Longer Term Rentals & Guest/Entertaining Policy

[Deborah270]

My house gets rented for 1-2 months at a time. I have a strict

"no overnight guests" policy. I do however run into people who

are visiting their families & want to "entertain". I don't feel my house 

should be used for parties or large gatherings. Is this being

too strict? Can one expect guests to not have social dinners for family or friends?

I know this may be tough to enforce, but I was wondering how others 

deal with this.

[Ben205]

@Deborah270

Hi. In my opinion, that is too strict. If somebody rents my house, I feel they should be allowed to have friends and family round to enjoy the place. That said, it's your house and you set the rules. So, if you want to limit the numbers, do so.

How you ensure they don't break the rules may be difficult. And, you will need to say what the punishment will be. From what I've read on here, I can't see Airbnb backing you if you complain that your guests had a couple of friends over for a pizza!

[Deborah270]

Haha....I hear what you are saying. I guess I dont mind friends over for a meal but I want to dispel the notion that it's "party time". I do hear you on the "too strict" & I will take that into consideration as I purchase unbreakable items, & store all the knick-knacks. 🙂  Actually it is helpful that I live a "minimalist" life & my home is somewhat user friendly.  But my area demands very high rent, so not that big a deal if I need to get the couch cleaned or even replace it every few years. It's just stuff, right?

I do limit the overnight guests to the original renters, as I have been limited myself when I rented an Air BnB. That seems very fair to me.

[Ben205]

@Deborah270

Just stuff. Though a pain if you have to fix it all the time!

I presume you've got your house rules set to 'No events/ parties'. At least guests have to sign up to those rules before booking. What I'm not sure about, is what Airbnb would do if there was a party?

We booked a guest from down the road (not Airbnb, our number is in the window), who wanted the place for their mum. And the other 20 people at the party! We're taking them to court to reclaim the single-person discount we gave.

Definitely hide the nice stuff. We've had kitchen utensils walk, so leave nothing of value out.

[Deborah270]

I don't think Air BnB could do anything  about folks having a party unless you got huge damages & sued.

And if I am not present in my home, I have no control over who may decide to wipe their dirty hands on

my couch or even worse. 😞  Which is why I am absurdly picky about who I allow in my home, & it has really

paid off. Accidents happen, but in the course of a month or 2, good people don't destroy property, or

steal things, that has been my experience.

Also, long term renters who have family in my city would most likely want to come back & rent again, so they are

very careful with my house.

[Sheron10]

@Ben205 Ben I totally agree.  I am the same way. I have a small home.  My limit is 8 people max including the ones staying there.  The problem is,  I noticed a pattern in three consecutive bookings (not accepted as yet), they are only booking for one night specifically, for one night only.  They are having loud music and I am not sure if this is a strategy to have just one person book the home and the rest stay for free as a group and head out the next day.  Your thoughts.

[Jann3]

I allow NO guest-of-guests. The reason is simple: AirBnB's insurance does not state that they cover ANYone not on the reservation and no AirBnB rep can give me assurances that it does. Not covered - cos you're not on the reservation? No Entry! Simple.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Deborah270

If they are visting family, why not "entertain" and "gather" at the home of the family they are there to visit? Why would they all want to gather at "someone elses" home that the visiting family has "rented/borrowed"????

In my opinion, because they don't want to clean up after the the type of mess you end up with after a large family gathering - so I do not think this is too strict, AT ALL. 

Just state in your house rules that guests must provide names of everyone who will be staying (registered guest) - and that entry of anyone not on that list is NOT allowed - even if it is just dropping by for coffee or pizza. You should get one of those motion activated peephole camera devices and use it to check who entered the home. (You should also mention this in your description.) If you find there were unregistered guests entering, then you can claim an "additional person fee" and Airbnb will back you up on this if you have proof and if you have an additional person fee set in your listing, and you can also ask Airbnb to "rehome" these guests claiming you are no longer comfortable hosting guests who violated your rules. 

[Deborah270]

Jessica & Henry--

I really like your response. I totally agree 100% that 'my home they rent' should not be used for family gatherings, that's just an excuse to not clean up the mess, as you say. I am vascillating between being too strict & not strict enough, but I do have the right to restrict the people (strangers to me for sure) who enter my home.

The "registered" guests in this case are 60+ year old couple, staying for 2 months. And I do understand I may need to relax my rules for longer term, as opposed to "weekends" (although my minimum is 30 days). 

As far as having a camera, I am not sure I'd be comfortable staying in any home w/a camera device, so I would opt not to. I also don't know much about it, but my first intuition is that it would be too invasive for most people. Is this common in Air  BnB rentals?

[Jann3]

@Deborah270: I think the "peephole" camera is more for the outside...at the door. If you are not sure what @Jessica-and-Henry0 means, think "Ring" (google it, it's a doorbell camera) but not useful in this situation as it would ring YOUR phone vs the guests. Look at other solutions... like Ring's floodlight-cam that you'd post at the door. It would record anyone entering or leaving your place.

To answer "is it common?" Yes, it is. We AirBnB hosts like to protect our property. (heh)

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Jann3 You are correct about what I meant about the peephole camera 🙂 I was thinking about the one I had when I was typing. @Deborah270 I'm pretty sure many people (including myself) would find any kind of monitoring of the inside of the house extremely uncomfortable (and it's probably illegal!)  BUT the entrance, driveway, and front/back yard areas are a totally different story.

My home security system includes a "peephole" camera that is motion sensor activated (starts recoding) when someones comes within a certain proximity of the door from the outside. It is connected to a control panel in my living room and when someone rings the doorbell, the screen automatically lights up to show who is at the door and I can 'buzz' them in (which is really convenient when I entertain friends & family). Also, the door is set to "lock" automatically upon closing, so I never have to worry about guests or visitors not locking the door when they go out. I can view time-stamped recordings using an app on my phone and recordings can only be deleted from the control panel with a security code (that only Henry and I have).  I think especially for private home listings, this type of security system or surveillance system is a must!