To complain about the Air B'n'Bs next door?

[thatdamnwoman]

30 years ago I made a decision to leave the city and come and live in a rural area of Wales, near the coast, for a calmer, quieter life. The houses in this little enclave are nothing special but they're all detached and in decent-sized gardens and most of the neighbours were looking for a similar quiet, low-key existence. Quite a few of the houses are second homes but that didn't seem to cause much of an issue. Fast forward 25 years and now about half the properties here are being offered on Air B'n'B and the whole atmosphere of the place has changed. The two houses closest to me are both second homes and are both let out almost permanently on Air B'n'B. From Easter to the end of September they are chock-a-block, often with large groups. Both houses have a minimum 2-night stay, so there can be three or more changes of tenants each week.

Weekends, in particular, are a nightmare. Large groups of probably perfectly pleasant people arrive from town and then want to sit out in the gardens until 2 or 3am in the morning, drinking and barbecuing and whooping at the sheer wonder of being able to see the stars. I do understand how lovely it must seem if you spend most of your life in town and how tempting to want to sit out and play music and keep the fire pit going all night — but what about me, next door, having to sleep with the windows shut because of the smoke and noise?

I've asked the two neighbours who own the properties closest to me to change the wording on their Air B'n'B listing to tell people that there's to be no noise after, say, 10pm (I've stayed in a number of Air B'n'Bs where this has been a stipulation) and they have both adjusted the wording to ask people to 'respect the neighbours' — which of course they don't do once they've had a few glasses of wine. One of the neighbours has responded to my complaint about noise by installing a piano outdoors on the covered terrace in their garden, so at 7.15am this morning I was woken by a child 'playing' the piano 30 feet from my bedroom window. It might not be such a big issue in town but here, where it's quiet and there's nothing but birdsong, it's really intrusive.

I've complained to Air B'n'B and the council, but the council is stretched beyond capacity and when I've tried to get Environmental Health officers to come out at 2am and monitor the noise themselves I've been told that there's no one available. Am I being so unreasonable to want the Air B'n'B guests to be quiet after 10pm?

Well OP, why don't you just go and stay in your other house while all this is going on - the once you bought recently?

Imagine how people in cities must feel! I used to live in Edinburgh, and from May onwards it progressively becomes more difficult to walk along the streets due to the large numbers of language school summer students ambling about! Never mind the festival.

Imagine if these family houses were filled with families and all their children grew up and had cars and parked them on the street and invited friends round.

I'm still really puzzled why so many holidaymakers descend upon your non-holiday resort ordinary working village in such droves. Perhaps we should ban all but most expensive, full board holidays in the UK, so that people aren't disturbed by happy holidaymakers! People that want to have a more lively, independent holiday will just have to go abroad and spend their money there! Or those who can't afford it can just make do with a British holiday once every few years or something.

I sympathise.

Next door is a big big house, used to be let out for big parties. However, following a party after which every single household living in the village complained to the owners (partying until 5am, whereupon all those leaving beeped their horns, raucous drinking and singing all night etc), the house now is only let very occasionally and to family members.

Any chance you can get other residents on board with complaints?

PS and of course complain to AirBnB iself!

@IncandescentShadow

We have an air bnb next door to us. We don't live in a coastal area. Where we live isn't particularly touristy either yet still because we have good trains to central parts of the city, and a famous walk way people are still using the air bnb. So it can actually happen to anyone!

It has not gone at all to plan -the house was nearly wrecked by an all night party and the neighbours complained to the council en masse ,the other owners in the small flat block who were fed up with randoms coming and going, making noise, parking where they shouldn’t and giving parking access to people who aren’t staying there, reportedl her to the freeholder ( in contravention of the lease) and she also then had HMRC becoming very interested in examining all of her business affairs

Why do people do that though? Why? Go somewhere and behave atrociously and wreck things and generally be utter arses? Of course not everybody does it, but why is it acceptable to do that when on holiday? It's utterly baffling.

Sorry about the derail.

Also, I'm not sure, but if they are renting to 8/10 people they might also require an HMO licence. Again ask your councillors. Hopefully they will be more helpful than the Council itself.

Hi,
I think complaining to the owner by phone (if you have their number)every time is a great idea. I mean doing this straight away. You're disturbed at 1am - they're disturbed at 1am. You are woken by a piano at 7am - they are woken at 7am. When you call ask them to call the property to tell them to keep it down. If they ask you to stop calling or to call the property yourself direct just say the truth "if I'm disturbed by your business- You're disturbed!".

We stayed in a rental (not air b and b) that said neighbour complaints will result in loss of deposits (and could be asked to leave). I don't know if air b and b has deposits but this was an expensive house and the deposit was hundreds so that focuses the mind - even though I doubt they would do it lightly.

