How often to you check your cameras?

[Gary1337]

I am a neighbor of an air bnb.  I have used this forum many times to answer questions about how air bnbs operate and  hoping to get some more info from the community.  

The neighboring property does have outside cameras and I am curious how often the hosts check them?   We share a driveway and I have had issues with parking along with other things.  I have informed the host before of the issues and he seems completely unaware. Once during a discussion as to why I blocked my property with my truck  I even asked if he looked at his cameras and he said no. There had been a huge party and I was using my truck to block people from coming to my house.  

I have read where some check in the beginning and end of the stay.  Others don’t monitor them and just review them if need be. While some seem to ‘babysit’ excessive movement during the stay.  

Regardless of the relationship we have I just want to ensure his lack of viewing is not standard practice or even required by air bnb for privacy of the guest.  I feel he should be checking the camera more to ensure our shared driveway is open however i do not want to jump to conclusions or place non warranted blame. 

thank you all again.  This forum has been very helpful to help me understand living next to an air bnb.  

[Emilia42]

@Gary1337 I don't have cameras but I am in a position where I need to monitor the parking situation. Luckily, I live onsite and I go out of my way all the time to check that Airbnb guests, longterm tenants, family, and neighbors are all parking where they should be. I consider it my responsibility. Your Airbnb neighbor is being a little inconsiderate if you ask me. 

[Gary1337]

Thank you for the response.    If the host was onsite I believe it would be completely different.  I also understand this property could be fairly hard to manage due to the set up.  But he was a super host when he purchased the home.  So I feel he should know how to handle it.  

[Shelley159]

Hi @Gary1337

This is a bad situation for both of you. As a host, I know that guests don't always follow instructions, so a shared driveway can be very stressful. For you it must be terribly frustrating to get parked in. I have an apartment in a building that has two access gates (most similar buildings have just one gate). I didn't realise this at first, but the two access points are incredibly useful as one entrance is sometimes blocked by careless parking. If the layout of your yard is such that there is any way to add an alternative parkway/driveway, that's something to consider. It's unfair that you would pay for it, but if it saves you years of legal fees and stress .....

For neighbours the upside of an Airbnb is that terrible guests stay for a limited time. It's possible that the next permanent occupant of that house may also be terrible, and that's worse! In such a case a second entry point will still be great.

[Gary1337]

There is no possible way to have another entrance.  Picture a cul-de-sac with a single road.  That is the situation with the 2  properties. .  You mention the up side is they leave every few days.  In my county that is actually the downside.  If this were a permit resident the county and sheriff would both be involved as this would be habitual and therefore very easy to take legal action.  Also I cannot speak for you however for myself I would much rather have a know evil of a bad neighbor than the anxiety of ‘who is my neighbor today’.  Especially considering we are the only 2 homes  here.  I was gone for work and my ring camera showed people in my back yard.  But since they are not permanent residents the Sheriff’s hands are tied.  Because as you stated they are gone in 3 days.  

My post was very successful as the input about camera s is helpful for me to understand how the community uses them.  But at this point my only real option is to just treat his property the way he treats mine, with no respect.  Eventually this will impact him in such a way he will feel it in value added to do little things like not advertise my property as the ‘cul-de-sac’ for his business.  

I apologize if this seems like a vent post.  But in my area with my laws an off site host with people coming and going every few days is the absolute worst case scenario.  I can do absolutely nothing except have parties broken up then I am at their mercy of whether they let me go to work the next day.  I live in the county not a city.  They pretty much let you do what you want assuming what goes around comes around.  Unfortunately it never comes around because no one is here permanently. 

I would pay 30-40k to have another driveway it is just not an option.  Even if I get a court order to keep the driveway clear I still am required ask each new guest every time to move before I can take action with a tow truck.  To add to this, it is not only his guests.  It is his family, friends, employees, etc.  he physically doesn’t do it because he knows that if he does I can sue very easily.  But I have him on camera watching others violate the easement and trespass because he knows it is much harder to sue him for their actions.  

I appreciate your time to respond.  Thank you.  

[Joan2709]

Hi @Gary1337 

Difficult situation for sure. I can tell you the Hosts I work with all want good relationships with their neighbors and go out of their way to do everything possible to achieve that. Part of being a good Host is anticipating problems BEFORE they arise and acting accordingly. Sounds like this Host is just reacting after the fact instead of being proactive to prevent a problem. Noise monitors and cameras are only effective if some action is taken when there is a problem. As other Hosts have mentioned, most Hosts don't have the time to review camera footage all the time. However, most Hosts will take action if the noise monitor alerts go above a certain level, or they get constant notifications of activity at the front door (indicates guest might be sneaking in addl guests withhout Host consent).

This must be a larger property? Add a pool and that means sometimes guests will ignore House Rules and have "parties" or otherwise cause parking issues, etc. A good Host will find ways to remedy the issue to the extent possible. Not sure this Host is doing that. It's difficult to visualize the situation of the properties and offer suggestions without seeing a photo and knowing the details of the  physical layout though. Sounds like you have already done what you can though? 

That said, most times when a party is reported by a neighbor to Airbnb, (or a even a Host who is trying to stop a party and reports it to Airbnb to have guests reservation cancelled), Airbnb generally suspends the listing for a period of time while they "investigate."  It seems odd to me that when you report a complaint to Airbnb they have not done this? Having your listing suspended costs a Host money and blocks their calendar from bookings for a period of time. Airbnb will suspend ALL the Host's listings (not just the one involved) when this happens. They will cancel future reservations as well depending on the circumstances. 

Sorry you are experiencing this issue, but I can assure you most Hosts are very concerned about keeping good relationships with their neighbors and preventing damage to their property from "parties."

[Gary1337]

I truly believe this is not the norm from the air bnb host community.  

They did suspend his properties however he jumped right in with the minimum possible to get the listing back going.  I also had to take a day off work as his reported my truck to DMV.  It is legally registered but still took me a full day to clear his complaint.  The properties are very unique and are hard to visualize. Also the driveway is his property and I have an easement.  This is important as the sheriff can’t get involved because it is civil.  He can legally block my access forcing me to go to court to sue against the civil agreement. 

He is very reactive and I am picking my battles to ensure my effort and possible issues from retaliation are value added.  

it is a pretty large property and the path between the pool and house are now via the shared drive.  Making it very difficult to monitor traffic as a standard family of four might set off hundreds of alerts over a weekend just going to the back yard.  This is partially due to the way the property is but he also closed off the other entrance forcing more activity through the shared area of the driveway.  

I have monitored my property and the shared property.  I have talked to air bnb and plan to submit a data dump to ensure that there is enough to warrant changes.  I just need to ensure it is enough to offset the retaliation.  

I am also waiting to see if the property gets foreclosed on.  He is commenting mortgage fraud as it was purchased with a FHA loan.  Once I’m convinced that FHA or the mortgage company will not take action I will be more aggressive on my end.  He also just listed the home as a fitness center.  This will open up more avenues as customers of the business falls under different rules than guests.  

I really appreciate the input. Now that he has multiple listing I will look at my options for complaints.  I did not realize they suspend all listings.