Host entering my appartment without permission and stealing the air conditioning remote

[Marcos595]

Hi all,

I have never posted on here, but I really wanted to get your feedback on this very gnarly situation I’ve just had with a host on airbnb.

I just moved into an appartment today. The host lives in the appartment right above me. Shortly after I arrived, I decided I needed to buy some groceries. I left the air conditioning on because it’s summer and it’s southern france. After I came back 30 minutes later, I found that the air conditioning had been turned off and the remote had disappeared. I was very confused. I could not imagine a host sneaking into my appartment just to turn of the aircon and to steal the remote. A couple hours later I had to knock on her door. She told me that she had indeed taken the remote because she was very “concerned about the environment”, and she apologized. I thought it was all very strange, but I accepted her apologies and went back to my room. Later, I had to leave again for a couple hours. This time, I left the air conditioning on on purpose, just to see if she would sneak into my appartment again to check if I had turned it off. When I came back, I found that she had turned it off, and had stolen the remote yet again. It was around 11pm, and I was furious. I rushed upstairs to her appartment and knocked on her door for the second time that day. Her husband angrily came out telling us off for having left the air conditioning on again. I nearly lost my patience and said that they have no right to enter our property while we are gone. It is a complete violation of our privacy. They claimed that they had told me several times to leave it turned off, thus justifying entering my appartment when I leave. They said it was stated on the terms of the listing (it wasn’t, i took screenshots). But even if I had turned the air conditioning off, they STILL would have entered my appartment just to make sure.

I just need some confirmation that this is in fact, illegal. Can a host just enter my appartment like that and do as she pleases as soon as I leave? Does she have the right to steal the remote of the air conditioning because I left it on for a couple hours while I was gone?

I have called Airbnb and this issue is currently being investigated. I obviously feel very uncomfortable in this appartment, since I know the host enters whenever we leave to check if we turned everything off (and to steal the remote if we didn’t).

I would appreciate your input regarding this situation.

[Anonymous]

@Marcos595   What the Terms of Service on  Airbnb have to say about the matter:

2.3 Accommodation Reservations. An Accommodation reservation is a limited license to enter, occupy, and use the Accommodation. The Host retains the right to re-enter the Accommodation during your stay, to the extent: (i) it is reasonably necessary, (ii) permitted by your contract with the Host, and (iii) consistent with applicable law. 

Personally, I think your hosts' behavior here was totally out of line, and you'd be well within your rights to cut your stay short and relocate. But when it comes to the law, I'm not so sure - tenancy protections don't generally extend to short-term stays, so in most places your rights as a renter are about the same as those a hotel guest has. And indeed, if you're staying at a hotel, the staff can enter your room at any time without your expressed permission.

How to best proceed here really depends on the result that you want. If you'd like to complete your stay despite the discomfort, it doesn't seem like too much to ask that you stop wastefully leaving the A/C on while you're out of the home. The hosts should have been clear about their position on this in the House Rules, and it's mostly their fault if they weren't, but now that you know this is unacceptable to them you have no good reason not to respect their wishes.

If you want to terminate the booking and get refunded for your unused nights, you can try submitting a change request to move up your checkout date: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/913/how-do-i-change-a-reservation-for-a-place-to-stay

If the host is not cooperative, you can bolster your point about the hosts' unexpected re-entry by focusing it squarely on the fact that they didn't inform you before entering your privately rented space. You do yourself no favors by saying they "stole" the A/C remote, because they own that device - not you. Same goes for the apartment. It is not "your" apartment in any sense that holds water legally; it's theirs, so this is a matter of irreconcilable differences rather than theft and home invasion.

[Marcos595]

Hey Andrew, thanks for your response. 

Airbnb contacted us and said they will help cancel the remaining nights. I assume we will get refunded for them. Unfortunately we are not going to be able to find another appartment so late. 

So I guess I have no other choice but to swallow my pride and to let the host do whatever she wants. Normally I always turn off the air conditioning, but when I see this type of behaviour it makes me want to the opposite of what is asked for me. It's a really strange sensation knowing the host is waiting for us to leave just to enter our appartment to see how we left it...

Thanks for your help.

[Anonymous]

@Marcos595  I'm glad you've been able to organize a cancellation for the remaining nights. When something goes wrong in the relationship between host and guest, this is the only solution that makes any sense. Usually when things get off to a rocky start, it's still possible to repair the situation by actually swallowing your pride and communicating some respect. But when you chose to leave the A/C on the second time purely out of spite, you demonstrated that you'd rather escalate a petty conflict than reach a mutual understanding.

Consequently, you and your travel partner(s) are now stuck with whatever arrangements you can make at the last minute, all because you lost your temper over an A/C remote. You'll inevitably receive a review that will make all the really good hosts refuse to accept you as a guest despite the excellent reputation you've established with dozens of past stays. I can only say, I hope it was worth it. 

[Marcos595]

Hey Andrew,

I don’t think I mentioned that the first time I asked her to please not enter the appartment while we were gone, since it is a violation of our privacy. Guess neither of us listened to the other.

