Air Bnb has ruined my life

[itsafan]

There is literally no way out of this situation 😢 other than for us to give up our jobs and relocate in the hope that we can find new jobs and a place to live. There are literally no other rentals available in the area even if we could afford the rents. A mortgage is out of the question as we would need at least a hundred grand deposit.
There are at least 1000 properties listed on Airbnb within a 5 mile radius, many of them would be ideal but the rents on them are extortionate and aimed at tourists we are talking at least a grand a week.
We have lived here for years in a residential complex (well before Airbnb and booking even got popular) we have jobs here and friends here and a life here. It is on the whole fine for 9 months of the year mainly local people living around us who all respect that we are living and just trying to survive.
Then the Airbnb people turn up and every week it’s new people above us below us next to us. The noise is horrendous and probably the worst problem. Being woken at all hours with people rolling suitcases along floors, lifts going up and down, shouting in the corridors and doors banging. It just goes on and on like this for months.
My anxiety with it all is now so bad that I’m having to take medication. The noise just feels constant.
Do people even realise when they are booking Airbnb that these are people’s homes that they are disrupting? Why don’t people go to hotels anymore ?
So yeah there is a huge housing crisis due to the airbnb situation and I’m just a small person in a situation that I can’t change other than to leave somewhere I call home. I suppose my AIBU is am I being unreasonable to feel like a company has ruined my life ?

Ive gone back to exclusively using hotels over the past 5 years.

I judge anyone who uses Airbnb. They're usually the right on left wing types.

I find it sad you would go on holiday and wouldn't eat while out and about. Most other countries are cheaper and if they aren't and you cant afford to support the local economy properly then why are you there?

Governments earn tax out of it, they don’t care.

Hotels are extortionate prices. Not just the nightly cost but the price of a drink (even soft drinks) you might want sitting by the pool etc

Then there is the size of the hotel room especially when you get a family of 4, suitcases etc in there. Only 1 bathroom. Add in that if someone wants to sleep you can’t have the light on and have to be extra quiet to not wake them as it is just one room.

Just because people use Airbnb’s why do you think they don’t go out to eat. If anything they are probably spending more in the local shops and restaurants than those staying in hotels.

So go camping if you can't afford hotels
Stop destroying the housing market

Yes you did have holiday rentals before Airbnb.

Friend had a holiday home that she would let out when her family weren’t using it
It was just an ordinary house in a touristy destination surrounded by permanent residents and other holiday rentals

I had friends at school in the 60s who did the same

The difference is now you can search for holiday lets on the internet instead of requesting a brochure and waiting for it to be delivered in the post

So go camping if you can't afford hotels

I want to enjoy my holiday

And if I was complaining about the room sizes why suggest something a lot smaller.

I suppose you did say you judged people for not doing exactly what you do.

You obviously judge people for being poorer than you

If there was no Airbnb, there would be more free houseswapping by now. We do this a lot with friends and family, internationally. It works really well. And is largely free for all of us.

And people want to enjoy their homes.

Not talking about me here because I am way more fortunate than some people in the area.
But why do some of you think your need for a holiday is more important than their need for housing ?
And to the poster who doesn’t fancy camping there are people right now living in tents on the beach in my town. They have nowhere to live because everything is a holiday home and they can’t afford €1000 a week in rent.
I don’t blame the individual holiday maker for this situation but to be totally oblivious to the impact it has is astounding.
On the whole it’s the government and the multi billionaire companies that are to blame.

About eating out - we rarely eat out, or do takeaways, Maybe just four or five times a year. For a family of 5, who eat like adults, it is hugely expensive. We certainly wouldn't do it on holiday every evening. It seems a bit sad that only people with a certain amount of money, and with a certain lifestyle, are allowed to go on holiday. I would say the issue is not Air B and B, but the people who use them. I wonder if they are respectful of their own homes? Maybe not.

I would love to live in a nice area, maybe even the area I grew up in. I can't afford to. I have found a job in an area I can afford, a considerable distance from where my family is. I could blame all the other people who have bought houses in this nice area, for making it high demand. it is a difficult one, isn't it?

You could also rent a holiday cottage in holiday park. You don't need to do AirBnB if what you want is self catered.

I dont mean to come across mean in anyway but you maybe need to get out your head a bit?
the constant noise sounds annoying but the fact ur too scared to speak to your land lord (who clearly is fine with you staying there long term) and mentioning what city youre in gives you anxiety?

I think you maybe have more issues than just noisey neighbours?

@YB1985 Well you are being mean aren’t you by insinuating it’s all in my head. Why does the city matter ? And I’ve explained why we won’t speak to the landlord there isn’t another long lease property for us to move to for miles around, because they are all for tourists. The landlord could easily ask us to leave and quadruple their rent.
These people are not my neighbors btw they are here for a week gone and then rinse and repeat.
im not even sure why you felt the need to comment and please elaborate on my other issues ?

And yes it does bring up other “issues”. Such as my daughter’s schooling at an important time. And my elderly mother in laws failing health, who should we leave wouldn’t have our support. So it’s a lot to think and worry about. However I am by no means ready for being taking to a mental hospital just yet 😂

Holiday accommodation needs a massive reset

It’s not possible for everyone who wants to to stay in apartments and houses in their holiday location of choice. There simply isn’t capacity. It doesn’t add up.

