Noise complaint by neighbour

[Ken79]

Hi

We are new to hosting and unfortunately our first guests broke our house rules about no loud noise or parties after 10 p.m. Our neighbour messaged me on AirBnB complaining about noise and told us to stop hosting.

We apologised for noise and assured them this would not happen again. They will not accept this assurance and insist we stop hosting. They have now put a sign outside their house "You are not welcome AirBnb".

Our house is one of seven townhouses in a quiet neighbourhood.. They refuse to accept our apology and are now trying to intimidate our future guests with this sign. I met our new guests today and explained neighbours are annoyed by previous guests noise. They accepted our explanation and are happy with house.

My concern is my future booked guests will cancel. The police will not interfere as they say its a civil matter for us to resolve.

Any suggestions please. We want to continue hosting.

[Ken79]

John & Heather 

I contacted the guest and I threatened to call the police if loud noise continued - I was assured by guest that noise had stopped - therefore perhaps naively I did not call the police ( it was St Patricks night( national holiday in Ireland - lots of parties et al happening - this is not an excuse just factual)

I spoke with neighbours this morning apologised and asked what could I do to make it right - their reply stop hosting - I accept the neighbours were justifiably annoyed but are they not a tad unreasonble to expect a host to cancel all future guests etc because of one error 

[John-and-Heather0]

@Ken79

Those sound like good steps, but perhaps incomplete.  If it were me, on being contacted I would say:

1. "I'm calling the guest now to stop them, I'll call you back in 10 minutes."

2. When guest says "Trust us, we've stopped making noise" I'd say "I truly hope so. If we hear from our neighbor again, the police will be called and they will ask everyone to leave."

3. I'd call the neighbor back immediately, and ask if the nosie has stopped. If not, I would call police personally. I'd also thank neighbor, reassure neighbor, and ask them to call immediately if the noise resumes.

Consider: the guest has already broken your rules; why would they be honest about stopping noise?

Also, steps to avoid future parties: (1) 2 night minimum, no exceptions (as others have suggested); (2) higher price-point; (3) age minimum to rent (i.e., higher than college-age parties) and verify ID when guest checks in.  If you can't be the "bouncer," have a local person that you pay prepared to be the "bouncer" if things go badly. Bottom line, no one wants to live next to a frat house. Keep showing the neighbor your caring/respect/goodwill and open communication--no matter how much you believe they are intent on stopping you. Perhaps when neighbor has an emergency or a celebration, you offer to host their family for free, etc. Keep at the peacemaking, no matter what.

[April--Mike--And-Maggie0]

Great suggestions, @John-and-Heather0!  I would just add that I would avoid renting on St. Patrick's or any other holiday that is sure to be celebrated with wild abandon.

[Patrick153]

YOU did not create the problem.  It is not YOUR fault.  It is the guests that created the problem and it is their fault.

Without being on site 24/7, there is no way for you to monitor the activities in your home.  Guests need to be held accountable when they break the house rules.  I feel that we as Hosts, need more support from Airbnb. 

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

Being an off-site host means you are going to have guests who will push the envelope on the house rules.  If no one will be around to monitor the guest behavior, you may run into this problem again. You might actually try to have a conversation with your neighbors to find out what exactly they are worried about and are trying to communicate to the world, Airbnb guests, and you. If you had a loud party, would they put up a sign in their yard saying you were not welcome in the neighborhood anymore?  

That being said, you have a real problem with the neighbors and their sign.  There is not much you can do about it except to keep apologizing and showing them that you are trying to keep your guests from acting like this one.  I see only one review, I'm not sure how many other guests you've had, but this may take some time. If a guest arrives and sees a sign in the neighbor's yard, they have no grounds for cancelling that I can see and Airbnb shouldn't refund them, imo.  I would make sure that you continue to meet and greet the guests to help smooth the way.  The worst a guest can do is write you a lower review for location - especially if your neighbors say things to them as they come and go.  This could ultimately hurt, but it's a real "IF".  

There are resources for you and for your neighbors.  I would recommend you read them and share with your neighbors.  I would very vigilant in assessing what guests you accept and create far more beefy and exacting House Rules than the ones you've created.  It needs to be very explicit and that any neighborhood disturbance will result in being removed from the property. I would also recommend removing Instant Book so you can have a conversation in advance with every guest about the property being a townhouse with intolerant neighbors. Good luck.  

