1st time hosting for uneasy guest

[Veronika201]

Hello, 

Seeking for help and advise on how peacefully we can separate with this long-term stay guest. Entire house for rent capacity of 6 but registered for one.

She moved in with a dog in Jan thru March 31, 22 and at first it was going smooth and we were ok with her bringing a man sometimes to stay overnight (unregistered guest).

Then we started having issues:

1. Using grill right at the front door on patio - we visited and noticed more issues that we had to point out: Her dogs hair everywhere - we pointed it out because we see it is going to be deep cleaning after she leaves; there are pests inside and she didnt allow us to let services to come and spray the house.

I updated house rules and referred her to them, where states that guests allowed but not overnight, and will be charged.

2. Then she starting dating different people and now bought in a woman without telling us since 3/17 who is living in house and using our code for keylock. That woman brought a second dog with her. 

3. Now she wants to extend her stay for only $1500 for 10 more days at the house at the beach where one night costs $500. $1500 was discussed lonf time ago outside out airbnb but never was sealed or documented via contract. 

Please, advice how we get say her good buy in nice way and have her pay for wear tear extra fees and violations? She also likes to gossip with neighbors and we noticed she doesnt respect us when communicates.

Thx

[Emiel1 · Accepted solution]

@Veronika201 

You want to end the reservation and you want to claim for damages.

" advice how we get say her good buy in nice way": Advice: There is no nice way.

But certainly do not extend the reservation !

It ends on current check-out date or it can end earlier by shortening the reservation ("change" option)

You acted not strict on violations of you houserules (for example:  charging for the additional guests) , You updated the houserules during the reservation, but it will only affect upcoming reservations.

Maybe just look forward to the check-out date (31 March ?) and learned a lesson ?

[Veronika201]

I have referred her many times to the house rules where it was stated that unregistered extra guests will be charged. Will I able to request her to pay for extra guest and dog? 

[Sarah977]

@Veronika201  Anything you change on your listing, whether it is house rules, no visitors, a pet fee, etc. only apply to bookings made after the changes are made. You can't add to house rules or charges for a guest who is already in residence or has a confirmed booking and have the changes apply to them.  

[Gillian166]

you can't charge extra per dog.  they only gave us a one-off fee for pets. 😕

[Helen744]

@Veronika201,Sadly you were not clear with this guest and you seem to have a tenant .The best thing in retrospect was to insist on doing weekly housekeeping with or without a charge. The only thing now is to put the price at the end of her stay up to the going rate and out of her reach. Insist no one else stays and send her a variation on however number of overnight stays you think she had.She has disrespected you and is way ahead of you. Is there a chance that she is subletting at a higher price and someone else is paying the bills?I would carefully document all rule violations and send them to Airbnb starting with refusal to allow housekeeping and  maintenance upon request and lack of adequate communication . Ask Airbnb to communicate with her about these violations but do not give her warning as you have already tried to resolve these issues . Look for pics that you took before she arrived of the house.This is not going away. I hope that you have more than one form of insurance but it maybe a case that gets way out of control. H.

[Veronika201]

Hi Helen, thank you. The tenant moved in as soon as we posted it, on same day, we had no expirience with this prior. I think it is very clear that onyl registered guest sholdbe there and no subleasing, if AIrbnb has so many issues with this, they probably would save lots of legal fees if they add this to their policy. You are totally right, we went thru all videos and she was hosting many people with multiple dogs...ahh were didnt watch her everyminute trying to provide privacy. She treatened us that she will not move out and compained to AIrbnb, I had talk with them and now case is high priority, Airbnb is on my side 😉 WIll see where we will ends up. Stressfull expirience for sure. 

[Gillian166]

I've read 3 horror stories today of long-stay guests, i'm now going to drop my max stay to 14 days. 

[Karla533]

@Gillian166  ABB just isn’t structured to provide good screening of potential tenants, IMHO. Hosts who do 30+ days need to get a signed lease from guests, at a minimum. 

[Veronika201]

Yes, feeling same.

[Louise1073]

Agree. One bad guest staying 3 nights, I can deal with.... bad guest for 3 months is unlivable. 

[Tamara682]

@Veronica201 I have not done this, so I do not have firsthand experience. But I did do some research last night on this kind of thing and this is what I discovered. Hopefully more savvy hosts will correct me where I am wrong and we both learn something.

