My property manager locked me out of my own listing and isn't responding to texts, calls, email

[Amber1091]

Hi, my husband and I own a property several hours away from where we live and we rent it on airbnb. We hired a local manager to run it for us, but she has locked us out of the property's airbnb account, isn't responding to our messages, and hasn't sent us our payouts in 2 months (meanwhile we're still paying the mortgage and utilities).  When we try to get into the airbnb account, we can't because she's made herself the primary host (we're the co-host) and the verification numbers all go to her cell and her email. Is there anything Airbnb can do to help us get control back of our account? 

As far as we can tell from the public side of the listing, the property is still renting and running appropriately. 

[Frances3408]

@Amber1091. I'm not a lawyer but there are many other posts on here with similar problems over the years. You allowed them to be the primary host when it was set up so its not your account in Airbnb's eyes, and even if you  terminate they will still usually own all the old reviews. So its a civil matter.

You need to carefully read your agreement with this local manager and modify or even terminate if necessary (isnt there grounds in it re non payment- which you have to prove completed booking revenue that isnt being forwarded to you?). You may need to visit the property and the local manager.

Then you need to contact Airbnb with proof that the agreement has ended (if no resolution) and that you will be taking over as primary host of the property (with a new listing). Then you can appoint a co host but you will remain in control.

If at any stage it becomes stuck, seek the advice of a lawyer. Visit the property and make all necessary steps to secure the property when legally able to do so.

Good luck.

[Helen3]

Oh dear I hate when unscrupulous managers and cohosts set up an owners STR business under their profile. 

the cohost should never be paying you . The listing should be set up so you get paid by Airbnb directly  and the cohosts payment is allocated on the listing set up as a percentage so they get paid directly too. 

As the listing is in the cohosts name - In your situation I would change the locks immediately so the cohost can't admit guests to the property . 

And report the cohost to Airbnb. Sadly Airbnb are notoriously slow in doing anything in situations like this . 

What does your contract with the cohost say about payment. I would also be taking the cohost to small claims court to recover the money they owe you. 

[Emilie]

Hi @Amber1091, 

I'm so sorry to hear you're running into some issues with your property manager!

Helen and Frances have shared some advice on how to proceed, but I wanted to check in as well to see if you'd already contacted the Support team to have them investigate?

Let us know how you get on please 🙂

Thanks, 

Emilie 

[Amber1091]

Thank you everyone, this is helpful advice. We have contacted Airbnb support, but they haven’t been helpful so far. The fact that our Airbnb account was set up with a shared email address we set up specifically for the property (that the manager has also changed the password to so we can no longer get in) seems to stump them…and I think because she’s made herself the primary host and not the cohost (which she made us) makes it seem like it’s not our account. It’s just so frustrating. We’ve offered to send proof that we are the property owners, but they don’t seem to know what to do with that which is absolutely infuriating. English is also clearly not the first language for the folks we’ve spoken to, which is fine, but in our case adds to the communication barrier. 

[Helen3]

Can you not report a lost password on the email account and when you get in change the password . @Amber1091 

As long as the listing was set up under your name you can then go in and remove the cohost and add yourself as the main host 

[Amber1091]

Unfortunately, the manager went deep. The backup email on the property email account is hers. So a “forgot password” sends the link to her personal address. She really screwed us. 

[Amber1091]

I think in addition to hiring a lawyer, we need to probably report her profile as a fraudulent host. But for the moment I’m afraid of what that will do to our listing since she’s the “host” on the listing and we’ve spent the last four years building up reviews etc. 

[Helen3]

you still haven't clarified whose name the listing was set up under so difficult to advise further. 

you can either take action to recover your STR business  or you can wait and hope your cohost has a a change of heart and does the right thing.

if you are reporting the listing then you might as well change the locks .

@Amber1091 

[Amber1091]

Hey Helen, it was set up originally under my husband's name, but with the email address we set up for the property to share with the manager (not his personal email address). So the manager has changed both the email password for our host account AND made herself the host and us the cohost and made all of the verification info her own. So we can neither get into our own email for the property nor the airbnb account. 

[Joan2709]

@Amber1091 

Airbnb can easily see on the listing itself in the Listing Edtior under Co Hosts that you are actually the owner (if the listing was setup with you as owner). Ask them to go to the Listing Editor and check the Co Hosts section:

In the mean time, be sure to immediately change the locks as already advised by @Helen3  so she cannot continue bookings. You may have to setup another listing and start from scratch if Airbnb won't work with you on this. 

Just wondering what the reason was for her to do all this? 

[Amber1091]

Thank you, Joan! We'll keep trying with Airbnb and that screenshot is super helpful. 

Honestly, I have no idea why she's doing this. It is utterly baffling. She's been late on our payouts for months before she stopped responding to us too and always has excuses that don't make any sense (like she's limited on how much money she can send each month), so I suspect that she's been spending her clients' payout money (and probably not just ours). She was a friend of a friend so we let her excuses fly for a while and gave her the benefit of the doubt, but in retrospect that was really dumb. 

[Frances3408]

@Amber1091. In preparing for the worst, start taking photos of your property (so you need to visit it and gain access), writing texts and noting all the current listing options- taking screen shots to ensure you will be quickly up and running again once you take over. In your new listing you can reference the old listing and say its under new management if you think that's a selling point.

With my listings the owners have installed an additional deadlock which only they have the keys for. They have never needed to use it and clearly there is a trusted relationship, but if you end up changing the locks and getting someone to help you host you may wish to consider in a worst case scenario plan.

[Joan2709]

@Frances3408 

Those are excellent ideas!

[Amber1091]

Thank you so much, Frances! That is great advice.