Guest refuses to leave

Amelie19
Level 2
Austin, TX

Guest refuses to leave

A guest refuses to leave our house at the end of her stay!

 

Has anyone RESOLVED a situation where a guest has refused to leave the property after the end of their booking? We are in Texas.

 

I have a guest who refuses to leave my house right now, and I don't know what to do! She has treatened me with a lawsuit, which makes no sense at all. She is litterally trespassing.  I accepted her on Friday night at 9pm after Airbnb contacted me to relocate a guest that was having a bad experience elsewhere. We accepted to take her, and she reserved for 10 days. She arrived that night and we realized that she was mentally challenged, and not "all there". After 2 nights (on Sunday), she asked to cancel her reservation, stating she had allergies and couldnt stay in our home. I agreed, and also agreed to charge her no cancellation fee and refund her the remaining nights. Then by 10pm she was still there, and probably wasn't able to find anywhere else to go. We graciously agreed to let her stay for the night, since she is mentally challeged, and we felt like it was the right thing to do for her safety.

It is now Monday and she straight up refuses to leave. She told me to contact her attorney.

Airbnb has stop replying to my messages and they really aren't of any help. It's not like that have a squatter removal unit or anything, they can only tell her to leave, but that's it.

 

HELP!

9 Replies 9
Cynthia-and-Chris1
Level 10
Vancouver, WA

@Amelie19 Definitely a matter for the police. I would call them and have them remove her for trespassing. Print the reservation confirmation to show the end date. After doing so, also contact Airbnb to inform them. 

Jhoanna0
Level 1
Cali, Colombia

What the heck? Yes, call the Police, but I wouldn't tell them you rented the space for Airbnb, not sure how legal Airbnb is since usually, users do not pay taxes and such. So just tell them she is trespassing your property. 

Amelie19
Level 2
Austin, TX

So the guest ended up calling the police on us, because we politely told her that she was now trespassing. We did all our communication through Airbnb's app, none of it in person, to protect ourselves. She told us to contact her attorney, which is ludicrous.  

 

The police officer that showed up to our house recognized our guest as a past offender (I don't know what offences exactly) with whom he had dealt with in the past. This made it so much simpler since the officer understood the background of that person, and that we were not the ones creating the ordeal. The officer informed the guest that he was trespassing (the officer informed us that she was a male, and using a fake name) and had to leave. The guest finally agreed to leave, and we even gave him time to pack his belongings. It took 40 minutes. The officer waited, and made sure the guest got into a cab and left. 

 

The room is trashed, there's food on the walls, large dark stains on the carpeting, etc. It's going to take me hours to clean it up. 

 

I am still bewildered by the situation.

 

Airbnb still hasn't replied to any of my messages since last night. It's now 1:40PM. I also asked them to remove the review that the guest left after the end of his authorized stay yesterday. I really hope that they take that person's profile down before he books another Airbnb place and ends up putting another host through that ordeal.

 

P.S. I do declare my Airbnb income in my tax return, I am not doing it illegally.

@Amelie19 Glad that person is gone! Good riddance! The mess sucks. 😞 Sorry you had to go through that. 

Guillermo163
Level 2
Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico

did you ever get a response from AirBnb? 

it looks like you are talking to a computer screen only, no oportunity to ask for real help.

Jonathan1434
Level 2
Houston, TX

Hi there!

 

There is an infestation of squatters that seems to be happening in several states. Covid has displaced so many people and it's becoming more and more desperate every day for so many people.

I'm wondering about the legalese & protocols of this, in the State of Texas (Houston)..If an Airbnb guest's time is up after a 30 day stay, or I guess with any 30 day short term rental IE; when they become technically "contract-less"..can that guest on the 30th or 31st day of move out,  claim something called "tenant's rights" or can they be removed then and there for trespassing if they do not leave or does an eviction need to happen? If so and if that is necessary..when should the eviction process begin if the checked in guest is showing signs to be a squatter? Also, this is regarding a property where the host is also hosting in their private home. Thanks for any and all advice!

 

@Jonathan1434  You really have to research the laws regarding tenant rights and eviction in your own area, as they vary from place to place.

 

It's a good idea not to rent for more than 28 days, so the guest doesn't become a tenant in the eyes of the law. A guest who won't leave on check-out day you can just turf out- they are trespassing at that point. If they are considered a tenant, it becomes much more complicated. And some of these folks are quite savvy about tenant protections.

Sarah, thank you so so much!  I'm in Texas at the moment. It's a bit murky to me if tenants rights begin after, let's say. 30 day rental down here. There is also that strange "we can't ask them to leave because it's civil matter" thing.

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Hi @Jonathan1434  as @Sarah977  said it's really about you as the business owner mitigating your risk.

 

You can do this by a) vetting your guests carefully  b) not allowing long term stays c) getting professional legal advice about how tenancy laws work in your area. In the majority of countries in the world - tenancy and squatting is a civil not a criminal matter so not sure why you would find it strange.

 

Guests wouldn't necessarily gain squatting rights in a home share situation - but again double check how this works in your country.