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 ?

@FairKoala they won’t be allowed to turn them into 52 week a year holiday lets. They will have to either live in them or rent them out for a fair price to local residents full time so that they are occupied.

@FairKoala And if they don’t want to rent them then they will sell them and then supply will outstrip demand and the prices to buy will come down for locals too.
As for the businesses some of them have been here from the 70’s they aren’t relying on tourism to stay open they are supported by local people. They did very well in covid when tourists could not come. Some of the big chain places that have opened in light of the boom will unfortunately probably shut because locals can’t afford their prices.
Lots of the local people simply do not visit businesses during the summer months anyway because of the lack of parking, crowds and a lot of the time drunken behaviour. I think the multi billionaire companies will probably see a gap in the market and build more hotels to be honest.

@FairKoalayour compassion for the homeless honestly astounds me.

@FairKoala ”Those people living on the beach” are the people who live work in and run the holiday destinations you are pricing them out of.

Are you really comfortable renting AirBnB apartments for your holiday which consequently forces the priced-out locals to live in tents on the hot beach - just to serve you on your hols, while their town becomes an empty shell of holiday lets or at best an ageing greying population.

It seems that’s what you’re advocating for - and it’s the locals’ own fault for choosing to stay in their home town in the first place.

No compassion at all, let alone recognition that you’re part of the problem.

@EdisinBurgh Thank you 🥰 you are explaining this far better than I am.

If the local council are already charging an inflated council tax to people who choose to let out their houses for holiday lets.
This could back fire spectacularly on the council if they start bringing in different restrictions
The owner could decide to register the property as a business then they become liable for business rates and not the inflated council tax and depending on the type and size of property this could be reduced by 50% or even to £0
In order to qualify as a business then the place would more than likely be rented out for holiday lets more days per year not less.

I think the decision making in councils and in governments is based on what they “think”people want, what they think will get them re elected. They impose penalties thinking that those the people these penalties are directed at will just pay and do as they are told because that is what the council/government wants.

Councils and governments don’t take account of tax or mortgage implications. They don’t put themselves in the shoes of someone who is facing these penalties and look to see if there are solutions and what those solutions could mean for the council/government budget or the long term implications for the general public

I would question if councils have the power to demand who an owner of a property can rent to, would these beach dwellers be considered locals given they haven’t an address in the town, don’t pay council tax and aren’t on the electoral role

Even if the property is rented to a local family, the mortgage restrictions would mean they would need to have well paying jobs to be able to pass the owners btl mortgage restrictions

@FairKoalaare you talking about the U.K. here ? Spain already have high business taxes and administrative costs so registering as a business wouldn’t be more financially viable to them.
Not only that if the people who run the committee in the complex vote to ban short term lets there is nothing the owners can do it’s what they signed up for. If they don’t agree they can sell it or they can long term let it. To quote yourself, like everything in life, it is a compromise until you can afford to have choices. Aka until they can afford to buy the entire nearly 200 apartments it’s not their choice to make.

I think you get an award for the dumbest comment on this thread. If you have a job, you dont just move to another place and become unemployed.

I'm afraid you are being overly optimistic. Although renters and residents are complaining bitterly, most town halls are ignoring the issue, including the hugh amount of non registered illegal rentals. I live in a costal village and our town hall just couldn't care less. If they wanted to they could clamp down, but they have a very short term outlook and worship at the altar of tourism. By the time they wake up and realise that noone can get staff because of the lack of housing, it will be too late.

When you work in a tourist area, you dont have the choice to live in any old place where rents are cheaper. Then people wonder why they cant get staff. Our teachers cant find places to live, nor our doctors. And forget low paid staff for the hospitality industry.

