Air Bnb has ruined my life

The thing us, a lot of us dont have the privilege of living in a nice town or village. So obviously if we go somewhere in the UK on holiday it's going to be to beautiful parts of the country, like Cornwall, the Lake District etc. What do you suggest we do? Stay put in our less than desirable towns and never venture anywhere? A lot of the beautiful towns in our country rely on tourism. It's really not fair that you don't want others to enjoy the beautiful parts just because you want to keep it all for yourselves. Just because you live there, you don't own it....

I’m so sorry to hear this, OP. It sounds hellish. I’m sorry you need medication to cope with the stress.
In no way do I mean to be patronising but I wonder if a slight shift in thinking might help.
Firstly, I agree you should do everything you can to ameliorate your position. Complain to the council. Put an emotive and heartfelt message in the communal hall explaining what you are going through. Write to Air B&B. There must be others going through the same thing so team up with them, join a FB group, lobby. At least you will have ongoing support. Try to get the landlords of the other apartments to sound proof the communal hall or add different flooring. They may be up for this if the alternative is endless complaints to the council. Complain to Air B&B every single time the disruption is too great. Document everything. In time there may be legislation or a government enquiry you can feed into.
Regarding the mind-shift. You clearly live in a beautiful part of the world. The climate is good. One that attracts lots of tourists. It probably feels spoiled for you now but can you recover anything of the joy in the place you must originally have felt? Can you get into nature from where you are? Is there an outside space you can carve out for yourself (even a public park or beach) where you can go when you are overwhelmed by the apartment? Remember that in a wet or cold part of the world this would be more difficult.
You say that things are bearable for nine months. I’d start with that. Many many people have terrible neighbours. They can’t get away from them ever. Outside of the peak season, it sounds like life is better for you. You could move only to discover you have terrible new neighbours and they are permanent.
Accept that a degree of noise comes with living in an apartment block. This is inevitable whoever your neighbours are. Do everything you can to use carpets and textiles to soundproof your home. Use noise cancelling headphones or play your own music to distract from the noise. Do everything you can to relax and learn relaxation techniques.
Trade offs- can you find something you do for yourself which is a treat which you can only do in your home town? Take an early morning dip, walk along the beach at sunrise, a special coffee or breakfast in your favourite cafe. Something that brings joy and allows you to associate the place with happiness?
You sound like you feel trapped and hopeless. What can you do to improve your lot? Can you do anything to earn more money? Can you take your holidays when the absolute peak of the season is on, so that you get some respite in the middle. Can you house swap with someone who is in a quieter area but who would enjoy your home in peak season. Can you offer to house sit, pet sit or plant sit somewhere quieter but still within travelling distance to work, during peak season?
You always have options, OP, even if they are not immediately obvious. I live in Scotland where new legislation makes it v difficult for people to rent out their homes. This is mainly in response to the situation in Edinburgh. In the Highlands, where I live, many crofters have a B&B or a yurt in the garden to try and supplement a meagre living. Many are no longer able to afford to do this because the new listening laws make it impractical and unaffordable so fragile communities which rely on tourism, are struggling to survive.
Good luck. I hope you find some peace.

I’ve just had a Quick Look and if it’s not for more than 90 days a year you’re good to go.

Edit as either I quoted the wrong post or there was a major edit!

I thought it was no longer allowed in London boroughs?
We have a rental flat in London which we used to let through a short lets agency (mainly single business travellers) but the legislation changed so we went over to ASTs.

I totally agree. my DD can't move out of her abusive dad's house because we live in a holiday town and most of the places that used to be long term rentals are now Air bnb and the flats are up for rent are either too expensive or go within hours of it being advertised

This is so true; I live in Cornwall, and mass tourism has nearly ruined it. Not just airbnb, but excess traffic...it took me over an hour to drive two miles a few days ago. Infrastructure can't take the numbers. Airbnb, unlike holiday lets where the owner is present, has made things very stressful and unpleasant for residents.

They did, they were just on cottages.com etc, my mum has been staying in the same let for almost twenty years (no, she’ll never try somewhere new!), its an apartment in a residential block in Wales.

Another problem European governments have in clamping down on the revenues of American companies such as AirBnB is that the US and Trump Administration won’t like it and may cause a political fuss or even worse increase trade tariffs. It’s not easy.

But before AirBnB you didn’t tend to have properties for holiday let that were located in residential buildings where the local workers live.

Those holiday cottages and lets were on the whole designed and organised for short term tourist stays.

And run by local companies (often from that country or at least a European company) which paid taxes and were accountable. Very different to a far away American company headquartered in Silicon Valley.

It is shit.

The Spanish government need to really restrict the number of Airbnb type properties. Tbh all governments do, they're not providing much benefit other than some people getting wealthy by providing holiday accommodation without meeting basic standards.

