Anyone else got an AirBnB next door?

[Pluvia]

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.

@Londonnight just re read and amazingly no, it's not the same as this is a bigger 4 bed.
As if their are two Airbnb tossers in the locality.

Councils definitely need to start licensing these properties!

If you rent out your property as a holidya let it needs a licence, councils could be raking it in!!

Plus you have someone to complain to get the licence revoked! What an amazing idea!

Do any councils actually do this now?

My friend had an AirBNB but in the flat above her. Where they'd ripped out the carpet and put down laminate with no cushioning.

Kids and suitcases running up and down at all times day and night arriving in the middle of the night etc.

Poor woman nearly lost her sanity. In the end the owner sold up, but there was nothing she was able to do.

Post the link and stop ignoring advice.

Extending the previously mentioned suggestion of paying for a night and leaving a bad review - could you and neighbours block book days / weekends and then cancel at the last possible moment ? That way you're hitting the owners where it hurts most - in their pockets and keeping it legal (although I do sort of love the trashing the place ideas). I've had airbnb bookings with 24 hr notice cancellation policies with no financial penalty. Might be an idea....

You will also receive their current phone numbers too, which will be useful

I'd be going with the nuclear option too - you and all the neighbours need to make it the house of hell for tourists so that no one books it. Off the top of my head - sprinklers and hoses that happen to squirt over the fence, put music (chose a genre that will ruin their atmosphere) on loudly in your gardens, waking them up super-early in the mornings for ridiculous things, maybe other neighbours pop over to mention that they should keep an eye out for rats/mice/cockroaches because there is a huge issue in the block etc etc.

Why would she post a link to a house she lives next door to????

Does that seem sensible to you?

Why would OP doxx herself, especially given that, as multiple posters have pointed out, you can't leave a review for somewhere you haven't stayed in?

It's a major drawback of airbnb that it doesn't permit guest reviews unless you actually stayed at least one night. As a (very quiet) solo female traveller, I've only ever felt unsafe once (creepy host) and decided not to stay, but couldn't post a review to warn others.

Anyway, as a user of airbnb what pees me off massively is when I can't access the amenities that are promised in the listing. So in this case: the garden, the BBQ, the firepit. Turning sprinklers on is a great idea. It's not dangerous, it's not criminal damage...but it's a major inconvenience for the guests if they can't sit out because ALL the neighbours love to water their gardens enthusiastically at 11pm.

Can you soak the fuel for the firepit/BBQ? Or remove it from the premises? Not so much stealing as "borrowing" for an indefinite period...but very annoying for guests to have to go buy their own, they might not bother and host will get a negative review for not providing fuel.

If the host lives miles away and doesn't check the property can you nail a MASSIVE poster to the front door saying THIS IS A RESIDENTIAL AREA. YOU ARE NOT WELCOME. DO NOT MAKE NOISE AFTER 10PM.

I guess you have already looked at the listing on airbnb but if not, I just wanted to mention there is an option to "message host" and another to "report listing".

It doesn't sound like the owner is very hands on with management so can you speak to the cleaner when they go in? Get the host number from the cleaner or cleaning agency under the pretext of needing to contact the host about something else?

In case you don't already know, hosts have to achieve ratings of 5/5 pretty much all the time - even a couple of 4/5's will get them downgraded and eventually delisted.

All you neighbours should take it in turns to play something they'd hate from early morning - Max Bygraves "Pink Toothbrush" perhaps, or bagpipes. Start at 7am.......

Or play awful music really loudly when they're outside, every single time.

Hopefully they'll leave bad reviews, or complain to Airbnb.

Or could you find out where owner lives and go and ring their doorbell at 6am?

I think when you go around and complain you should go in 2s for safety. You never know who is going to be there.

I'd keep complaining to the counsel. If all your neighbours do it they will have to do something sooner or later.

It sounds like a piss take tbh.

Covertly hire the house yourself (or ask a friend to give their seers) "check in", then leave the worst review imaginable. Club together with neighbours for the £.

Repeat using different details.

I'd probably turn myself into the neighbour from hell. Get a loudspeaker and blast it from the window directly towards the party goers. And again first thing in the morning when they are nursing hangovers. Blast a loud horn constantly. Anything to ruin their fun/time at the house.

It's horrible to resort to that but since nothing has been done since 2016 it calls for drastic measures.

It's interesting what you say about ratings. Their latest review is pretty poor: the house looks unloved and the owners haven't bothered with the garden this year, and this has been noted — plus the shabbiness of the bathroom and kitchen. They are hovering at 4.61, so perhaps another couple of poor reviews would help. It just feels a bit gutting to have to spend ££s in order to try and get them delisted.

