House Rules Advice and Feedback

[Shendra2]

Hi there...

I am new here. My property is a condo and the other condo owners renting theirs thru Airbnb as well. One day, one of their renters almost burned down the whole condo building. Because of that, now I am trying to protect my property from irresponsible and careless renters/guests like the other condo owner's renter/guest but hopefully my long house rule will not scare away my potential renters/guests. Please help... Thank you in advance for your time reading my long house rule. I am looking forward to hearing your feedback....

My rental property house rules:

1. You must be at least 27 years old at a time of reservation.
2. Contingent upon reservastions being fully accepted, we require a signed
Rental Agreement. We will accept your reservation at first, but then
require rental agreement to be signed and returned to us for full
acceptance of reservation. A contact email is required to send this
contract to you.
3. Including you, 6 guests maximum. We count an infant as a guest.
4. Substitution/subletting of any kind/NO guests of guests/NO substitutions
of guest is strictly prohibited.
5. Absolutely NO house parties allowed.
6. Guests under the age 18 must be supervised while on the balcony and
main deck
7. Renters and/or their guests are not allowed to invite others onto property.
8. No smoking, or vaping allowed within 25 feet of the building. Period. This
includes car port area, stairs, deck, balcony or storage shed.
9. No pets or wild animals (protected or venomous) allowed.
10. Please bring your own linen if you plan on using a fake tan lotion. Any
linen stained by fake tan will incur extra cost.
11. The condo is located in an HOA community that requires quite time after
10:00 pm. Guests from other condo are expected to do the same.
12. Prolong loud noises of any kind during the day is not allowed. Quite
enjoyment is welcome.
13. All guests must peacefully occupy the property.
14. Interference with our neighbors and/or their guests are strictly forbidden.
15. The property must be used for residential purposes only.
16. Burning candles, using fireworks, open flames (of any kind) or grilling on
the deck and/or balcony are strictly prohibited.
17. Do not engage in any illegal activities anywhere on the property. This
applies to both drugs and internet activities.
18. NO seafood (such as fish or bait), cleaning of seafood (such as fish) is
allowed anywhere on the property.
19. Feel free to use the kitchen for simple cooking, and cooking of anything
that causes a strong ordor will possibly result in deep cleaning fees. We
provide basic cooking utensils. Please clean up after.
20. Trash must be taken out daily. Trash is not permitted to build up in
anywhere on condo. Our blue trash bin located in the carport area.
21. To access the property, guests must climb two flights of stairs. Running
up and down the stairs/horse play on the stairs of any kind is not
allowed. Guests should not overload themselves as they go up or down
stairs. Please be cautious when you are stepping down and up.
22. Throwing of any objects off of balcony and/or deck is not allowed.
23. Check-in between 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm and Check-out by 11:00 am. Early
arrivals and late check-out are not allowed.
24. Please provide your current phone number, as we will text you the check-
in instruction on the check-in day by 4 PM. Please leave the 2 keys in the
kitchen countertop when check-out.
25. RELEASE OF LIABILITY: THE RENTER ON BEHALF OF RENTER, RENTER’S MINOR CHILDREN, RENTER’S GUESTS AND INVITEES COLLECTIVELY (“RENTER PARTIES”) FOREVER WAIVES, RELEASES, AND FOREVER DISCHARGES SURFSIDE VIP AND ALL OF ITS EMPLOYEES, MANAGERS, MEMBERS, AGENTS, CONTRACTORS, AND ALL OTHER INDIVIDUALS AFFILIATED WITH OR RELATED TO IT, WITHOUT LIMITATION, EXCEPTION, OR RESERVATION FROM ANY AND ALL LIABILITY, ACTIONS, CLAIMS, DEMANDS, OR LAWSUITS, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO PERSONAL INJURY, SICKNESS OR DEATH, AS WELL AS PROPERTY DAMAGE AND EXPENSES OF ANY NATURE WHICH THE RENTER PARTIES MAY HAVE HAD, PRESENTLY HAS, OR IN THE FUTURE MAY HAVE INCLUDING RELATED TO A CONNECTION WITH OR ARISING OUT OF THIS AGREEMENT OR THE CONDO. I ACKNOWLDGE ALL RESPONSIBILITY AND LIABILITY OF INJURY OR DEATH CAUSED BY IMPROPER USE OF THE BALCONY, DECKING, STAIRS, CARPORT, AREA AROUND THE CONDO, WHETHER SUCH USAGE IS BY ADULTS OR MINORS.

