AIBU to report a flat being used for Airbnb?

[VeryQuaintIrene]

Interested in others' opinions on this one. The management in my block explicitly prohibit airbnb rentals. I was pretty sure that the flat opposite mine was being used like this and I did a little sleuthing and found it on the site. Normally, I might decide that it's none of my business (the guests have not been disruptive) except that the owners deliberately turfed out the lovely woman who lived there with her family, causing her a lot of financial and other stress, so that they could make way more money than with a regular tenancy. Should I tell the management company? I think my motives maybe are a bit vengeful (and obviously it's too late for my lovely ex-neighbour) and I probably won't do anything, but what does everyone think?

Grow up. That's the sort if remark I heard from my Grandson when he was eleven.
If it invalidates the insurance you could be in trouble.

It's not fair, report!

Yea report it and also to the council in case they aren't paying the proper tax

Report it. At the least it's an increased security risk for the rest of you to have multiple strangers coming in and out.

Yes, absolutely, why on earth would anyone not report this?

If it was impacting on you, yes absolutely, I would report. But you say it doesn't. You just want to do it to be spiteful. You have the right to do but be prepared for the consequences. They could go back to renting it out, this time to nightmare tenants and they could encourage it rather than trying to manage it.

What you know is that others would do as you would do, you're not a wild outlier.

You want to report because you chose to live in a block of residents, not holiday makers. That's a good enough reason.

Yes as this will effect the insurance and safety of the building and the management agency needs to know about it. If they find out you knew and didn't say anything....

We had a similar problem and basically, it was still going on until the person stopped paying their mortgage so we never did manage to do anything about it despite numerous attempts by many of us. The guy had more than 20 properties listed across the UK.

This sums up the basic issue we faced. We were told it didn't count due to some vague reference to him doing this:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg96rz9061o

We had a pop up nail bar as well as several temporary brothels. A group of year 11 teenagers from Windsor whose parents booked it on their behalf and let them go there alone. Strange boys who threw up everywhere on a 24 pack of beer and had a massive shaving foam fight until the police came and took them all away. Still didn't stop.

If it’s banned then yes I would

I absolutely would.

The owners know full well that they are breaking the rules set in their lease and they are putting other residents at risk of anti-social behaviour/noise and it is a security risk to have random people with no investment in keeping the building safe come and go all the time.

I am actually shocked that some people on this thread think you should say nothing!

Contact the freeholder, send images of the listing and state your concerns.

When I lived in London I had a shared-ownership flat and a young man in our block used to travel a lot for work and would let his flat to various people while he was away. Someone must have reported him because when I bumped into him he told me that the freeholder had written to him and told him he was in breach of his lease. He tried to pretend it was just 'friends' staying in at first but as he stopped doing it I assume the freeholder and people who reported him were correct in their assessment...

Do you also say snitches get stitches?

I thought we were all adults here not school kids

Another vote that you should report. Insurance and security were my immediate thoughts, like many PP.

I did a bit of AirBnB and my neighbour reported me for no reason other than that it wasn’t allowed in our building, I thought they were being petty. Also you don’t know their reasons. In my case, my tenant decided to move out and I didn’t want to start a new tendency because I wanted to sell it in near future, but because the flat costs me £6,000 service charge per year plus bills and council tax, I wanted to make at least a little bit back in the interim.

You definitely invalidated your own insurance, and you quite possibly invalidated everyone's buildings insurance for the whole block. I don't think it's petty to object to that.

I would definitely shop them. The guests may have been ok so far but some guests are noisy and messy and the 'host' won't be present to sort out any problems. Anyway, it's against the terms of the lease.

How is reporting for the only valid reason being petty?

You knew you weren't allowed to do it, you can hardly complain

Because it didn’t affect them negatively. I’ve never reported someone just for the sake of it or out of spite, that’s what I define as petty. If I see something that negatively affects me or others then I’d consider reporting it, otherwise it’s live and let live for me.

Yes I would as a FHL owner myself

It's unlikely that the flat meets the standards now mandatory for FHL. They are required to have multiple hard wired smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, fire resistant doors and a protected exit with thumb release locks.

If they are breaching the terms of the lease then it's likely that any insurance they have could be invalid. I would also be worried about my own security when there is a succession of strangers with keys to your building.

Absolutely I would report. They are taking a home out of circulation.

I rented an airb&b in a city and when the host said please carry your cases up and down the stairs, not bump, and if any neighbours speak to you, say “I’m a friend of John” - we realised we were not in the most legal of lets!

Dsis had an airb&b above her - indeed it was the suitcase bumping at all hours which caused other residents to complain.

But if it invalidates your insurance, which it almost certainly did, then your airbnb guest burns down/floods out/blows up the block... that absolutely would 'negatively affect your neighbours'.

I would personally so far the guests have not bothered you but you never know who is next in the door and what impact they could have to you. Also how are the guests getting in and out? Are they being given keys that they could potential get cut and therefore access to the building.

Yes report it. Cheeky gits are removing the place from the rental market so they can coin in more money, and reducing the security in your block while they do it whilst also encouraging others to do the same.

We have the same clause in our tenancy agreement. It’s there for a reason, one of which is to protect other residents from anti social behaviour and a whole host of other potentially negative incursions. But specifically, if the property is being marketed to buyers as a residential block and it gradually turns into multiple BnBs (it will if one person is seen to get away with it) it will ultimately devalue your own property and make it difficult to sell.

I’d be emailing everyone, probably including the LA/council tax department as most boroughs limit Air BnB rentals to a maximum 90 days per annum as a business rental attracts much much higher charges. They will likely be prosecuted for council tax fraud.

Don’t do it to address your pique at the way the previous tenant was treated - do it to protect your own home and its value as an investment.