Terror guest

[Laura5631]

I just started renting two rooms in the home where I live. I am keeping bookings super open because I need to get bookings before I can be picky.

Last week, my second guest, was a terror. We were home when he arrived and he sent his Lyft driver to ask how to get into the house. I'd sent out a house manual with all of the information with these instructions and pretty much answers to all questions.  I'm a registered nurse and could tell that this guymost likely has bipolar disorder and in an escalating manic phase. He was super invasive. I immediately blocked off the other room since I couldn't have other guests around him. I also contacted Airbnb support for a safety issue. They have yet to help me. I was concerned that if I threw him out, he'd become violent. 

Come three one night bookings, I figured out how to block him and told him, the day before, that other guests would be coming soon he needed to leave.

The morning he was supposed to leave, he wasn't in the house but all of his stuff was. My partner and I left at noon, the checkout time, and I tried support again.....no luck. At 4 we went back and knew he'd been there due to things moving around. We packed bags and stayed at my parents house for two nights.

Shortly after this he messaged me and said he was in the hospital and I could pack up his stuff. I went back, packed it, and took it to the hospital that had no record of him.  The next morning, I bought chains for my doors, went in, installed them and called the police.  They know the guy.

Following day, the police call me and tell me he's in a different hospital and they have my key, which they bring me. 

Now, I still have all of his luggage and will be installing cameras today. He destroyed my home. Like I pulled a fill bag of food trash from the room he was in, burn on my comforter, debris everywhere and somehow got poop all over the bathroom along with some kind of air freshener that made a greasy mess over everything. I have pictures of most everything I could get.

What can I do now? 

[Gwen386]

@Laura5631 Be thankful and count your blessings that he is out of your home. Seriously, this is a crazy situation! Now that you know what hospital he’s at, drop off his clothes. Change your locks. If it were me, I wouldn’t file anything for charges unless furniture was broken. 

[Laura5631]

It's $350 to change locks. Will they go after him for it? I'm definitely not renting rooms in my home out for fun. And, I lost out on 5-6 room nights between blocking while he was there and the cleaning days. My place is staying booked. No clue if he's at the hospital anymore and it's a 45 minute drive 

[Huma0]

@Gwen386 

None of this is okay. Sure, it's great that he is out of the home, but just putting up with this shouldn't have to be the only option.

@Laura5631 

It's good that you contacted Airbnb soon after the guest arrived and have taken photos of the mess and damage. You need to be persistent with them to get any compensation though. I'm not saying it will be easy (it's kind of the luck of the draw if you get a helpful customer services person on the line or not) but personally I would persist in this situation.

I know as a new host you are trying to get as many bookings as you can, but as you have probably realised, it's much better to carefully vet your guests and have less bookings than a situation like this one. No matter how thorough you are when vetting, a problematic guest can still slip through that process, but it's far more unlikely than if you take anyone who wants to book.

[Laura5631]

So what do I do? I've called over a dozen times 

[Huma0]

@Laura5631 

I don't have personal experience of this, but a lot of hosts say that it's worth posting on Airbnb's Twitter and Facebook pages to get some sort of response. Maybe give that a try? 

[Laura5631]

I'll try that. Can't hurt. I really want the stuff gone

[Huma0]

@Laura5631 

Check your local laws about the stuff. Either you are entitled to just dispose of it, or you are entitled to do so after giving the guest an opportunity to collect it within a reasonable amount of time. I don't think the laws in most places oblige you to hold on to it indefinitely...

[Laura5631]

The police said I can get rid of it immediately but I feel really bad doing that for someone with serious mental health issues who is probably also homeless. I don't feel bad enough to let him stay but throwing away everything someone owns while in the psych hospital? Can't really do it too quickly 

[Huma0]

@Laura5631 

No, I understand why you would be reluctant to do that. Now that you know which hospital he is actually at, are you able to drop it there, or is that not an option? I know it's quite a drive, but if that's easier than having to store it all and having to deal with this situation until who knows when...

If you do decide to do that, make sure that someone is willing to sign for receipt of the stuff so you have proof you returned it.

[Laura5631]

I have no clue if he's actually there still and if it's a psych hold, they can't tell me. I honestly don't know that the police "should" have told me, but since they got my key from him, I think they wanted to make me feel better 

[Huma0]

@Laura5631 

Well, it's a messy situation to be sure. Short of repeatedly messaging the guest in the hope that he will eventually respond about his stuff, and reporting it to Airbnb, what else can you do? I  guess I would hold onto the stuff as long as I felt it was feasible to do so and then get rid of it.

It's nothing compared to your situation, but I had a short term tenant (not via Airbnb) who left a sewing machine behind and told me he was going to collect it. In the meantime, I sold the flat, so had to move it to my home and store it. He went completely silent and never came to collect. About 3-4 years later, he contacted me out of the blue to tell me that he really needed it back because it used to belong to his mum and was 'really precious' to him.

Sometimes people will assume that it's your responsibility to look after their things, when clearly it's not, especially people who can't look after themselves. 

[Laura5631]

I totally understand

[David8879]

Hmm... let me think

NO LOCALS

NO ID - NO BOOKING

Also - I pay to see criminal hostory before I book my long term properties.

In your case with your luck it might make sense to research if yearly sub with online check sites might worth it

[Laura5631]

Showed me his ID and he's from about 5 hours away. If I said nobody from Virginia, it would be pointless to rent since it's a college town