Guest threw a party during Corona Virus, Police Called, Airbnb unreachable by phone

[Sean433]

Yesterday at 2:00am, I had to rush over at one of my listings due to noise complaints received by neighbours. I knocked the door which was opened by guests who were extremely trashy. A strong smell of weed exited the home as they opened the door. At that point, I realized I needed to end their reservation. One thing I never tolerate is people smoking inside. The poor neighbour has two young kids who were kept awake because of the trashy guests.

Police had to be called when they refused to leave. The REASON they refused to leave was because airbnb was unreachable by phone to cancel the reservation. They have a pre recorded message that due to shortage of staff, they are not taking any calls. Ultimately, the police refused to kick them out because the reservation could not be cancelled. Our joke of a police department still had the ability to kick them out for breaching our contract by breaking noise ordinance bylaws and hosting an unauthorized party. Yet they seemed to think the guest had the same rights as a long term tenant (untrue). This joke of police also told me that even if the guest had 40 people over, they cannot go inside and kick them out. When I mentioned that there were several incidents of shootings at airbnb's in Toronto, they just brushed it off and said "so what? Who are you to say this would turn into a shooting"?

Having hosted well over 500 reservation thus far, this was the first time I had to ever involved the police who were completely useless and not even aware of my rights as a landlord. Police were even more useless because airbnb was not available for us. Currently the guests are still there and set to check-out tomorrow as they refused to leave. Police have sent them the message that they can do whatever they want with people's property up to and including having 20, 30 , 40 g-d knows how many people without recourse.

On top of that, they didn't even care that this is the worst time to host a party due to the Corona Virus. There is never a good time to host an unauthorized party however this would be the absolute worse time. to the TORONTO POLICE, you are a JOKE and that is why nobody takes you seriously. You had some 10 officers there and none of them were fully aware of my rights at that moment. Additionally, you took my ID and recorded it however you did not take the ID of the guest when you spoke to her.As such, you failed to document the events and those who were involved. That was your first mistake. Your second mistake was telling me that the guest has a right to stay despite breaking bylaws and thus breaching our contract.

[Carlota27]

Sean, If you can, please leave your guest with a noticed review that best describes her behavior. 

I wonder if possible could you tell who that person is (only to help us landlords to prevent this from happening to us) ?

Once I had a similar issue with a tenant that got away from being penalized because Airbnb did nothing to resolve the matter.  My rental is in Dundas, so close to Toronto, and I am terrified to being unable to live again the same situation, with zero support from both Airbnb and police?? 

Thanks.  Carlota   🙂

[Sean433]

@Carlota27 

I cannot type in her full name because it will be blocked but the first name is Zahria from Mississauga. I have exactly 4 hours from now to leave her a review. I will leave it at the last second.

[Carlota27]

I completely understand Sean.  I only wish Airbnb would be more supportive and fair with Hosts,

relate and understand some awful things we have to endure with some guests.

Good luck and best regards!

Carlota   🙂

[Sean433]

@Carlota27 

I already typed out my review. I have had at least 2 bad reviews I have written for bad guests deleted by airbnb before. This time, I will post the review I left this horrible guest in a screen shot. If airbnb removes this review, there will be evidence for everyone to see how unjust the system is. Stay tuned. For the record the review I will write will be as such...

"

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE- Zahriah rented our 4 bedroom home for a weekend during the Covid-19 Pandemic claiming it was to house her family. She claimed there would be 5 guests in total. Before accepting the booking, I reminder her of our house rules and that no outside guests are allowed for insurance purposes and especially because of the pandemic.