If you dont think tourism is a problem, you clearly dont live anywhere where there is a lot of it. Tourism, Airbnb style, does not bring in vast amounts of revenue. Firstly because half those rentals (or more in some areas) are tourist lets and sadly attract "cheap" tourism which doesnt spend much in the area. They dont eat out much and only use the big multinacional supermarkets. Secondly a large number are notlicensed and so no tax revenue comes in. Thirdly local people can no longer afford to live in the place they come from and work in, so we have serious staff shortages, including teaching and medical staff. Quite apart from that, tourism brings brings noise and insecurity in the buildings they use.

Thankfully the new laws allow Communities to ban new tourist flats if 3/5ths dont want them. Hopefully our own building will vote to forbid them.
If there were designated areas where they were permitted, it would help, but there is little political desire at local and national level to implement restrictions.
It's a mess.

Airbnb has changed since it's inception. It is now big business owned by a multinacional which only cares about the bottom line. Companies buy up whole blocks and Chuck out the tenants to turn them into Airbnbs. Private individuals are now buying up properties to rent out to tourists instead of residents as it is profitable and that includes people from outside the country who are speculating with local properties. Airbnb does have responsibility to ensurecthat only legal tourist rental are included on their platform, but have ignored it for years. They also make money from it, so yes they have to take responsibility.

The good news is that Airbnb have just had to remove 65,000 listings as they are not licensed. The other good news is that all tourist and temporary rentals will have to be registered on a national register so that should stop some abuses. The bad news is that noone wants the money spent to increase the number of inspectors to enforce the law, so it's going to be slow.

Whatever happened to aparthotels where you rent in a dedicated building with kitchen and living facilities? They are the solution in many areas

Aparthotels exist but they are usually smaller and cost more than a normal flat on Airbnb etc so families looking for self catering would generally go for the cheaper option with more space (eg 2 bedrooms on Airbnb rather than 1bedroom and a sofabed in an aparthotel)

Tourists are using a facility provided to them.
It’s the lack of Government clamp downs on numbers that’s the issue. If it was more regulated there would be less
So. No. I don’t blame the tourists

What is a problem is that everyone has the expectation that they have a right to cheap holidays in Spain. Spain used to be a very poor country and stuff for tourists was cheap compared to their own countries. Times have changed. Spain is now a modern democracy (with its faults). People need decent wages. Their food and lodging is no longer "given away" . It's no longer a third world country. Of course its more expensive. So is France and Italy, to name but two. Allowing every mother and their son, not to mention businesses, rent out private dwellings for tourist profit (often not declared) is not the answer.

You may question whether councils have the power but in this country, MPs can lobby the government on behalf of the concerns raised by their constituents and the councils and call for the law to be changed. In fact, that has been done where I live and it seems elsewhere in the country as a bill is being debated in parliament to address this problem; if the bill becomes law, it would license and regulate the sector as the current free-for-all leaves a £6 billion tax shortfall. These are the issues that the government needs to address if they want to see wealth inequality reduced.

Again this is a Government issue. As I said. It is up to each country to control their housing stock and how it is used.

Since everyone complains about the cost of hotels, which has gone up to european levels, I dont see how. The government does need to bring in stricter controls , but most autonomous regions (the majority of which are controlled by the opposition) who have the legal responsibility to operate and finance them refuse to cooperate as they are idealogically opposed to "controls" and dont give a damn about working people if it is going to hurt their pockets.

That’s the governments problem. central and Regional
As I said.

Although it’s not their fault the cost of hotels is high. That’s a supply and demand issue essentially

Correct, but that says nothing about tourists expectations to pay the prices that were around 20 years. They complain about it daily on most social media and off it.

Bolton

yes you do... good places go bad and bad places go bust. If the OP now doesn't like where she lives, she can move. And get another job. The woman clearly has a sense of entitlement that exceeds her budget.

I’m really at a loss as to understand the point of these posts
Who cares that tourists are complaining about the cost. They can complain all they like, we are a democracy.
You’re complaining and blaming tourists. You have that right, we are a democracy.
Meanwhile the world moves on run by Governments

@DH001 Like the tourists who can’t afford a hotel ?