Our neighbours inherited the house next door when their parents died and have turned it into an AirBnB. Four bedrooms, a sofa bed and a single bathroom and loo. It's in an ordinary residential area surrounded by owner-occupiers. They advertise it as being suitable for parties of up to 10 to hold get-togethers and they've built a covered outdoor seating area with a barbecue and a fire pit a few feet from our house. Most nights at this time of year we endure the smell of burned meat followed by woodsmoke drifting in through open windows.
We take it in turns with the other neighbours to go round and ask the guests to be quiet and turn off their music after 10pm. Tonight was one of the nights I'm on complaints duty. It's generally pretty quiet here. Most people are working or have children and want their sleep, particularly in the week. Because there's only one loo the male guests tend to pee in the garden and we often look out and see them doing it.
Tonight one of the men (there were 10 of them, mostly men but a couple of women, all mid-20s) wanted to argue with me. He's on holiday, he should be able to do what he likes. Fortunately one of the other neighbours heard him and shouted over the fence asking me if he should he call the police and the guy backed down. The guests have gone in and they're quieter now, though I can hear good-natured shouting and some music. I've sent yet another complaint to AirBnB. The listing says that this is a residential area with neighbours nearby and asks people not to hold parties and to be quiet, but 10 people on holiday together can't be quiet. They have a few drinks, they talk, they talk over each other and next things you know they're roaring away.
It completely ruins this lovely time of year for me. I've talked to my MP and the council (as have other neighbours) and there's nothing we can do. We just have to deal with the noise and smoke while the neighbours rake in £150 a night. I wish Air BnB had never been invented.