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.

[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!

[Zachary223]

We have a different situation on our hands but similar in a sense. We bought a condo  three months back and hoped our guests didn’t upset any full time residents…it’s been the exact opposite. 

the neighbor above our unit is up all night(2,3,4,5 in the morning) yelling, slamming things,getting into fights with his roommate to the point the cops have been called. He’s harassed our college aged female guests. Took pictures of their car and kept walking around it as they were inside it….we’ve literally had complaints every single weekend about this neighbor and one was bad enough that the guests were afraid of speaking with the neighbor to see if he could quiet down. HOA occasionally sends a letter saying a fine may come their way but we’re now contemplating selling the condo and being done with it…after 3 months.

[Mar125]

@Alex-and-Christy0 

It doesn’t help to upset the neighbor when you don’t live in the house. 

[Emmily3]

Hi! I have the a very similar situation happening. My Airbnb is in a complex, and the office is aware and they even get a “property revenue share” from every stay. My neighbor keeps approaching my guests and makes them feel uncomfortable by telling them how much she hates Airbnb and that if she had known about it being done in the property prior to moving she would have not moved in… 😑 I’ve talked to the office just waiting for a resolution.