To think upstairs neighbours should have mentioned they're turning their flat into an AirBNB?

[AvocadosBeforeMortgages]

If it was NDNs I'd be unreasonable, but I share a hallway with my two upstairs neighbours and I store my bike in the hallway, and post (eg bank statements) comes into the shared hallway too creating an identity theft risk.

I only found out by accident through the other upstairs neighbours that their flat is being left on Airbnb.

AIBU to think she could at least have mentioned she was planning to turn her flat into an AirBNB?

I wouldn’t be happy about that at all. Are you leasehold? Might be worth checking the lease to see if there’s anything there about subletting that you can use to stop them from doing it.

Yanbu for wanting to know it’s an airbnb re post theft risk, but yabu for storing your bike in a shared hall.

I'm quite sure it needs to be done properly re leasehold etc.
Having said that many air b n b are are fine and it says be responsible to neighbours etc in the pack...
Might be better than tenants you can't get rid of who are noisy?

@Skysblue

Yanbu for wanting to know it’s an airbnb re post theft risk, but yabu for storing your bike in a shared hall.

The residents of all 3 flats store bikes there. One of the other flats also stored building materials there for months too so they'd have a hard time arguing IABU for that

I would definitely check the lease, but I would not mention to the leaseholder that you store your bike in the hallway as that could also be against the lease.

It's not a leasehold building as far as I know - it's a converted Victorian house. I'm a long term private tenant, the other two flats are owner occupiers.

Do you mean post goes onto the floor by the front door in the shared hallway or is it in separate locked boxes in the hallway?

@kowari

Do you mean post goes onto the floor by the front door in the shared hallway or is it in separate locked boxes in the hallway?

It goes onto the floor by the front door.

If there were separate locked boxes I wouldn't be worried!

Would it be possible to get a locked mailbox that attaches over the letterbox? Mail drops in and residents use a key to get in and check their mail, airbnb guests don't have a key?

Perhaps you could install a separate locked box for your mail, or even a communal one but that's only the owner/residents have the key for?

I would be very pissed off about this!

@AvocadosBeforeMortgages

It's not a leasehold building as far as I know - it's a converted Victorian house. I'm a long term private tenant, the other two flats are owner occupiers.

If you're in England and there's more than one demise in the building they're almost certainly leasehold. You can get a copy of the lease from the Land Registry for about £3 and they almost all ban short lets. Additionally, there may also be local council restrictions on AirBNB use - I know Westminster has banned it, for example.

The residents of all 3 flats store bikes there. One of the other flats also stored building materials there for months too so they'd have a hard time arguing IABU for that

Isn't that a fire hazard?

Can you get a lockable postbox for your mail?

I live in a similar house - converted Victorian house, now 6 flats. Two are owner-occupied, including us, two are rented on 6/12 month contracts, and two are AirBnB or short term lets.

To be honest, it's never been a problem. Our post is sorted onto a hallway table, but the AirBnB people never look at it... and a name and address isn't hard to find anyway, really.

We don't keep bikes in the hallway, though. The lady at the back is keeping a pushchair infront of the basement door at the moment, but that's it... And even that is against our fire safety guidance, which is a condition for insurance of the house, and I think also a mortgage condition.

Your council might also have restrictions on Air BnB listings - worth checking it out. Speak to your landlord - they will have a copy of the lease whether they are leaseholders or own a share of the freehold.

I'd get rid of paper statements for a start OP, with no private mailbox!

So much to unpick here!

There will be a lease of come sort even if all the flats share the freehold.

It is likely to be prohibited by that lease.

You are a tenant. Unfortunately you have no real rights here - you can get your landlord to report them but that's about it. The owner (leaseholder) of the flat above may be in breach of lease but enforcing this is hard.

You can report to the council but again, depends on the issue.

The bikes in the common areas are a clear breach of fire safety protocol. This is not only dangerous, but could jeopardise an insurance pay out.

YANBU. What does your other neighbour think?

I think you'd be within your rights to ask the airbnb-ing neighbour to pay for a wire letter cage to be attached to the back of the communal front door, assuming your post comes through that. You could lock it with a combination padlock and only give the code to people who need it.

Make sure you lock your bike in the hall, even if not locked to anything.

I doubt an Air BnB tenant would steal a locked bike

Lockable letter box could be a sensible precaution

Flat under ours was let through air BnB. Wasn't a problem for us, although the flat underneath didn't like sharing the hallway with strangers, so i do sympathise

Suggest you check if air BnB is allowed. If it is, then you may not like it, but probably just have to suck it up or move on. If not allowed, maybe get your landlord involved too