Over the years we've encountered quite a few people who've been staying there. It's not all big groups of friends, there have been families and couples. When we've met them — maybe they've needed information or been walking past our house and seen us coming in or out — many of them have grumbled about standards of cleanliness, the bedlinen, the fact that there's no freezer and the kitchen is quite old and basic. And yet we check a couple of weeks later and they've given it a glowing review with no mention of all the things they've complained about. I really don't think you can trust the reviews. As you've pointed out, you weren't actually able to report your worst experience.

'Covertly hire the house yourself (or ask a friend to give their seers) "check in", then leave the worst review imaginable. Club together with neighbours for the £. '

I thought the owner can check reviews - they don't just go live. So presumably he just won't use poor ones

@missdemeanors the guest and the host both leave reviews but they don't get to see each other's until both have left a review. You can then comment if you disagree with the review.

Or at least I think the owner can query if they believe reviews are unreasonable/ inaccurate. I just wonder how realistic it is that reviews will get published if they've been 'set up' in some way.

I really feel for you though OP. We moved a couple of years ago to a properly with no attached or adjoining neighbours precisely because our neighbourhood was heading towards the tourist/air bnb nightmare

I had neighbours who used to have parties two or three times a week, lots of blokes and they pissed in the garden. It was hideous. After a long discussion with the council, I was told they could log complaints against a property each time and even though there are different residents, they can build a picture and a case against them. They can even issue a fine without witnessing the noise. I have a series of tenants next door and some of them are awful. I now log each and every incident with the council and email the landlord every time it’s a problem.

So keep a log of each and every incident and how it affects you. You can even log noise in the day and call out the noise team as there is no time that being anti social is allowed. I would also talk to my local councillor as well as MP and Environmental Health as they can put pressure on the department to investigate more fully. You have to keep at it until something changes. I have sent recordings of the next door neighbours to their landlord’s agent. That helps too. I really feel for you as I know how awful it is.

All of you need to complain to the council and air b&b every time. Resources are stretched but this has been going on a long time and it’s not going to stop.

Or you go round to complain to them at 7am each time and see what that does to their reviews. Ask them if they have found God and if they would like to come to the street prayer meeting. Make parking difficult for them. Be very noisy in the mornings (group lawn mowing/car hoovering at 8am) I think you have to be more of a nuisance back.

I lived sandwiched between two AirB&B's once.
It was similar to experiencing all the worst aspects of living next to a HMO, but for higher earners (who didn't have to go to work, so the party never ends!)

It is like a scourge in the UK now, isn't it? Profit before community, and aren't we proud?!

My place was a listed cottage apartment in the the Lake District, so I suppose I was asking for it, so to speak. Luckily, I rent (you win some, you lose some), so did a few summer's and moved out. If I had purchased the property I might have had a nervous breakdown

A friend of mine had a decently priced little flat in Kendal, which was later sold (after terminating her tenancy) to become an AirB&B for three times the rent per month. I am eternally surprised that people pay this much for a few days in the rain. If I had money to burn I would simply purchase a holiday apartment of my own.

I am probably in a minority though, as my perfect getaway would be in a 4 man tunnel tent in the middle of nowhere, ignoring my phone.

We have been logging for years and we still do. We have our A4 navy logbook under the phone in the kitchen. But our council does nothing — this despite us having a local councillor who has been quite pushy on our behalf. I don't think they currently have the power to shut the place down. If licensing comes in that may change.

The council have occasionally been out, agreed that noise levels are too high and have had a word with the owners. Things were much better in 2020-2021 because large mixed groups weren't allowed because of Covid and it tended to be families and couples booking the property. This year everyone's meeting up in big groups again and most of the bookings have been for 8-10 youngish adults. They're back again this evening, being quite noisy. One of the other neighbours was supposed to be on duty tonight but has texted me to say he's got Covid and will I do the honours again tonight if necessary. I hate it.

Accidental hose over fence issues? Few reviews with ‘we got soaked’ might help?

How do Air BNB landlords actually stop people having parties though? If a property sleeps 10, say, that’s a much higher likelihood of the letting going to a party group. If the ‘host’ isn’t around to intervene then so what if their advert requests no parties, who’s there to enforce it?

I read a thing recently about Airbnb stepping up its neighbourhood reporting because of exactly this stuff. Seems to be a direct route for neighbours here: www.airbnb.co.uk/neighbors

(Not teaching anyone to suck eggs and I appreciate you've probably tried this route OP but in case anyone else stumbles across this thread in future)

It doesn't sleep 10 as an ordinary house might. There's a double and a twin and a bunk room upstairs with the bathroom/loo. Downstairs they've turned the dining room into a tiny double (someone has to sleep up against the wall) and then there's a sofa that converts into a double in the living room. There aren't enough chairs/ sofas for 10 to congregate in the living room and there's no indoor dining table — which is why they've built the covered dining/sitting area outside.