26. INDEMNIFICATION: TO THE FULLEST EXTENT ALLOWED BY LAW, THE RENTER PARTIES HEREBY AGREES TO HOLD HARMLESS AND FULLY INDEMNIFY FROM ANY AND ALL CLAIMS, DEMANDS, CAUSES OF ACTION BASED ON OR ARISING OUT OF ANY INJURIES, TO SELF OR ANY OTHER PERSON, INCLUDING DEATH, OR DAMAGES TO OR DESCTRUCTION OF PROPERTY, ALLEGED TO BE SUSTAINED IN CONNECTION WITH, ARISING FROM, OR RELATIED TO IN ANY WAY THE PERFORMANCE OF THIS AGREEMENT, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY SUCH INJURIES, DEATH OR DAMAGE TO PROPERTY THAT WERE ALLEGED TO HAVE BEEN CAUSED IN WHOLE OR IN PART AS A RESULT OF AN IDEMNIFIED PARTY’S NEGLGIENCE OR SOLE NEGLIGENCE. RENTER PARTIES ACKNOWLEDGES AND AGREES THAT IT IS ITS INTENT THAT ITS DUTIES UNDER THIS SECTION SHALL APPLY TO PROTECT THE INDEMNIFIED PARTIES FOR THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR OWN NEGLIGENCE AND SOLE NEGLIGENCE. RENTER PARTIES SPECIFICALLY ACKNOWLEDGES THIS INDEMNITY AND HOLD HARMLESS AGREEMENT COVERS AND INCLUDES ANY AND ALL ATTORNEY’S FEES, DEMANDS, COURT COSTS AND OTHER CLAIMS AND ANY AND ALL OTHER EXPENSES OF THE INDEMNIFIED PARTIES AND SHALL BE ENFORCEABLE AGAINST RENTER PARTIES BY SURFSIDE VIP FOR SUCH FEES.

You are solely responsible for yourself, your family and/or guests, and must not permit any activities at 116 Howard Ave Unit I which are contrary to any law, ordinance, and/or applicable Health, Fire Department, Insurance Company or Condominium Association provisions. These are strictly enforced & any violations will result in forfeiture of all deposit and rent and result in immediate eviction.

Please use our condo with care. Other than that, HAVE FUN! Our condo, especially the location and the view, is crazy amazing! You won't regret your stay!

Find our video on YouTube!

Surfside VIP: A Very Important Place. For Your Very Important People.

[Debra300]

@Kelly149,

Back when I read the rule, I interpreted it in the same manner as you.  The host may impose an age restriction if it's not illegal in the host's rental area for age restrictions to be set for short-term rentals.  However, I would consult with my local municipality for clarification about the local law, because the law may have some clauses like, the restriction must be due to an insurance requirement or that the property will provide alcohol.

[Kelly149]

@Debra300  The saving grace of my address is that I am immediately adjacent to a busy town but I’m technically located in the unincorporated county. Complete no-mans land of zero rules. I think I will be rewriting my listing this month

[Debra300]

@Kelly149 ,

My place in Georgia is in an unincorporated county, also (saves on the property tax), but any laws not written at the county level are administered by the state.  It seems like it maybe different for you in TX.  Time for you to pull out the keyboard for listing revisions.

[Kelly149]

@Debra300 Texas darn well believes that an owner gets to be the boss of his own self at his own house, castle doctrine in a cowboy hat. I feel pretty good about how that would turn out. 

[Mark116]

I have a long list of rules also.  The rules aren't even really there for guests to read, because no matter how  many times you ask them to read, they won't. 

The rules are there to protect me as the host in interactions with Airbnb. 

[Sarah977]

I think some of those rules don't need to be separate rules. Rather than separate rules about not running up and down the stairs, etc, that all falls under quiet enjoyment and not disturbing the neighbors. If you want to be specific, I think this could just be in a posted notice in the unit. Something like :

"Please be aware and respectful that you are in a condo building with close neighbors, not a stand-alone house. A) Walk, don't run up and down the stairs. B) No yelling and please keep voices down on common stairways, hallways, etc. C) Be respectful of what neighbors can overhear when you are out on the balcony. D) The condo HOA requires quiet time after 10PM. 

# 4 and #7 are redundant- they say basically the same thing. #4 doesn't make sense grammatically, and yes, correct the spelling errors and no ALL CAPS.

@Shendra2

[Inna22]

I also could not finish reading. How are you going to enforce daily trash? How many people ruined your sheets with the lotion? Acne medication is a much bigger issue. Just figure some sheets lost to staining into your business plan or charge for damages. If someone needs to be told they shouldn’t throw things from a balcony, they will probably not reed your rules. I agree with @Sarah977  that 4 and 7 are the same

[Ann72]

@Shendra2  11, 12, and 13 can be combined.

Your version:

11. The condo is located in an HOA community that requires quite time after
10:00 pm. Guests from other condo are expected to do the same.
12. Prolong loud noises of any kind during the day is not allowed. Quite
enjoyment is welcome.
13. All guests must peacefully occupy the property.

Combined version:

11.  Quiet [not QUITE] hours for every resident and guest in the community begin at 10 pm.  All guests must peacefully occupy the property and refrain from prolonged loud noise at any time of the day or night.

Otherwise, the entire thing needs to be rewritten, spell-checked, and corrected for grammar, usage, and redundancy.  If I were a guest I would read through this but would be very annoyed at all the misspelled words.

You are better off simply charging more to get better guests and to cover yourself from little issues that arise (like stained sheets, as @Inna22 pointed out).