Many of them are now owned by companies.

I'm not saying ban them, but let's say in Tenerife for example. On the south coast in an area that pretty much solely exists because of and for tourism like Golf del Sur, you could have a limit set at 5 per cent. Somewhere like Vilaflor or Adeje (not Costa Adeje) or Arona that are away from the coast and very much residential could be capped at 1 per cent.

If not enough people are using hotels then prices for them will go up.

Sorry but you can't blame the people who rent them, like they did in Spain. It's nonsense. It's the greedy owners who are to blame 💯.

It's sad to see the absolute demonisation of Airbnb and people that use it! All it needs is the local authorities in every area to set limits on how many apartments can be used as Airbnbs! It's as easy as that! Not everybody wants to sit on a sunbed in an all inclusive holiday resort. Some of us actually like exploring and like to live like a local and move about so that's why Airbnbs are a precious thing for people, to have a home away from home and be part of the culture.
I've stayed in places we couldn't have stayed in without Airbnb because hotels might be miles away in a less nice location and far more expensive. My last trip in June was to Lake Ohrid, we had a beautiful little Airbnb overlooking the lake and in the old town where there are no hotels - we enjoy the peace as much as anyone and we are respectful of our neighbours. We stayed in hotel in Tirana on the first night before heading to Lake Ohrid and it was a crap hole, we stayed in another hotel in the last night in Tirana before flying home, was a nice hotel but couldn't sleep because the air conditioning was woeful and it was 36.c during the day! You get noisy and selfish people in hotels too. Cases and shouty conversations down the corridor at stupid o clock, the families that let their screamy stompy children into the corridors at 6am!

When I've had noise issues in an Airbnb, it hasn't been fellow travellers, it's been the uni students whose parents have bought them apartments in the city! We had one next to us in building in Catania, Sicily, we had to be up early for our flight home and her and her mates got drunk, thundered about all night ringing door bells including ours and shrieking with laughter. Wherever we've had noise issues, it's been a resident!

You love Airbnbs but want them banned so none of us get to enjoy them anymore? Thanks!

I feel for you OP, I also loathe AirBnB for stripping communities apart. Where I live isn’t as bad but is proving a real problem for many. One house has rented out a converted garage in a little cul de sac, and they have people hanging outside late at night sitting on walls smoking and screaming. It’s worse for the places that have no one living there. People feel “they’re on holiday and want to enjoy themselves”, when they’re making a racket in a community trying to work / get rest / get kids to sleep. Also financially keeping families from renting to live etc.

Hence I only book with hotels.

I just wish you some luck and peace to be able to sort this out.

I didnt sayv i dont like them. Just that i prefer Airbnbs. So as it currently stands, i can stay in them, as they havent been banned. Yet.. .

Really?

@Tiredofwhataboutery the only thing that's a bit sad about that is that lots of those places are beautiful and charming and would make lovely homes. Lots of people would prefer something characterful and chilly over newly built and well insulated and souless - people want different things from a home.

I rented a converted outbuilding for two years which was across a yard just like you describe. I absolutely loved it. Then the landlord wanted to sell it and I couldn't buy it because it turned out it only had planning permission to be a holiday let, because apparently isolated rural buildings can't be homes.

As someone who is heavy on their feet, into loud rock music, and happiest with no other people around, not to mention happier being cold than too warm, it was perfect for me.

I personally think the "it's not suitable as a home" line is trotted out a bit as an excuse not to devalue rural property by bringing more onto the market. I would much prefer to live in a static caravan than in a flatshare in a town - but most static caravans near me can't be used as a main residence either, because apparently they're "unsuitable". People want to live in different ways, and saying certain property can't be used to live in just ends up hurting the poorest, because if you're rich you can buy something in cash and nobody cares if you live there, but if you need a mortgage you can only get one on a property deemed "suitable" by someone who doesn't know anything about your lifestyle.

🤣

yeah right. Like i am going to go caravaning!!!! I love camping but again NEVER in the UK. But I will NEVER be caravaning. No effing way.

Your username is apt because that’s clearly going to be defined as something specifically for holiday makers. I am also not proposing to repurpose every bothy for tiny homes.

If you don't like hotels, bnbs or caravans then maybe just don't go on holiday?

I live rurally and lots of people have an old outbuilding / bothy they rent out to holiday makers, they are not necessarily ideal as permanent accommodation. Would you like to live across the yard from your landlord in their old stables? Old stone buildings with lots of glass are freezing in winter too.

It does work well as holiday accommodation though. Owners are on site to manage bins etc, there’s no direct neighbours to be impacted. Tend to come and spend lots of money in surrounding tourist towns. I think it’s good to take a common sense approach.

If the government really cared about the housing crisis, then they would do something about houses being used as short-term holiday lets.