To think AirBNBs ruin streets

[Greyrootszerohoots]

We live in a quiet cul de sac, elderly couples and a few young families mainly.

One house that was an empty second home for 5+ years - never met owners - has become an Airbnb this year. Crazy prices and large groups of new holidayers (3/4 cars) coming and going every couple of days.

I realise it’s a first world problem and I actually have far serious things to worry about, but it’s really changed the whole dynamic of a very neighbourly and quiet street and I sort of feel like it takes a shitty person to cash in at the expense of the other households.

Has anyone else experienced this?

We do Airbnb ourselves but I have thought a lot about this and I do sympathise.

We have one room let in our garden basement - maximum 2 people at a time, usually couples. they park on our drive and have never disturbed us by being in the same house, never mind the neighbours. Nobody is overlooked.

I wouldn't be at all keen on a whole house being let on the street. Constant turnover of people who won't be prioritising considerate behaviour towards neighbours.

@carlywurly I think there is a big difference when you’re hosting on / in your property, it’s not much different to having guests, I think the whole property for let is what makes the (negative) difference

They ruin communities. There's a massive housing shortage where I live and a LOT of Air B&Bs.

Totally agree. Short term lets have to be the least desirable neighbour. I actually don't think it will be a bad thing at all if the whole thing becomes far more regulated. It's really frighteningly easy to get started as a host.

Live in a seaside town and almost every house that sells becomes a holiday let. We residents hate it cos there's no where to park

I live in Edinburgh and it's a big problem here.
There's lots of Air BnBs in the city centre which have a negative impact on people who live there permanently. Plus it makes it harder for people who want to live there to find a property as there are so many short term lets and second homes.
I stay a bit further out, there is only one holiday flat in our block and luckily there has never been any issues.

@FangsForTheMemory same here, and very little affordable housing.

@carlywurly agree it should be more regulated. I’m surprised more local councils don’t put restrictions on terms of use in residential areas

If it's the whole house and it's being run as a business, can you find out if this is legit?

It's a change of usage for planning purposes perhaps?

I use and benefit from air bnb but I also think they should be way more regulated. It’ll be interesting to se what happens now cities like Paris and Barcelona are having some success in kicking back against the air bnb business model.

@Windywuss I did look into that, but it seems that if it’s not let out all the time you can do it in most places (some councils have restrictions it seems).

There are actually a lot of loopholes and tax benefits to holiday rentals, I’m surprised there are any long term landlords left!

I agree. AirBnB are quick to highlight how their business model is good for opening up tourism in new areas but they never talk about the effect of constant rentals, especially to large party groups, on the local community.

My neighbours were all set to sell to someone who was going to do a whole house let for Air BnB and I was dreading it. Fortunately it fell through but the disruption to the street, and the lack of neighbours, would have been hideous. I think it is different if the host lives there and can keep an eye on things. Or if it is one flat in a block. But on a quiet street it really does change things for the worse.

I own a holiday cottage which I'ver airbnb'd but I live next door there's no immediate neighbours to impact and tourism is a big part of a local economy. I think in those circumstances or when you are renting out part of your home it works. Rentals on residential streets are really impactful and I'd like to see tighter regulation.

And blocks. We have had some bloody horrors - locals renting a flat for a weekend long party (cars pulling up all hours, music and shrieking for 3 days), little shts ‘off the leash’ from mummy and daddy going wild in town and bringing back prostitutes (who pinch foyer fixtures and furniture), lads who get off their tts on drugs and wander around the block trying to find the main door (hey Einstein, you aren’t going to find the entrance walking up the fire escape), general feral renters who trash the flats... great. Strangers wandering around the building all hours. And people arriving at 3am, whacking on the music full blast for a couple of hours - then more arrive just after 7am, much hooting, howling and ‘smoking’ (I snapped that day after 12 hours of partying and called the owners dad, who thew them out because they has 4x the party size agreed/paid for and they had already trashed the flat and stanked it out).

And of course by the time you manage to get a hold of the owners (who are abroad), the renters have long gone.

Quite a few of the flats here are people with kids or retired people. I loathe airbansb type rentals.

I think they should be more closely regulated. The house next to ours (the end of a terrace of four bed Victorian properties) is an Air BnB. Fortunately the owner now only lets it out on 3-6 month leases to people who are buying or renovating their own properties, but before that there were different groups arriving every other day and 50% of them kept us awake shouting and screaming after coming back from a night out. It’s so stressful to live near, so you have my sympathies.

We’ve actually been very lucky - no late night partying horror stories (yet!).

My main gripe is cars flying up the street oblivious that it’s a dead end (the house is at the end). Everyone who lives here drives really cautiously as we all know one another and are conscious that we might be stood in the road gossiping (most likely about the air bnb 😂)

@FangsForTheMemory

They ruin communities. There's a massive housing shortage where I live and a LOT of Air B&Bs.

Same here. Live in a tourist town and has massively inflated house prices now. New housing should not be bought as second homes/BTL/holiday homes and should be for the sole purpose of housing people on a long term basis.

Some of us air b&b entirely considerately -park as directed , and if our fog woofs twice in the night rush him out for a quiet wee ( bloody seagulls - he’s a townie dog!)

I’d hate for it to change because a small minority are an utter pain.

Live in central Edinburgh and it is having a really detrimental effect. It needs to be much, much better regulated.

For example a cap on the % of properties in a street that can be short term lets and a local levy that pays for things like a noise response team, increased bin collections etc.

It’s not just noise and comings and going’s, it’s also things like little shops locally closing down and people dumping bin bags in the street.

It’s becoming a playground or a theme park rather than somewhere people live.

The only positive thing is that the air bnb owners in our block are always at least fairly keen for repairs/improvements in common areas to go ahead because they like to keep the cosmetic appearance up.

I refused to sell our house to a guy who wanted to turn it into an air BnB. I'd never have done that to my neighbours and these people who do it are selfish!

Stayed in an air b n b this weekend and thought the exact same thing. We are a very very quiet family with no dogs or fast cars and I still felt bad for the neighbours whose street is coming and going with strangers week in week out.

@TulipTuloo

Stayed in an air b n b this weekend and thought the exact same thing. We are a very very quiet family with no dogs or fast cars and I still felt bad for the neighbours whose street is coming and going with strangers week in week out.

But by hiring an airbnb you're part of the problem. You may not like it, but you're fuelling the demand.

We need our houses to be homes, not second homes or holiday lets or investments to be left empty.

If you don't have long term or permanent residents then not only do you lose communities but also services that are essential - doctors, schools, hospitals, shops (tourist shops not included) etc.

Mass tourism destroys the destinations people claim to love and turns them into hollowed out theme parks with a mono-economy on which towns become entirely dependent.

We need to holiday in a much more sustainable way, even in our own country.

It's tricky. I can understand that it may be difficult to live near a holiday let, but at the same time I use (or used, pre Covid) holiday lets a lot.

I don't like hotels so if we're travelling I look for cottages or apartments - which undoubtedly have neighbours. So it would be hypocritical of me to object to one in my street!

Far too much of the population want to make money from having multiple properties though so i'm sure what the solution is.

I think there should be much higher taxes on additional homes but the population won't vote for that.