To expect a full refund minus one night from this Air BnB host? Air BnB experts help please!!!

[Iamthemoom]

Booked an Air Bnb for 22 nights in London. Arrived to find that there were more omissions to the listing than facts. Described as 'lovely' and 'cosy', the flat was literally on a busy roundabout, very noisy, on the ground floor of a very dodgy block of flats which was in serious disrepair.

The door to the flat itself didn't close securely and the lock didn't work properly. It felt incredibly insecure and unsafe.

There was a terrible stench in the flat which they had attempted to cover with multiple air fresheners and plug ins. These gave DD such a bad headache and nausea we thought she might have a virus but this stopped within 5 mins of leaving the flat and she was fine.

Neighbours were very noisy and woke us in early hours banging and crashing about. There was a lot of antisocial behaviour in the block too.

We arrived super late last night so braved it but immediately messaged the host early this morning explaining the issues and that we can't stay somewhere unsafe with this awful smell for another 21 nights. We packed up and found a hotel for the moment.

As we had to pay upfront the full fee (around £2k) we asked for a refund minus the night we stayed. Host (which is a rental management company) is refusing claiming all the issues we mention are out of their control and no one else has complained (they have 5 reviews) and directed us to AirBnB resolution centre who say they are passing to a speciality team.

What are the chances Air BnB will side with us and refund?
We did take out the Air Bnb insurance - will that cover us if not?

That rotten, 'not quite damp but sort of but really rank' smell sounds very like broken drains/raw sewage thats sat a while!

Where you may struggle is you should give the host chance to fix things like a nasty stench or broken lock.. and you haven't. However they do favour the customer so fingers x!

A flat can be 'lovely' and 'cosy' yet still be on a busy roundabout in an undesirable area, so I wouldn't focus on that in your complaint - the broken door lock, yes; the smell, yes; and if it differed materially from the photos (which I don't think you've said it does?).

Did the flat meet fire safety rules? Namely keyless exit (thumbturn lock), interlinked smoke alarms in every room except bathroom (i.e. one goes off, they all do), fire risk assessment on property? If it didn't, that would seriously help your case for a refund.

Lack of a working lock and the door issue is material. For that you should get a refund I think.

Even though I think you should not have used Air BnB in the first place, and helping to price people out of a home in London.

We couldn't stay there with DD as it was making her unwell and felt totally unsafe - ground floor flat with a door that doesn't lock properly in super dodgy area. Plus impossible to sleep between the awful smell and the noisy neighbours, roundabout etc.

Wouldn't matter if it was £5 a night in Knightsbridge, the door still needs to lock properly.

I hope you didn’t mention the noisy roundabout op
because that will be immediately ignored in an case

The key is the non working lock op
that is your hook

Some of those issues are out if the owners control - noisy neighbours, roundabout etc.and the area. However, the unsafe lock and smell are not acceptable. The only thing I’d say is that you didn’t give the hosts a chance to rectify the situation before leaving.

I think AirBNB scan for key words in complaints, with safety being a major red flag for them. I private messaged a host to let him know that the lack of mat backing on a slippy hall mat was 'a bit dangerous' and immediately got an incomprehensible urgent contact from AirBNB to help resolve my personal safety issues. Other than the mat, the stay was fantastic and it took a bizarre amount of arguing from me to reassure the 'specialist customer support team' that actually it was a perfectly safe flat...

Have you got photos of the lock not working? Did you check that it was compliant with fire regulations (main fire escape door should be keyless, fire doors on bedrooms, linked smoke detectors in bedrooms, etc). I would stress how unsafe you and your DD felt.

I think she only wanted what she was offered & then paid for!
I don't think OP is expecting anything she hasn't bought!

How exactly did the lock not work? Was it with a key or code?

I don’t think you have to have fire doors etc by law on air b and b? And I don’t think there’s any rules about how a door locks. I assume key or card or code is fine as long as it actually locks safely.
Unless that’s a British law on short stays in general

new rules brought in last year mean, yes, you do need to have fire doors that isolate rooms from others where a fire is likely to break out.
So bedrooms, and kitchen, but not bathrooms, in any holiday let

As above, new England & Wales legislation means you have to have keyless exit in short-term lets (it's not an AirBnB thing). Also must have fire resistant doors, however these aren't necessarily the soft-close heavy fire doors you see in offices, these just have to hold a fire back for 30 minutes, so typically a normal 40mm timber door that many houses/flats have as standard.

Moral of the story is don’t use air B &B.

In future, I'd check on google street view of the area before you book. I always check the area where properties actually are on.

Air BnB will refund I am sure. I had an incident last year where the place was having undeclared building works and scaffolding all over it with workers there daily. I complained to host who said sorry but then tried to deny any inconvenience. We got 40% back from Air bnb after we got back but we did stay for the duration. Air BnB told me if we had left immediately we would have been re housed or refunded in full. Good luck.

Well mine doesn't have 100s of reviews but people still book it. Few have that many reviews. But I do have 20+ and I'm a super host. I think far out and long term discount it sounds normal pricing.

I think that's unfair as a host and guest. My house is lovely and I've stayed in lots of nice places. But look for somewhere with more than 10 reviews which are all positive.

Where you may struggle is you should give the host chance to fix things like a nasty stench or broken lock.. and you haven't

To be fair the host has already inadvertently admitted they wouldn't have fixed the issues, calling them all 'outside of their control' so I don't think that's too much of a problem.

As for people saying OP isn't entitled to a refund - the flat can now be relet so what, the host just x2 the money? Amazing gig if so. Rent out a flat on a long stay, make sure the flat is uninhabitable, guest leaves, keep all the money, rinse and repeat. As if.

Yes, you absolutely do need a keyless exit, depending on layout fire doors and you need interlinked smoke alarms. It is UK law and all holiday let owners should be aware of this and should action it.

I really don't understand why you would make this comment when you have no knowledge of legislation. You are simply making it up.

@Movinghouseatlast
because I correctly assumed it was a British law rather than air b and b. I have a rental. It’s not in uk, and I haven’t ever seen any requirements on air b and b for certain types of locks or fire doors. Hence why I asked.

My own rental is part of my house. We don’t have fire doors etc. but they are thick solid oak so would withstand fire enough for requirements mentioned above. The front door has key only. But every room
had balcony or patio doors with require no locks to open from inside so that would also comply. But like I said, it’s not law here. It’s also not an air b and b regulation. So it must have been a country requirement, hence the question

Right but as soon as you get the address you can check it and if you find it’s on a roundabout you can ask for a refund immediately.

I’ve cancelled an Airbnb booking that looked like it was on a side road but turned out to be on a main road. I did it straight after booking when the address became available.

As a host - the two things to focus on, as others have said, are the smell so bad you had to leave and the security.

I don’t know how you will fare with customer service as it’s not clear how this would be covered by the Airbnb AirCover.

If they fail to help, your last resort will be a chargeback on your payment card.

It's UK law. Air BnB don't enforce laws or make them. They are just a marketing platform. What they did do was email all hosts in the UK to inform them of the law. It's up to the owner, not Air BnB, to make sure the property complies. Just as someone advertising a property on Air BnB in Greece has to have a licence number for example. Its Greek law not Air BnB law. Air BnB don't make laws, they sell short term rentals.

I don’t really get this. Something which is cheap and unusable is still unusable, not fit for purpose.
I mean if you bought a jumper marked down to £5 and it had a hole in the front, you would still complain and expect a refund.

We had this, contacted Air BnB and they gave us a full refund and made sure we got another place safely.