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/656/my-neighbor-is-an-airbnb-host--what-do-i-need-to-know

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1376/responsible-hosting-in-the-united-states

https://www.airbnb.com/neighbors

[Ken79]

Great advice thanks - I believe that my neighbour is paranoid and wants to prevent hosting AirBNB full stop - granted they have had good reason to complain but a sign is a little over the top - they have been hostile for years - this unfortunate incident has given them more ammunition - perhaps we were remiss not to mention that we were contemplating hosting on AirBnb but I suspect they would have tried to stop us if they had been made aware - either way we will try and work our way through this issue.

[Helen3]

Hi @Ken79

My thoughts.....

Do you vet each guest before the book to find out more about them and their plans and only take those with verfied ID?

Do you have CCTV at the property so you monitor comings and goings?

I am not sure what action you took when there was a party, did you go to the property and evict your guests/call the police? Did you go around and apologise to your neighbours and bring them a small gift the next day. They say actions speak louder than words 🙂

Also you need to tighten up your house rules. There is nothing about not having guests who haven't booked visiting or staying at the property.

I agree with others go and talk to your neighbours about what measure you have put in place and give them a way of contacting you 24/7 when you have guests there.

Good luck

[Ken79]

Thanks Helen

CCTV a very good idea

Also I will tighten up the house rules

[Ken79]

Great advice thanks - I believe that my neighbour is paranoid and wants to prevent hosting AirBNB full stop - granted they have had good reason to complain but a sign is a little over the top - they have been hostile for years - this unfortunate incident has given them more ammunition - perhaps we were remiss not to mention that we were contemplating hosting on AirBnb but I suspect they would have tried to stop us if they had been made aware - either way we will try and work our way through this issue.

[Steve143]

Hello @Ken79,

One thing that you could try is to set a two nght minimum stay around party times.

I live in a quiet cul-de-sac, in Limerick, that has an active resident's committee of which I'm not a member.

I started hosting last October and set a two night minimum for December to avoid the office Christmas parties.

It worked, in that I still got holiday makers and people on business but no revelers.

Steve.

[Helen3]

Granted your neighbour may be both those things, but unfortunately by not taking the right precautions you have given them the excuse to complain about you using Airbnb.

Did you talk to your neighbours in person after this happened.

Did you take action to remove the guests?

This will make a difference to how they feel.

[Wendy-and-Frank0]

I'm inclined to think that no matter what you do, your neighbors are going to pitch a fit.

You could have Mother Teresa staying at your place and someone, somewhere will find an issue with it.

If you're in a townhouse, you must have Homeowner Associations that have rules about signage and what not.

Personally, I wouldn't let the sign bother me.  You're giving the neighbor too much power.  Stop begging forgiveness and all that jazz.  It just shows your fear/desperation/weaknesses.

Let guests know there's a sign next door and have the guests call YOU if there's a problem with the neighbor.

In the meantime, check with your Association and have them enforce the signage rules that may be in place.

If my neighbors want to run a business out of their homes, they don't need my permission.

They just need to comply with city ordinances and whatever my town requires.

I look forward to the day where ABB hosts start recognizing the value they add to communities by way of tourism and stop apologizing for being a nuisance.

[Marcus21]

I don’t think the way to handle this is to just roll right over it Wendy and I don’t agree people always complain irrespective of if there’s an issue..complaining is a nuisance it’s not fun.

i think if your the neighbour of a problem air bnb...you’re not seeing a lot of the value it adds to the community because in truth this air bnb is NOT adding value to the community. 

I think as a neighbour you need need to let your host know they’ve caused you an issue and give them a chance to fix it but of course you’ll be untrusting and upset for a while..that host just needs to suck that up. 

Renting on st Patrick’s night was irresponsible 

[Man-Lai0]

My neighbour complaint to the city police no matter what.  As soon as she sees a number of guests arrived, she waited till 11 pm, just call the city police.  Its been for more than 30 times and the police ignored her.  But last summer the police came & give noise ticket to me (the landlord) even the police said there was no party in the house but I got the ticket charging me $400 for allowing noise.  I appeal to the court, the court dismissed it, But I got another ticket which I am yet to appear at court in June.  Her strategy was to bother the city all the time until the city got no patient to check everything in my house.

[Marcus21]

I also don’t think being worried about/trying hard to placate your neighbours frustration is “showing your weakness”