The owners near you could easily have some rules they make clear and emphasise the quiet residential area. The fact they don't is just selfishness and greed as they are not their to be bothered by the anti social behaviour.

Also a great idea to check the land registry for the mortgage lender and write to them about what's going on. It could be quite serious to them as without permission of the lender any insurance (if they even have valid insurance for letting) might be invalidated. So if the holiday makers burned the house down then the banks security has gone up in smoke and no insurance.

I don't know if it is true about a limit on how much air b and b letting you can do without registering as a business but look into it and if it is true it is another angle.

Especially the outside piano people have stuck two fingers up to you so I'd say it's now no holds barred and you should go for it.

joystir59, I couldn't agree more. This is killing the sense of community.

I love the cockerel idea!!!

Could you get boxes of horse manure on the boundary, and 'open it' in the evenings so that it smells? And close it during the day when you're using the garden. Not sure if it would work, but I know it's quite unpleasant sitting outside our house when the nearby farms have manured their fields. Or I'd light a smoky bonfire, invest in some god awful music to play loudly in the early hours of the morning. You can pick up free pianos on freecycle for your DC to 'practice' on. No need to get them tuned....

Beware of the fact that the thresholds environmental health use are quite high. I had the student neighbours from hell once, and although their noise was more than enough to wake me up (they used to go clubbing, then get in and play music from 3am on) it wasn't enough to reach EH's threshold.

Yes, complain each and every time - to the owners, guests and AirB&B.

You've tried to be reasonable. They've given you the brush off. Now time to get serious.

Are you in a national park by any chance?

I would be tempted to go and play the piano at 6am every morning before you leave for work (or push it over)

I absolutely despise the idea of air b&b. Why on earth would you want to go and stay in some random persons house? I absolutely don't see the appeal.

Piano strings don't like bolt cutters.....

You’re not being unreasonable. Keep knocking on the door of the rental when they’re making noise at unreasonable hours. You’ll soon end up in the reviews of the property which should put people intending to use it as a party house off.

Sorry said absolutely twice

If you make lots of noise etc and make it unpleasant for those hiring the Air BnB, they will leave bad reviews. That will do more to stop people hiring the place than anything else I suspect.

Joystir59, what you were doing, i.e. renting a room in your family home, was the original ethos of AirBnB - one step up from sofa surfing, a cheap accommodation choice, getting to know the locals a bit, and making a little extra income. What it has morphed into is an uncontrolled monster. I work in hospitality and businesses locally have been adversely impacted by the sheer number of AirBnB's springing up - hotels and guesthouses/B&Bs have to abide by health and safety legislation and environmental health legislation, including fire prevention systems that have to be regularly maintained and checked, food hygiene regulations, insurance, PA Testing etc. All this costs. We also have to have correct business registrations, and obviously pay tax.

AirBnB premises are largely unregulated, and tbh, locally, it's only about £10 per night cheaper to stay in an Air BnB than to stay in a properly regulated guest house/hotel.

Yanbu but 11pm - 8am is a reasonable no noise outside please close windows rule. The issue is the enforcement of existing legislation more than Airbnb - the council need to be licensing holiday lets too, and removing said licence if they breach terms.

The answer is 42 ... and all the bagpipe laments you can find to serenade with as soon as you get up ! We have rentals by us and I have to say the level of basic inconsideration mixed with people who think that neighbours are a personal concierge service and onsite entertainment officer has been on the rise of late. As for the people who fling the glass in the recycling at 2 and 3 am I have reserved a special spot in holiday hell for them, right next to people who fling their dog shit in a residential bin in a private garden! I like the piano idea ... buy some glasses, pound away then stand up and announce like Eric Morcambe you played all the right notes just not necessarily in the right order also pay the woman in the shop to hide the paracetamol and hangover remedies

Mow the lawn at 7am after every late night!

OP “I'd move, but nowhere is safe these days unless you can afford somewhere with several acres around you as a buffer.”

I really feel for you OP. I live in a small flat and I sometimes think that although I dream of moving somewhere better, it’s likely that noise problems are everywhere now due to changes in attitude.

I’m not sure what I can suggest but if enough people complain about problems with air B and B..... the second home comment would have given the me the rage too.

Air BnB both democratises access to country spaces as well as supporting the local economy by promoting tourism

Not really. They’d just stay in a Hotel.

If anything people buying second homes to air BnB is bad for society when we have a chronic housing shortage.

Do they have a mortgage on them- you can check for charges on the house I believe. If so they may not be able to let at all never mind on air b an b.

Mow the lawn at 7am after every late night!

OP shouldn’t be “punishing” the guests this is the owners fault