Neighbor Harassing Guests

[Alex-and-Christy0]

Good day everyone!

We have a situation where we are legally renting out our home through AirBNB and have a neighbor who is not happy about the situation. On many occasions she has voiced her concerns to our guests as they are either in the driveway or on a walk. The neighbor has even gone as far as to tell our guests to take the trash up, not park in the street, etc. Thus far we have been able to smooth things over for the most part with the guests and prevent any negative reviews. We have been back and forth with the neighbor on several situations and have decided to cut off communication with them to avoid further conflict as they are quite tenacious and borderline harassing.

We are curious if anyone has had a similar situations of neighbors repetitively bothering guests or sharing their opinions of the Airbnb/STR situation and their level of dislike.

We have contemplated seeking legal advice and potentially a cease and desist or even a civil defamation suit, however, we are not sure if this situation would be considered defamation in the eyes of the law, and also don't want to poke the hornets nest more than necessary.

[Donna1247]

We are new to Airbnb and have a neighbor stirring things up with other neighbors.  He doesn’t live there full time, but doesn’t like it. The property is on the lake.  Anyone living on the water, knows sound carries.  Thank you for the input and advice.

[Anonymous]

@Donna1247   The last exchange in your reviews, regarding your neighbor spying on guests with a drone and physically threatening your husband, sounds very disturbing for all of you. I hope you're able to reach a resolution that allows you to feel safe in the home again, but I think for the time being you made the right decision by cancelling upcoming stays and de-listing the home. Verbal aggression is one thing, but this behavior is more like stalking.

[Hongdou0]

What about the neighbors?  I bought my property expecting neighbors, not hotel users.

live in a lake community where you expect your neighbors to have one or two parties in a season.

weekly renters party every week.

[Huma0]

@Hongdou0 

Technically, parties are not allowed by Airbnb and most hosts do not want parties happening at their properties. Have you tried speaking to the host about it?

[D-J-22]

This! I have a similar issue, my neighbors listing is perfect for entertaining. He regularly hose locals who use it as an event center.  One time we saw a female guest standing outside topless. We spoke to the neighbor and Airbnb but were brushed off. Lately we've had to clean up  butts  and trash his guest threw over the fence.    

[Huma0]

@D-J-22 

Did you try this route?

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/neighbors

[D-J-22]

Have you tried talking to your neighbor to see what her beef is? Maybe she's just a busy body that doesn't like new people coming through. In which case there's not much you can do other than assure her guest will be respectful and treat the neighborhood as their own. Unfortunately that's not always the case . If she's had legitimate problems with some of you guest then she might be feeling unheard, and telling anyone she can to validate her frustrations. 

[Shaw807]

Even if your guests are horrible, what are YOU going to do about it? You forced this on them.

[Alec152]

I just launched my first AirBnb last week. The neighbors across the street are not happy about it either. They started playing loud music that is audible from the house and, when asked to turn it off (by us, other neighbors and eventually the police), resorted to verbally harassing my guests. The second guests to ever stay at my place were genuinely scared and called to tell me that they unfortunately couldn't remain at the property. Apparently the neighbors had told them to "fu** off, they are in a residential neighborhood" and to "go leave a bad review because [they] don't want others staying here". 

It sounds like my case may be a bit more extreme however we may still share the same solution. Essentially I was told to go and get an anti-harassment from the local court with some sort of criminal clause stating that the neighbors may not speak to anyone on my property for any reason. I'm hoping this does the trick but will add to the post later with an update. 

Also, if anyone has had interactions closely related to mine and has any info regarding how to deal with any aspect of the issue, guests, airbnb, etc. please reply with any input! 

[Ania1999]

I have a similar situation, my neighbor complained to Airbnb bc of a “party”. But it was just a family with some loud kids during the day. And yesterday he texted me a whole rant about “drug parties and screaming babies” and when I checked my cameras it was literally my guest in the backyard holding his crying infant. Do these people not get that the house next door could have been sold to a whole family with kids and they would have had that every single day? What am I supposed to tell my guests, don’t let your baby cry in the day? Don’t park 3 cars in MY driveway that allows for it? 

[Carol8098]

I feel your pain! I’m in similar situation with older neighbors who don’t like kids playing in the pool.

[Shaw807]

Kids grow up. The ones at your hotel are there every weekend for the rest of their lives.

[Max2382]

Exactly the misunderstanding of Airbnb landlords that torture regular homeowners with constant screaming kids like groundhog Day and don't understand why it's an issue.

It should be against the law to let out entire properties on Airbnb in residential neighborhoods.

[Carol7608]

Hi yes i have.

i have a neighbour put cones up and tried stopping guests fromgetting in drive, he has them on his side of property as its open the parking. im not agains that but he has one at the top  on high way and thats illegal. he has been reported for this and has stopped . he now emails airbnb and trys to say theres a violation going on. 

that hasnt worked neither and now has decided to talk to me  raising his voice. im going to put a fence up now much to his dislike , which will make it harder for him to get inand out. his own fault i guess.

i think sometimes its best not to say anything and get a solicitor to get him to stop has]rassing you. by law in uk you cant be stopped for who parks on your drive or who comes to your house. try renting it as rooms as well i have done that  and said in my airbnb that i sometmes stop there. and if your there and loud music is played say you were there . 

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

So sad that this situation is making everyone miserable and on edge! No one needs this kind of stress in their lives. 

Are you current on your license and permit with your city or county? That can make a big difference in how to approach such a situation.

Here we have public hearings where neighbors can have their say, before a permit is issued. This process makes it possible for everyone to feel heard, and not ambushed. All the various agencies get to investigate for potential impacts on the neighborhood, also considering public health and safety. We have some reasonable restrictions on our hosting, but they make total sense, so we don't consider it problematic.

That does not mean we will never have any problems here, but so far so good.  By the time we'd had our public hearing we had learned so much, and the neighbors all know what we are doing. We even had one show up with a big truck to get a guest's car out of a muddy ditch. Yay! 

Legal advice is good, imho, professional mediation may be the solution, as less adversarial. I hope this resolves well, and peace is restored to the neighborhood. Best wishes to you!