Later that night at 2:00am, our neighbour who shares a wall with us was complaining of loud noise (music and shouting) and a strong smell of Marijuana entering her home. I drove out there to see what was happening. Upon arriving, I saw 4 cars parked on the street. I knew then that she was throwing a party. I was shocked at this because I had confirmed with her already that she would not have any party or any outside guests. I was even more shocked that she would due this during the Pandemic further risking herself and our home. When I knocked on the door and she opened it, I smelled an extremely strong smell of Marijuana and several people inside. At that point, I asked her to end her party and leave our home. She refused to leave and after 10 minutes of discussion back and forth about the severity of her actions, she still refused and closed the door on my face. I then had to call the police. This is the first time in hosting nearly 1000 reservations that I have ever had to do this. Before the police arrived, Zahriah had some of her friends leave the home. Once the police arrived, she still refused to leave and unfortunately we were not allowed to end her reservation. It was horrible having to be forced to allow her to stay at our home despite her smoking inside. Upon check-out, the home smelled horribly of smoke and Marijuana. She burned two comforters with either cigarettes or marijuana. She left a horrible mess with several bottles of alcohol. They was alcohol and juice spilled on the walls. On top of all this, she refused to pay for the damages she caused. This was by far the worst hosting experience I have ever had and I have hosted nearly 1,000 reservations across over 10 listings."

[Linda108]

@Sean433   This is my second attempt to warn you about why your review might get pulled.  Hopefully this one will get to you.  The Air  BNB Content Policy does not allow any reference to the claim for damages process in the review.  Remove that portion because it is so important for your review to stay with this guest profile.  Good luck and keep us posted.

[Sean433]

@Linda108 

I have posted reviews before that did not violate any policy and they were still removed. This time, I am posting a screen shot here as evidence in case this gets removed, there will be a record of the removal.

Also, I did not reference any claims or airbnb involement.

[Sean433]

They also just checked out  30 minutes late. Cleaner did not report any damage. Just the smell of weed.

I messaged the guest that I will not hesitate to take this to a lawyer if she decided to defame us as well as for having caused permanent damage to our reputation with our neighbors. Since I have her passport, she should know I also have recourse and I am happy to put some fear in her for the issues she caused us.

[Ryan113]

Wow, you have your own cleaner. Make sure you are compensating her well. She's the one truly at risk from extra guests during this pandemic.

[Ryan113]

My AirBnB is closed during this pandemic because I get a lot of guests trying to retreat from Seattle, and I don't want to expose myself to their droplets, nor the guest after them. Prior to this historical change of events, if I were to quit the AirBnB experience, it would be for the number of bookings that bring unauthorized guests and think 1) it's okay, 2) I won't notice, and 3) they don't need to pay for the additional guests. I keep $100 deposit on hand just for this reason. My place has no neighbors, I am not there to greet them, and is quite remote, up by the Mt Baker Wilderness area. I just don't want parties, and the cops are definitely not coming out there for my little problem.

I'm happy to share my space with respectful people, but each additional person is a load on my septic system, the electricity to heat the extra bedroom, towels, and other potential and obvious impacts (people in a group party situation tend to get more wound up & careless, and stuff breaks). This is the main reason I have an external camera on my place and review it when guests arrive, and added to my house rules "No extra guests without permission!"

Thank you to the AirBnB community for supporting each other during this challenging time!

[Sean433]

@Carlota27 @Linda108 

Review was posted 10 seconds before cut off time and appeared in her account seconds after posted. Here is a screen shot. If this review gets removed, we have a record now.

**[Name hidden due to privacy reasons - Community Center Guidelines]

[Carlota27]

Thinking that my listing is so close to Toronto, I am really happy to know who she is, just in case later she would want to book my place, I'll be guarded and ready to refuse. 

Thank you so much Sean for being able to confront her, and also because we hosts can prevent to re-live your horrible experience.

My respects...  Carlota   🙂

[Sean433]

[Sean433]

**[Inappropriate content removed - Community Center Guidelines]

[Sarah977]

@Sean433  You're comparing police brutality that resulted in a man's death with the police declining to get involved in evicting your partying guest? That's quite a stretch.

[Sean433]

@Sarah977 

I didn't compare. I am just saying that they are arrogant on every level all the way up to thinking they can choke someone for 8 minutes. And that they don't deserve respect. The reason I wrote this to Helen was because she was so offended when I called police pigs. No other front line worker behaves like they do and their jobs are even more stressful. 

I told their supervisor when he called me a few days after the incident that these types of experiences is the reason I won't call them in the future if I need them. Whether its my car being vandalized, my home being robbed or even me being assaulted. I would rather deal with it myself since they either never show up, show up late and/or misapply the law. We pay taxes and they get paid exceptionally well in this city at least. You need to have the respect of the population and I don't think they have it.