I don’t want our neighbour to keep running her airbnb

[airbnbby]

We live in a 6 house cul de sac, have been living here for years and get along great with our neighbours. None of the houses even have fences separating the back gardens.

A few months ago we started seeing different cars and people showing up to this one house for 3-4 days at a time. Another neighbour asked what was up and owner said they were just friends visiting. Well that’s a lot of very organised friends as they always show up hours after the other one has left!

Anyway I just don’t like it, this is the house next to ours and every time someone new comes in and parks they can see right inside our kitchen and it’s just uncomfortable as it’s multiple different people every week.

I also definitely do not like sharing our outside area with total strangers. They literally could be anyone! I have tried finding the listing on all websites but can’t seem to find it and even if I did there’s no way I could bring it down but it still annoys me

Yanbu to be annoyed but yabu to think you have a right to do or say anything, Its not your property.. Its the same thing as if you had someone living there who just always had guests/friends/colleagues etc popping by. You may not like it but it isnt your property and as your the one with the problem then either live with it or move.

Get blinds

We don’t have any children but our neighbours do and have raised their concerns about safety issues having strangers come in and out.

What safety concerns? I wouldn't want to live next door to an Airbnb either, Op but this is just nonsense from your other neighbours . Why would strangers coming in and out of someone else's property present a risk to your neighbours children? Unless the Airbnb guests are attempting to access the property where the children live or they are interacting with the children inappropriately in some way outside in the street then it's a daft argument and makes it seem like they're looking for problems.

Your own objections seem to be largely based on the uncomfortableness of "making eye contact with strangers" and your neighbours are scared of having strangers in the house next door to their children. I understand you've both purposely chosen homes in a quiet cul-de-sac and there's obviously been a strong sense of community on your street until now but the fear of 'outsiders' does seem a little extreme. Leaving aside the Airbnb situation, any of your neighbours could move house and would then be replaced by strangers. Those strangers could have regular visitors who would also be strangers to you, they might decide to run a small business from home and have clients coming in and out who would also be strangers. So having if you're anxious about interacting with or even seeing strangers then having no boundary whatsoever between gardens seems like an odd decision.

Do you never walk along a street and glance in the windows of the houses you pass by? How on earth can looking at something equate to not having anything better to do? Do you have some kind of condition that means that using your eyes stops you being able to do ayting else?

Totally understand your feelings. No one wants an endless stream of total strangers next door to them. It’s not what you signed up for. Is your neighbour still living there and renting part of the house?

Many councils have bans on short lets or they cap the number of nights per year a property can be used this way. So check what applies in your area.

Put a fence up. Put some blinds up. This is a you problem

We have been quoted for a fence to be built within the next few weeks and do have blinds which we can’t keep shut all day or we would live in total darkness or pay £300 to keep the kitchen lights on forever.

I don’t know how many times I have to say this 😂

If what you’re saying is right and that it’s perfectly normal for people to glance through a window as they pass by, what’s the OP’s problem? Why is she special?

We do have blinds in the kitchen but we can’t just have the blinds shut all day everyday as it gets dark inside.

Put on the one-way film people have referred to upthread.

We also have like a small front porch type thing where we hang out sometimes or have breakfast/tea. I get it is the easiest solution but how practical is it to open and shut blinds multiple times a day? The kitchen windows are in fact two big sliding doors into the porch so they’re not the regular sized windows

That's a very unusual layout if it means you are in full view of the road in front when you sit on the porch. Even if it's a quiet cul-de-sac, you would still be sitting there in full view of your neighbours, their visitors, and others like postmen, dustmen, road menders etc. I'm in a cul de sac but I'd never sit at the front of the house when I want to be outside. I fear that, to be honest, if you buy a house with this sort of arrangement, the risk of passers-by looking in - including frequent passers-by - is a risk you accept when you buy it.

Also, realistically, whether the mortgage company knows or not isn’t going to change anything for the OP, unless this ‘closeness’ with the neighbours stretches to them all sharing details of who they have their mortgage with. Who’s she going to tell?

So many mortgage companies have been taken over or merged in the last few years, I can barely remember who my own mortgage is with, never mind anyone else’s!

I would have thought the fences would be an excellent investment. I would find the communal back garden distinctly off-putting if I was considering buying in this area.

I have experienced this kind of set up, which I know probably seems unusual to most people. For ten years I lived in a row of cottages with no fences between the gardens, in a quiet location. It had a nice 'community feel' but at least one of the properties was always let out to holidaymakers, often two.

It never bothered me that there were 'strangers' around, unless they were antisocial in some way. When I go on holiday myself I am 'the stranger' and it has never occurred to me that neighbours will think I am a problem, or a danger to their children.

