How to achieve neighbors, the street and the local suburb benefiting from Airbnb short-term renters compared to long-term renters?

Darin14
Level 2
Glenelg, Australia

How to achieve neighbors, the street and the local suburb benefiting from Airbnb short-term renters compared to long-term renters?

How do I achieve neighbors, the street and the local suburb benefiting from Airbnb short-term renters compared to long-term renters?

 

step 1 - have quiet guests

step 2 - have guests who always follow house rules regarding parking, street drop offs / pick ups.

step 3 - have guests who treat the neighbors nicely and are friendly

 

then what? what are the benefits of having short-term renters compared to long-term renters?

Has anyone had success with getting neighbors support for short-term renters?

 

Regards

9 Replies 9
Gordon0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

It's a hard sell I'm afraid, @Darin14, and I'm not sure I'd want to live in a street full of Airbnb (or other) rentals. Some areas lend themselves to this (seaside/cities), but transient guests rarely come with too many benefits other than for the person who's having their mortgage paid.   

Sharon1014
Level 10
Sellicks Beach, Australia

@Darin14  It's a large house with many bedrooms and fabulous entertaining areas with pool,  so it's always going to be a magnet for the party crowd (and the neighbour complaints that come with that).  Only serious option would be to rent out individual rooms (instead of the whole house) and put a live-in caretaker on site so the property has constant in person monitoring.  Unlikely there is anything more you can do to offset annoyed neighbours, especially not in Glenelg.

@Darin14 

I doubt any neighbor would be happy about an endless merry-go-round of transient STR guests.... no matter how quiet or friendly the guests are. All sorts of strangers coming and going all the time in itself would be seen as a nuisance. 

 

And regarding step 2........ imo, when pigs fly~~~~ 

@Jessica-and-Henry0  @Darin14    Agree, and the rest.  There just isn't any way of vetting guests to that extent on any of those counts, especially when you have a large house that is just perfect for large groups wanting to get together.  Potential guests can say whatever they like at the outset, it's what they do once they're in that's the problem.  And that's why the only feasible option is an on-the-premises co-host/caretaker.  But still and even then, the neighbours are not going to be happy about the constant coming and goings but at least with a range of different travelers who are unconnected to each other, the weekend noise levels are likely to be much less.  

 

Glenelg is quite an upmarket suburb too, can just imagine how thrilled the neighbourhood is about this STR in their midst.  It's probably on the radar of the local Neighbourhood Watch committee already with an agenda to shut it down.  So yeah, good luck with that.  Sorry @Darin14 , but that's just the reality check.

Can the neighborhood watch committee shut it down?

Sharon1014
Level 10
Sellicks Beach, Australia

@Darin14  Not of themselves, they don't have the authority.  But Holdfast Bay Council do, and neighbourhood watch groups can be very vocal, active and successful in pushing for change to local by-laws.  I can't see the council shutting down all STR's in Glenelg of course, but I can see them placing zoning regulations on certain types of building or zones that are appropriate for STR's and those that are not permitted, e.g. you can run a bnb out of an apartment complex, but not out of a house in a residential area (which is what your place seems to be).

 

I do think you need to seriously consider your options and have an alternative plan for the property because if the neighbours are complaining, it's unlikely to end well for your bnb (or others that are like situated in that particular council area).    My 2c.  

@Darin14 

Fyi, in Korea it is only *legal* to host if the host lives on-site and has a private room listing. And my understanding is we can only host foreigners, not locals. All private home STRs rented out by owners without a business permit and relevant insurance required to rent independent spaces for events or stays are strictly ILLEGAL. Article is from a while back but covers the basics. You should look into the laws, regulations and ordinances of your own area BEFORE you begin hosting. 

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/elaineramirez/2016/10/24/airbnb-could-wipe-out-70-of-its-south-korea-li...

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

Many of my neighbors also list on Airbnb. But we are all either on-site or home-share hosts, it's a quiet countryside area that we advertise as such, so there are no issues and no complaints from neighbrs who don't host. I only rent to one guest at a time, and they don't even drive here. No one would even know they are here unless they were watching the place constantly to monitor who was walking down the road to my place, and then they wouldn't even know if they were just friends of mine who dropped by or came to visit.

The one time there was an issue was when one neighbor rented out their house while they were out-of-town for 6 months to a young woman who misrepresented her intentions, saying she and her friend were going to live there, then turned around and listed it on Airbnb as a whole house rental. There was a huge noisy party with at least a dozen people and cars coming and going. That got shut down real quick. Even though many of us are Airbnb hosts ourselves, we don't tolerate that sort of disruption to the peace here.

An entire house rental is of absolutely no benefit to neighbors, even if the guests aren't party animals. People don't want a constant parade of strangers coming and going in their neighborhoods to occupy a house.  

Sandra126
Level 10
Daylesford, Australia

There is one benefit. If you have bad neighbours with constantly barking dogs for instance, long term is long indeed. At least short termers leave. I like short term neighbours,  but not in big houses as that is a party magnet. I loathe barking dogs.