AirBnB has created a false impression that it is possible by playing around with markets and allowing anyone to be a landlord. But the fall out shows it’s not sustainable.

The answer is AirBnB to go and a substantive percentage of tourists who use them to be obliged to use other accommodation namely campsites and hotels. Or to take fewer holidays. It’s tough but it’s only way if these beloved holiday destinations are not to become hollow ghost towns in future.

I didnt say it was all in your head.i mean theres clearly more going on here that you maybe need to sort out too

What a wonderful response. Wish you were my mate 😊

It's a major problem for most people living in popular tourist cities and costal regions in Spain. There is the legal optio for town halls and autonomous comunities to declare areas as "high tensioned" and bring in strict controls of tourist lets, but the vast majority are not interested in implementing it. Recently the government have introduce a law required ALL tourist and temporary lets to be included in a national register and the tourist ones have to have a licence. Airbnb has recently had to take down 65,000 listing because they had no licence but that leaves all the non licensed ones on facebook and all the other platforms, adverts in other countries and classified ads .
Now, for new tourist rents, there has to be the agreement of 3/5ths of the owners to be able to get a licence, but the existing ones are still there.

The biggest problem is the woeful lack of inspectors to sort out the legal lets from the illegal ones. My costal village has easily half the rentals dedicated to holiday lets and there are nothing like that number of licenses. The legal ones have much more work and pay taxes, but the rest is just easy money.
My answer is strict controls and taxes which would reduce the number considerably, but it's not a popular opinion as everyone seems to want to jump on the bandwagon.

Complain to individuals owners if you can. You have all my sypathy. What started out to enable people to stay in a room in a private home as a comunity project has been taken over by the professionals and it has wrecked a good idea. Best of luck

what a drama queen... just move girl

@DH001 Where to moron ?

Just a little update for the people who gave me advice when I was venting and feeling a bit down (thank you so much 🥰) I should have said over tourism instead of airbnb as that has been a little triggering for some people. The sign in the hallway has worked a little bit and the noise has been a little better today.
I also have spoken to a lovely lady who I know in passing, we always exchange a friendly hello but haven’t really had a good chat before. She also feels the same with regards to the noise (the tourists next to her were having a party last night playing loud music). She also mentioned the lack of parking and congestion on the roads. There is a huge problem that the infrastructure in the area as a whole.
She has lived here for 68 years 😱 not in this complex but in this town. She said it never used to be like this and that the tourists used to mainly go to the hotels there are 5 or 6 large ones here. She said it’s got worse year on year.
Anyway the good news is she is involved in a small part with the committee. She said it has been spoken about and the plans are to eventually remove all tourist licenses if they can get that passed through (it could take years obviously). She said there are 168 apartments and only 40 odd have someone living in them permanently. She said most of the ones used for holiday lets are owned by foreign investors and the government are hoping to put higher taxes on these people. There are also many more planned demonstrations against mass tourism planned in the next few weeks.
So all in all a positive day I think.
Most people on this thread seem incredibly educated on over tourism (more so than me in fact) and I thank you so much for your support and advice. To the odd couple of people who you are always going to get when you write something like this (probably the same people who are incredibly disrespectful to the locals when they go on holiday) who have said I’m creating drama or just move. Do you realise you can’t just wake up one morning and go “oh I know let’s move house today, no don’t worry about your job we are going”. Not only the lack of housing but also the actual logistics and cost involved in that ?. I admit it made me angry but that is probably what you wanted. I think on the whole from what I have observed mumsnet is a kind place, you just get the odd couple of people who like to stir things up for a response it’s such a strange way to live your life.

I'm rolling my eyes at those saying they can only stay in AirBnBs because they want self catering and a washing machine. I've stayed in plenty of serviced apartment type hotels where there is a kitchen, washing machine etc. They also come with added bonus of them not annoying people just living their lives or pushing up people out of the neighbourhoods they've always lived in just so you can have a cheap holiday. Despite your protests about how quiet and considerate you are, you are a massive part of the problem.

Glad you have a mostly positive update @itsafan

I wouldn't worry about triggering people with your use of airbnb, those that object are only doing so to divert their minds from having to consider that their actions can have negative consequences for other people.

I am interested to know if these apartments are available in the UK please.

And to the poster who doesn’t fancy camping there are people right now living in tents on the beach in my town. They have nowhere to live because everything is a holiday home and they can’t afford €1000 a week in rent

If camping is so great then why do you talk about it in such a negative light?

Do you really believe that if people were to stop putting their house on Airbnb for €1000 per week they would rent the place out at a price that those people who live in tents on the beach could afford.

I would say that like BTL which has been reduced hugely and because demand now outstrips supply and the consequence is rents that have risen to an almost unaffordable level.

Getting rid of holiday lets in tourist destinations will have consequences too.

What happens when the shops that were kept open because of the tourists begin to close or they have to cut back on the local people who work in these businesses

What happens if the holiday let owner decides to keep the property and turn it into a 52 week per year holiday let to cover the huge council tax penalties

Those people living on the beach, they might like the idea of living in a certain area but if they can’t afford it then they have to find an area that they can afford
The concept is not new. Like everything in life, it is a compromise until you can afford to have choices