Guests disregard house rules and not pay violation fees

[Emily2037]

Hi, My guest had agreed with the house rules but had a cat in the house anyways which violated the house rules. The guest refused to pay the violation fees. Airbnb support was not very helpful. They did helped with the host damage but not with the violation fees. What's the point of the violation fee if there's no way Hosts can enforce them? I would like some advice as to what I can do to prevent this in the future?

Currently, we have all the guests read and acknowledge the document with house rules with violation fees, before we give them the code to access the house. But sometimes,  there are always that does not respect the rules and just do what they wanted to do.  How can Host enforce the violation fees? 

Thank you.

[Morgan924]

Hi Mike, 

I would just like to point out that you are wrong about contract law.  It is absolutely in the hosts rights to enforce violation fees.  Depending on the fee of course.  There are some fees that would be unethical if based on age, race, or gender.  As a professional, licensed property manager I always enforce violation fees. However, you are correct about Airbnb.  If Airbnb is handling your payments, there is no way you can enforce this. Unless to start a law suite of course.  The law suite will most likely win as long as these violation fees are plainly stated for the guests prior to checkin.  Airbnb will probably not give out the guest's information, so you will have to get a lawyer involved. 

[Joan2709]

@Morgan924 

Actually, you could decide to go to arbitration with Airbnb over their failure to enforce the fines under their Terms of Service Section 22. Not sure it would be worth it though.

[Don6606]

This is why so many cities are banning STRs.  AirBnb strips you of your power to enforce rules and laws.  If my guest violates the rules of the community, I will receive a fine from the HOA, and possibly a citation from the city.  The HOA can also take away my community STR permit.  If I cannot pass that fine along to the guests they learn nothing, and cycle continues.

[Helen3]

I don't know of any cities that ban short term rentals completely @Don6606 

They rightly restrict them because of the impact on local communities and rising house prices . 

not sure which listing you are referring to as you don't have one on your profile . 

if Airbnb isn't working for you do other STR platforms allow you to pass on city fines to guests?