In terms of privacy, we had plantation shutters on our ground floor windows/french doors, so we could angle them to have light coming in but people couldn't see in. We would have done that whether or not other properties were let out, I don't really want neighbours seeing me in my PJs.

We also put up a fence after a few years, because we were fed up with people (and their dogs) using our garden as if it was their own - but tbh that applied to a couple of residents as well as visitors. However quiet the location you could easily have a nightmare resident neighbour, at least if visitors are a pain they only stay a short time.

Check on the Airbnb Website, it might be 90 days per year limit for your area, in which case you can keep a note to see they don’t exceed that. (Although often air bnb impose the limit at the booking stage so they probably don’t)

I can see it’s not ideal, but try not to obsess about it, you will get used to it, get some of the stick on thingies for your windows so people aren’t staring in at you.

I get the annoyance of having such a change, especially having been lied to about it and now being encouraged to have additional unexpected expenses.

While you have blinds, it might be worth considering a different type of blind or curtain that allows in more light or privacy film or similar if it's bothering you a lot. Having once lived next to a bus stop and businesses, yeah, our curtains to the front were closed 95% of the time, but they were a kind that let in a lot of light so we weren't sitting in the dark. Even now with just a green out front, I've my blinds tilted so I get light, but I'm not visible unless people are way too close to my windows.

You've said you are getting a fence and of course you can use your blinds more. I don't think there is much else you can do apart from speak to your neighbour and explain that they clearly lied and you are unhappy that their 'business' has led to a decrease in your privacy. They've already lied to you so will likely do nothing but at least you have said your peace.

It’s a knocking shop, or a drugs den!

I wouldn't like it either, but what can you do? Agree with others, put a fence and blinds up.

I voted you were not unreasonable, quite surprised at the high number who think you are. I too live where you don’t get random people or passers by so maybe that makes us more sensitive to holidaymakers/Airbnbers coming and going but I guess unless they’re making a nuisance of themselves I hopefully wouldn’t notice them. My garden is fenced off though as I would personally wouldn’t like it open.

It sucks, but I don’t know if you can do anything about it. Ask Council if it counts as change of use, as it’s now a business not a residence.

Look up their deeds on Land Registry site, buy a copy (£3) and (a) see if there’s anything there restricting how they use the property, and (b) if the deeds show a mortgage, write to the mortgage company and complain the property is being used as a short term let with high turniver. I bet it’s against their mortgage terms and that’s probably the only way you could actually stop what’s happening.

Your neighbours will be making a lot of money out of this and won’t stop just because it’s annoying their former neighbours. Your only hope is to find a law/regulation against it.

Put up a fence then and get blinds for your window. Case closed

You have no right to tell your neighbour what they can do in their own house

Try frosted fablon on the part of your window exposing your home the most. Any home DIY shop should have some.

I can understand you not being happy with this situation as it is your home and privacy. The no fence and feeling like they were in my garden with no privacy would particularly piss me off. You definitely need to speak to the home owner about this and she needs to contribute towards a fence so you can keep your privacy. not all are listed on air b&b check booking.com, sykes cottages etc there are a few different sites. Or maybe it is just people she knows who she's letting it to on the quiet.

People also advertise holiday stays on Facebook marketplace and Gumtree.

Have you thought about your title: ''I don’t want our neighbour to keep running her airbnb''
I do understand you do not like it, but you do sound so entitled and maybe it is why so many people think YABU.
If she owns the house and the people who allegedly rent the place from airbnb don't litter the place, don't have wild parties, don't knock at your door etc... then, I have to say, you are being unreasonable.
Also, if you don't like people being able to look into your kitchen, why not put up curtains? Yes, it is a cul-de-sac, but it does not prevent anyone peeping into your house if you ''invite'' them to do so and generally, not having curtains, is an invitation!

If you are that bothered, you could ask your neighbour nicely if she would share the price of putting up a fence because you want privacy. She does not have to accept, btw. But asking her to stop letting her house? that is totally unreasonable and she has to right to tell you to get lost.

Look at it this way, maybe one day, you will also have the opportunity to let your property through Airbnb or other means and generate income. Will you think it is wrong then?
I think your neighbour is smart financially. She seems to also choose her renters well and honestly, she does not need your permission

In the nicest way, it is none of your business as long as they are not anti social and it is not a brothel, lol.

You could try meditation and be grateful for what you have if you are not doing it already and soon, you will not care. Gratitude is a great way of letting of things that bother us but are not really our business or in our control.

To ruminate about what your neighbour does (or does not) is unhealthy and will make you very bitter and believe me, the tone of your post, you are nearly there and it is not good for your own sake. All the best.