed-term tenants?

[Don-And-Emily0]

Hi @Anonymous We no longer use IB and are not even sure how they managed to book a long stay because we never allowed more than 29 days max. The only reason we considered them is because they had 10 excellent reviews and agreed to signing a lease.  However, when we put them through the vetting process they were very reluctant to provide us with the information we needed. And giving a landlord a fake ssn is never a good idea. That pretty much told us they were up to no good. 

[Kelly149]

@Don-And-Emily0 They didn’t “book” a long stay. They “requested” a long stay. Abb allows guests to request all kinds of things that your listing says you don’t allow, so that you can tell people no instead of the search results telling people no. 

and btw, you got lucky imo that abb agreed to ditch these people. In my experience they don’t really believe in leases, rental contracts, getting guests’ real contact info or really any of the typical safety measures that most leases would require. I’m glad you dodged this bullet. 

[Don-And-Emily0]

They actually did book the long stay, they didn’t “request” 

Through a technical glitch, our account settings switched to IB allowing long term bookings which we’ve never done in 3 years.

Airbnb recognized this when it happened and this is the reason they allowed us and in fact advised us to cancel the reservation when the guest decided to give us a fake SSN.

[Kelly149]

@Don-And-Emily0 these kinds of glitches are terrifying

[Don-And-Emily0]

Yes they are, and I wish @Airbnb would notify guests of rigorous vetting procedures when they attempt to book long term in NY, CA and IL. 

This particular guest acted surprised when I asked her SSNs and photo of Drivers L  for both occupants. At first she said, just use mine, then it was… my Bf doesn’t like to give out his info, etc.. etc until she gave us a fake ssn. 

Not sure about the other two states, but when you try to rent an apt or home in NY state, landlords ask for a full dossier of information like: proof of employment, paycheck Stubbs for the last 6 months, letters of recommendation from previous landlords, SSN for background checks, valid Drivers L or passport… etc. some even ask for a copy of your income tax filings for previous years. 

We asked for just 2 items and got pushback then a fake number. 

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Don-And-Emily0 

Seems this situation is a pickle that none of us would ever welcome.

We would never consider having guests for more than a week in our home, we are not looking for housemates. We do have several long term rental homes. They sign a lease which has been reviewed by our legal people. We only consider applicants who score well on our background and credit check, have solid references and proof of employment. Our current renters have provided tax returns, voluntarily. 

When we were selling a piece of property some years ago, we found squatters. It took multiple visits by law enforcement, orders from a judge and a lot of time to get them out. 

We definitely have to be as careful as possible when taking on guests for longer than a few weeks, be mindful of local laws and regulations. It is unfortunate, but true, they become tenants, which are a protected class in our state, California.