My Neighbours Airbnb is causing issues with our pets

[Lucy361]

I have been living at my city residence for about 5 years and have not had any issues with any of my neighbours. Not even with our pets. In fact we have been good neighbors watching out for those who live close next to us. Even notified these neighbours in question when they had a gas leak and a dangerous branch (their own tree) about to fall over their roof.

In the last couple of months the neighbours next to us has decided to rent out their illegally modified garage out to guests on Airbnb. Since our dogs are not familiar with the folks coming to that property they do bark at them even when they come home in the wee hours of the night. Our neighbours instead of taking the approach of coming to talk to us has sent us nasty texts. The last one that was sent just said “ Shut your f$$$$$$$$ dogs up”. I apologize to anyone reading this, I do not like using improper language in my daily life or written language, but just using their example to get the point across.

Their guests are sometimes loud and park too close to our driveways which does cause issues, but we have not complained. Don’t see the point in being petty.

My husband and I are quite disappointed with this behavior especially we have not had issues with anyone until these started renting out the illegally modified garage out for Airbnb. The neighbours has never approached us to try and speak to us either.

Our approach has been to send them a text that we do not appreciate their texts but would like them to give us a call at their convenience to speak with them.

I would like your feedback since our dogs are our our babies and we do not want anyone unreasonable complaining about them. Especially since we had no issues prior to the Airbnb. As an FYI we reside in Texas.

[Paul154]

@Clara116

You are correct. i come to this board with my ton of experience with busybody neighbors. None of it good.

I have had neighbors park in  and block my driveway . 

I have neighbors who have told me my guests can't park in the street (they can).

I have had new neighbors who have told me I can't build up or out ( I can)

I have had new neighbors who called me a liar when I told them my house was single-family residence (it was, but they had sniffed inside my house before my closing date and saw two electrical boxes so they jumped to an incorrect conclusion)

I have had neighbor with loud barking dogs (they bark because you are new...)

Maybe I am wrong. Maybe this a sweet confused person who needs our loving guidance.

I mean why would a blank face person come to AN AIRBNB HOST page seeking remediation from us? Why would she slip in innocent words like "Illegal dwelling" and "It started AFTER Airbnb" and "I am so helpful" and "She did not come to ME". 

Call a spade a spade.

A troublemaker is a troublemaker.

[Lucy361]

Thanks Clara. 

Anyways she did call the cops on our barking dogs when we were out in the countryside with our dogs. The cops did call us and confirmed that he did not hear anything from our fence but there were other barking dogs in the neighbourhood. He was going to issue them a warning.

Paul if you did notice I did not point out the location of the city just the state. I am not here to tell on my neighbours. I am fine with them having an Airbnb. I own a couple of Airbnb condos as well. We actually saved this stupid illegal garage apt of theirs when it was smoking last year due to an electrical problem. They asked us for an electricians recommendation and we gave them ours. He refused to touch the place since everything was not done up to code and he felt that it was a safety hazard and another fire or catastrophe waiting to happen. Therefore it is an illegal dwelling. We did not go snooping in their place. They came to us. When their fence between us fell down since their contractor did a shoddy job, THEY CAME to us for help. I work an 80 hour/ week job with two small children under 2 besides running my rental/ Airbnb/ flipping/ renovation business. I do not have the time to waste picky neighbours.

[Helen3]

Quite honestly @Lucy361 if the property is as dangerous as you say, knowing this I think you have a duty to report that it is being used as an Airbnb.

Please contact your local government or whoever is responsible.  before a guest gets hurt or worse.

[Paul154]

 @Clara116 you are correct and I am glad you have pointed out my anti-social attitude. I am very defensive when so many people, groups, media and  governments blame airbnb for everything bad in this world.

Because we are small and new and successful, it just seems we are the whipping boy for everything.

I do tend to get a knee-jerk reaction when unjustly blamed for something.

On top of that all, Seattle has just passed its draconion Anti-airbnb laws, so I have been obsessing about my going back to povery...

I will try to temper myself and be more diplomatic. 

Cheers

[Clara116]

@Paul154 hey thanks....I get it and this makes sense to me now.  What a bummer that there are so many challenges. Peace brother....I do hope you can some how continue  hosting and making a living. Keep us posted. Best regards, Clara

[Lucy361]

Sorry to hear about the Airbnb laws. I know you might like to stay in a Seattle but can you sell and perhaps run and air bnb someplace else. We have a couple of condos in Florida that we run remotely. I don’t know what type of dwellings you rent out for airBB. Just trying to help here.