And my friend was the one who made the reservation and he doesn’t have any reviews, so I guess it’s worse for the host. If I knew beforehand that the host waits for the guests to leave to sneak in and check if they turned everything off and to see if the blinds are closed I would’ve probably picked another place. I would respect my guest’s privacy.

[Lisa723]

@Marcos595

Whether this is legal depends on local law. I do not know the law in France. (Do you, @William810?)

Airbnb TOS for European users says:

"The Host retains the right to re-enter the Accommodation during your stay, to the extent: (i) it is reasonably necessary, (ii) permitted by your contract with the Host, and (iii) consistent with applicable law."

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2908/terms-of-service

Whether entrance was "reasonably necessary" in this case is of course open to interpretation.

While I agree that this host's behavior was not ideal, neither was yours. Once you knew that your host preferred the AC to be turned off when you left, you might have either simply complied with her preference (which IMO is entirely legitimate), or attempted to reach some compromise. It seems to me that both of you behaved childishly and could probably do better.

[Sarah977]

@Marcos595  Yes, hosts should respect guests' privacy, but guests should also respect their hosts by not wasting resources and running up large electric bills. I can't imagine the place would get unbearably hot by turning the AC off when you leave for half an hour, nor that it would constitute great suffering for you to not have the place be what you consider to be the perfect temperature the instant you walk in the door.

[Marcos595]

It was on for half an hour. The second time was just for me to confirm that she in fact, was waiting for me to leave to enter my appartment. I always turn it off, this has been an exceptional circumstance with an exceptional host. 

[Sarah977]

@Marcos595  Well, good to hear it wasn't just a matter of being wasteful of electricity. I see now that you are also a host, so would understand that hosts hate having guests consume more utilities that what the host has determined are average and reasonable.

I do agree that the host shouldn't enter the guest space except for emergencies, but you setting a "trap" for the host seems really mean-spirited. Instead of just telling the host you were upset with the invasion of privacy, apologizing for not turning off the AC when you went out and saying you'll make a big effort to remember the next time would have been a more mature approach. Or even letting them know that there are devices they can use that would  tell them whether the AC was on, or at what temp, without having to enter the guest space.The way you handled it would just reinforce the host's observation that their guest won't follow simple requests.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Marcos595  I suggest you to read a couple of articles about global heating, fires in Greece and heat waves this summer and think about what could you do to help our only suffering planet.  Turning off aircon while you are not present is a good start.  I am pretty sure you will survive 

[Marcos595]

Thanks for your input. I assume you drive an electric vehicle and you never waste any additional electricity than what is absolutely necessary. In this case I forgot to turn it off the aircon for the fist half an hour, and then I wanted to check if the airbnb host just enters my appartment whenever she wants the second time around. 

Normally I always do turn it off before I leave, this has been an exceptional situation.

[Alexandra316]

@Marcos595 I would be sure to mention it in the review. I don't think it's reasonable host behaviour at all. She will probably say something about it in your review as well, but as long as you respond to the review in a reasonable, calm way, I don't see it as a deal breaker for future hosts. Because you have elected to stay, there aren't many other recourses open to you. 

I am by no means saying that I feel this host is correct. Never once have I entered my Airbnb space to adjust the temperature a guest had set. If I was really rabid about it, I think it would be reasonable to state that in the listing and/or installed some technology to deal with it, like a Nest thermostat.  I definitely feel like she should have mentioned it to you before entering your space. She could have sent you a  message on the app and you could have explained that you were just out to get groceries and were trying to cool the place down. That would have been a reasonable course of action. Entering the apartment with no notice isn't on, as far as I'm concerned, unless there is an emergency that requires immediate attention, which this was clearly not. Going in and taking the remote seems like such a passive agressive response.

[Gordon0]

Putting the environmental issues to one side (and many of us leave the AC on in hotels), your host's behaviour was out of order and I'd be miffed too. There are many ways of policing wastage, and this wasn't the right course of action.

My pet hate is guests who leave the heating on and have the windows open. I message them and tell them this isn't cool. Generally they don't do it again.  

[Asaawe0]

The biggest issue you have is that you are dealing with a host who has no understanding of the law or regard for privacy. To them: This is a home and so they have every right to enter. Your best bet is requesting a transfer to another unit and citing an invasion of privacy. 

But you get what you pay for... Next time you book an Airbnb, look for language in the listing that suggests the host may be overly protective of the property. Stay clear from listings that have an over abundance of "our home" scattered throughout the marketing description, really, harsh language in the house rules, or super defensive replies to concerned guests. All these things may suggest that host lacks a solid business (and legal) foundation.

[Sarah977]

@Asaawe0  "Stay clear from listings that have an over abundance of "our home" scattered throughout the marketing description"

That's hogwash. Hosts who get across the idea to guests that this is someone's home that they care about tend to get better guests who treat the place respectfully. It has nothing to do with invading guests' privacy.

Listings that read like an impersonal real estate ad get more bad guests who show little respect and trash places out.

But I saw you are looking to be a property manager for remote hosts, so perhaps you are under the impression that Airbnbs are all faceless, property-managed places that are simply investment properties, or that they  should be.