1. Hopefully you have documented your conversations via the airbnb communication platforms (email or messenger). That is important.

2. You will need to provide a copy of the house rules at the time the person booked.

3. Take whatever pictures you can if you have not already (dogs in the yard, the hair everywhere) - some may need to wait until they are gone.

4. IF you use a cleaning service, they will be able to show via the receipt that extra cleaning was required.

5. Do not mention to your current tenants that your surveillance cameras can prove anything. Do not mention the surveillance camera(s) at all, if you have them. But as long as they are in your house rules, you can use entrance pics (only outside surveillance allowed WITH notice in your rules and guest information) to show the other people coming and going multiple times.

6. Call airbnb and let them know this has become an issue. They may choose to contact the guest if you cannot get the guest to cooperate. If your agent seems apathetic and is not following airbnb's own rules for handling these type of things, you may ask for a different agent.

7. Get the ticket # and name of agent with whom you are speaking.

8. If they won't transfer you to a supervisor, hang up and call back. Tell the next agent you want a supervisor because the last agent was not working within airbnb protocol.

9. Do not try to evict the person yourself. Let airbnb handle that part and understand it could take up to 36hrs.

10. Lastly, DO NOT EVER go cowboy and try to work a deal outside of airbnb with airbnb guests. You will not be covered by any of airbnb's coverages AND you will get kicked off the platform altogether if they find out about it. Most importantly though is that you will not be able to get any support, reimbursement, or anything else helpful from them as you are on your own.

Good luck and so sorry this is your first experience. It sounds really dreadful.

[Veronika201]

Thank you, I have done some things right and some not. 

1. I have kept via the airbnb communication platform

2. The house rules were limited on the day guest moved - we let her in on same day and it was simply not refined listing yet, I had no idea we need to list basics

3. Took all pics and submitted

4. Have housekeeper receipt

5.  I have only outside camera at the entrance and Airbnb asked me to give them photos which I had to submit for Aircover. So that was mentioned. I have not paid attention to who was coming and leaving until Airbnb asked me to collect the evidence. 

6. Worked with Airbnb on the issue and got ticket #. They told me to submit aircover with all photos and I have, what I didnt know it would go to Guest first. Obviously it got retaliation affect.

7. They told me they waiting on reply

8. Did not make to supervisor. That is good point you have. I have not heard from Aircover back.

9. We did not. Guest vacated and we have been cleaning property for over a week.

10. Guest telling all kinds of things and wrote long horrific feedback. I have bookings for 3 month and this first review will affect everything. Not sure what to do here. Will they really allow this review to show up? She called me all kinds of names via messenger on airbnb and since it was big issue - I cant imagine they still will allow this review to be posted.

[Deborah175]

@Veronika201 Block your calendar and refuse the extension. If you aren’t very certain about your local tenants’ rights laws, then you may have unwittingly allowed her to have rights as a long-term tenant, which could mean you’ll have an eviction problem on your hands. Renting long-term through Airbnb isn’t something I’d advise; they do NOT collect subsequent months rent, so if the renter doesn’t pay, you may never be able to collect it. I almost learned that the hard way the one time I ran a two-month rental through Airbnb, and drove to the opposite coast. Expecting the second payout to occur in time for me to pay my monthly bills, I was stunned to hear from Airbnb that they couldn’t collect it, because the banking info had changed. I’d assumed it had been collected up front, as I always did myself (first, last, and security). Airbnb advised me that there was nothing they could do if no payment appeared! I’d have been forced to fly home and begin eviction proceedings while homeless (it was my home they were renting).  Fortunately, the guests were not up to anything and the payment came a week late (causing me to incur a cascade of late fees and a ruined week of my vacation), but AirBnB sent me an email telling me it was utterly out of their hands.

The punchline: BEWARE of long-term renting through Airbnb.

[Cherie71]

To avoid the 'tenant' issue, perhaps a host could divide the rental - say taking a two-month rental request, but having them make two separate reservations of a month each.  I'd deduct the Housekeeping Fee from the second reservation but I think all other fees are the same for the guest and the host.  

A host doesn't get paid for the second month until after the second month has started anyway - at least this way, the tenant/renter issue is covered.  With a strict or firm cancellation policy, the guest would still have 48 hours to cancel but from then on a host is covered.

The guest would have had to confirm the payment with Airbnb for both months.

Possible?