Someone living in the garage of my airbnb with full access to the rest if the property

Dasha53
Level 1
Nanaimo, Canada

Someone living in the garage of my airbnb with full access to the rest if the property

I recently was at an 'entire house' listing where the garage was restricted access. It was stated that property maintenance staff would sometimes be there. After staying for one night we began hearing sounds of television, multiple people and at least 1 baby and realized there are people living in the garage. Upon talking to the host, she elaborated that it was her son and that no one goes into the house 'when it's busy.' This made us very uncomfortable.

 

We packed up our things at 2 in the morning and left the property immediately, but now Airbnb is refusing to reimburse us for the hotel we moved into or even for the nights at the property we did not stay because 'a hosting standard wasn't violated.' I am quite sensitive to this because my last Airbnb experience someone was killed in the room over to me while I was there so I insisted we leave. Am I being oversensitive to this? Is this truly an acceptable standard?

7 Replies 7
Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

Oversensitive about people living in the garage of an entire-place listing or someone getting killed adjacent to where you were staying? They do not meet any standards. I could just imagine the review in the latter case - "Everything was fine except someone got whacked in the room next to us".

 

Needless to say, somehow you have stumbled on two of the most abnormal of places.

Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Dasha53 we live next door to our apartments and obviously keep keys for them to ensure we can access if needed. Clearly we never do when guests are there but this is little difference to your case. That said we are upfront about where we live - I think the host was a bit naughty not explaining who lived where.

We were not able to lock the door connecting the garage to the rest of the house from our side (there was no lock of any kind) so I think it’s unfair to say that it was a separate unit. The listing did mention that “a housekeeper may use the garage” but there was clearly an entire family living in there who “don’t use the house when it’s busy”, leading me to believe that they do enter the property when guests are away/asleep to use amenities.

Lorna170
Level 10
Swannanoa, NC

@Dasha53  For years we rented out our 3 bedroom vacation home with detached garage.  We had a “security resident” who lived in the garage.  This was disclosed in the listing.  Note:  While IN the house, the renter had the ability to deadbolt the doors against entry by anyone outside the house, including housekeeping and the security resident. 

 

The owner in your case should have been more transparent about the presence of her son “living” in the garage with his family.  From your description, it appears that the garage was attached to the house.

 

Lots of people rent property that connects to other properties or have the owner living next door, close by, in the basement, on the top floor behind a locked door, etc.  As long as there are separate entrances and the means to properly lock one part away from another, Yes, you may have over-reacted.

 

We were not able to lock the door connecting the garage to the rest of the house from our side (there was no lock of any kind). The listing did mention that “a housekeeper may use the garage” but there was clearly an entire family living in there who “don’t use the house when it’s busy”, leading me to believe that they do enter the property when guests are away/asleep to use amenities.

@Dasha53 If there was NO LOCK, then the host was very wrong to have anyone on the property while you were there.

My bad, there was a deadbolt lock, but it can be opened from either side so long that there’s a key AND it was in an unlocked position when we came in. No barrel lock or a chain or anything that would ensure that the door is locked from our side.