I've been hosting guests using a spare bedroom in our apartment this month... There are normally 4 of us that live in the home but during the summer the room is vacant... I was just contacted by the landlord's attorney/agent that said they will be "terminating my tennancy" because I am "illegally operating a hotel" in the building which is not zoned for "hotels"
I contacted my attorney, since I have lived here for 10 years (yes TEN years without issue) and there is no provision in our lease about subletting nor transient guests... and since we are currently under a lease he will have a very difficult time evicting us. Apparently the guests that I hosted two days ago, instead of following my arrival procedure that I outline (which consits of texting or calling me either your ETA so I can be home or texting me 30-60 minutes before you arrive after check in), they decided to enter the building and knock on the first door they saw... which happens to be the property owner. He told me that the two gentlemen arrived and asked where the "bed and breakfast was?" I tried explaining to our landlord that he was referrring to the company/booking platform and that I was not operating a bed and breakfast per se but he became irate and very angry and referred to the guest that was here earlier as "elderly" and that he was concerned about insurance and getting sued. I explained about the Airbnb host guarantee coverage (which I know doesn't apply to common areas nor personal liability but didn't tell him that) and I also explained that my renter's insurance policy does cover this AND I have an umbrella insurance policy that provices gap coverage in the event something bad happens... All in all, it's over $1mil in insurance on my end alone, not including the host coverage Airbnb provides. It should be noted that the guests were not elderly or geriatic at all... they were barely 40 years old and were physically fit. There were no issues with their gait and they could ambulate just fine without any assitance. It's three flights of stairs... it's not the Boston marathon. Needless to say, he yelled and screamed at me and then later his attorney/agent called me and notified me of our pending eviction.
I am fully versed on "transiet guests" and how Massachusetts and our town handle and classify the issue. I'm not in the wrong here but our landlord is making everyone VERY uncomfortable and my lawyer told me to suspend hosting any further guests until we resolve the issue. I had someone arriving tomorrow for 5 days and I notified her this morning when I received the notification from the landlord and his agent and processed a cancellation under extenuating circumstances and requested she be fully refunded.
The guest just contacted me and is very upset - even though she will be refunded - but she said she is not able to find anything available for the same price. I have offered to help her find alternate accomodations. I offered to even pick her up from the airport or train station and drive her whereever she ends up staying. I feel really bad - but she is unhappy and said I have put her in a bad situation and is requesting me to reconsider.
I'm not reconsidering - especially with an irate and angry landlord downstairs who is a bit of a drinker... it's an uncomfortable situation for those of us that live here... let alone the guests that want to come. Why would they want to be subjected to this? I sent her a message saying it would not be a comfortable situation for them to stay in and that I would assist in every other way possible but I cannot have guests at this time. I have the feeling that if we did host them (and our landlord would know because he is on dissability and lives on the first floor watching people come and go all day) I would come home from work to our locks changed and our stuff out on the street (illegal I know - but he is acting in such a way that I wouldn't put this past him)...
Has anyone run into this situation before? Aside from offering to assit the aforementioned guest with transportation or alternative accomodations, is there anything else I should do? I genuinely feel bad but the situation is out of my control. We've had nothing but stellar guests and when I have traveled I've had nothing but awesome hosts... and I've not had any kind of tenant issue with the landlord before. I'm just not sure how to proceed aside from what I have offered to do for the guest and have communicated this to Airbnb support and also suspended my listing until this disaster is resolved.
Cheers,
Chris