[Sam397]

@Lucy361, first off I have always felt that what a neighbor does to his property is none of my business so the illegally modified garage you referred to a few times shouldn't have been mentioned (in my opinion). But it is your responsibility to keep your dogs under control. Its one thing for them to bark when someone comes down the driveway as long as they dont continue to bark. . I have some experience with neighbors dogs barking at night and a few barks can be ignored its the continuous barking that gets you mad. It seems to me that if this neighbor never complained before but is doing so now with nasty texts that maybe your dogs could be barking quite a bit at night. The reason they are barking dont matter, if your dogs are barking at night you need to stop them, plain and simple. And your comment about not wanting to stop him from making money sounds to me like your saying its ok with you as long as he doesn't complain about you. 

[Lucy361]

Thanks for your comments. The issue is not my dogs but my neighbour. They do not consistently bark. Only when someone passes by and then they are done. 

We took our our dogs this weekend and went to the countryside and whilst we were away she called the cops on us for the barking. He came by the house at 3 am and called us but then agreed that the issue could be the neighbour since he did not hear any dogs as he walked towards the house. Or the back fence. 

I did receive a threathening text from her this weekend too that she was going to file a disturbance claim but the cop agreed that he did hear other dogs barking in the area but not from our yard.

[Helen3]

Not if they are breaking the law and putting others at risk @Sam0 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Lucy361

I honestly don't care if neighbors have dogs....... but I do care if the dogs bark all the time and wouldn't care about WHY they bark - it is up to the owner to train them or find a way to limit their barking.

Why should anyone have to put up with constant barking from a neighbor's dog every time they have guests or visitors? It's not even about hosting thru ABB. There can be many reasons why foot traffic to someone's home could increase.

Your neighbor is rude to send you those types of texts BUT I also think they have reached their limit putting up with the constant barking of your extremely territorial dogs. I can't believe you made all your neighbors put up with your dogs barking for an entire month when you had new neighbors.

[Lucy361]

Turns out that the barking was not just coming from my dog. She called the cops on us to report our barking dogs this weekend. Joke was on her. We went away to the countryside and took our dogs with us. 

I have no no issues keeping my dogs quiet but the issue at this point is the neighbour.

thanks for your feedback.

[Rebecca181]

If their garage 'renovation' is illegal, as you say, then call the city and county and report it. You could save a life. Or multiple lives. For example, who knows what wiring jobs they did in there for heat, cooking devices, etc? A fire wouldn't just harm unsuspecting inhabitants, it could burn part of your neighborhood down as well. 

[Sam397]

@Rebecca181  I am not trying to get you mad or insinuate anything but saving lives, seriously. Let's be honest, if a neighbor reports a neighbor for illegal renovation it's not because they think they could be saving lives,  they do it to benefit themselves in some way.  I think its more likely because they are nosey neighbors who can't mind their own business, or because they don't want to hear the noise caused by the construction, or because they just don't like them. Saying its to save lives is just a crock that they use to justify doing it. A nosey neighbor or a neighbor who can't mind their own business is just as bad as the neighbor who throws loud parties til 3 in the morning. IMO if you are one who does this you need to mind your own business and quit trying to make peoples lives as miserable as your own must be.

[Rebecca181]

@Sam397 You are not making me mad with your comment. You are simply showing me what kind of person you are: Reactive, assumptive; rude; judgmental; and obviously incapable of following the forum guidelines that mandate respectful communication between hosts. 

[Sam397]

@Rebecca181, I don't know how I wasn't following forum guidelines but tell me something  your post " You are simply showing me what kind of person you are: Reactive, assumptive; rude; judgmental; and obviously incapable of following the forum guidelines that mandate respectful communication between hosts" is that what you consider respectful communication between host?. I admit that I may go into a**hole mode when it comes to neighbors but in my defence,  there is a reason for it. I have had a few bad neighbors that did things like go through my mail to see what kind of stuff I was getting, and would even ask me about something that was in there, or peak out the window and watch you everytime you were outside, call the cops for partying when I had people over for a BBQ (cop said you could hear music but couldn't make out the words)  or call the city because the tuff shed I had put in was 2 inches short of the 3'ft required distance from the house, and report me to the fire department when I had an automatic gate installed in my driveway, the reason he gave the fire department for turning me in was if there was a fire the fire department wouldn't be able to get past the gate and people could die. So yea, its a touchy subject for me. And when I hear someone that says the reason they turn in their neighbor in was to save lives I have to say something because I know that is has nothing to do with saving lives.If you ask someone who knows me they would tell you that I am not any of those things you said. I do speak my mind sometimes maybe when I shouldn't, and I do try not to be an  a** but sometimes I am so if I was rude to you or offended you I do apologize.