Hello fellow hosts, I do apologize but this is a long one, however I do want to ensure you have enough information.
I was contacted by a first time Airbnb user in the summer about a long-term booking for my lower level unit, their wife was coming to Canada to give birth to their first child. It's an 11 week booking the husband was going to stay for the first week and his mother was going to stay for the balance of the stay until middle of November where he would return for the birth of their child, reservation is from Sept 14th to November 30th. This is becoming more common in Canada where people who are seeking to move to Canada will actually pay to have their child here in the country I think because it gives them extra points on their Permanent Residence (PR)application and "might speed" up approval of their PR status.
Additional data, I was doing a light renovation in the lower unit so the first 10 days of their stay they stayed in my upper unit, a 3 bdrm which is more than twice the size of my one bedroom. The husband left the country 7 days into their stay, so my niece and I moved the mother and wife into the lower unit carried all their bags down to the bsmt. The wife went through the upper unit wanting to take things from the upper unit to the lower unit, like the baby bath and the travel crib, hangers, the sugar container, and wanting to take the pots and pans as well, yes with the exception of the baby equipment all that was in the lower unit. I did request that during her first couple days in the bsmt to make a list of what she felt was missing in the kitchen and I would pick up for her, she gave me a list of 6 items, of which 2 of these items was a full length mirror and a coffee table….
Anyhow, since she moved into the lower level I would be contacted on average every 36 to 48 hours, complaints about the internet not being fast enough, complaints about the insects in the bsmt (its end of September in Canada it’s getting cold insects look for a warm place to stay) complaints that the AC was not on and it was hot in the bsmt (temperature was 19.5C or 67.1F, pictures of the spiders that she was seeing outside in the garden that she was afraid of (note spider was a bumblebee). I went away in October for a family vacation to which then my cohost was assisting. During my vacation, the wife had her baby about 3 weeks early. She was constantly messaging my cohost asking for the temperature to be turned up because it was cold, the unit was at 23C or 73.4F, when she messaged saying the bsmt was to cold and the temperature was at 26C or 78.8F. The heating in the home is controlled remotely because there is one furnace for the upstairs and the dwnstrs unit, I need to control myself to ensure the temperature is at room temperature and one unit is freezing while the other is hot etc.
On November 1st, I woke up saying to myself, thank goodness only 29 days until this crazy lady checks out, that day I get a call from Airbnb wanting to talk to me about deficiencies in my lower level unit that were reported by my guest. Turns out the guest (husband) wanted to know if they check out early due to all the deficiencies in the home will they get a refund, so let me connect the dots for you, husband was planning to come back mid-November, baby born Oct 23rd, so about 3 weeks early, which means they can get the baby’s birth certificate and passport early and can go back to their home in Dubai, however they don’t want to pay until the end of November they want a refund.
The husband arrived yesterday was there for about an hour left again and returned at 2am (cameras on the exterior) he messaged me at 2:30 am saying the unit was cold and I have made his daughter sick with my cold bsmt, the temperature at 6am when I woke up and responded was 24C or 75.2F. At this point I feel like I am being harassed, what are my options. Keeping in mind my 2 unit maximum unit has 4 people in it since there is now a baby and the mother is still there and the husband returned. Am I being harassed? I provided the download of the temperatures to Airbnb for the 19th to the 31st since the ecobee records it in 5 minute intervals. I can’t handle these people anymore, I could allow them to change their reservation date but lose out on the balance of the November rent, I have put up with so much so far I don’t want to do that, but if they are going to be messaged me everyday that room temperature is not warm enough for them can I get them out claiming harassment.
