Neighbour advertising our house as a hotel / airbnb

[BusyBe3]

Hi everyone,
Just looking for some advice please...

Our neighbour has advertised their flat for rent (airbnb) on several websites, Expedia.com, hotels.com, ebookers, toprooms and others.

They have put our door number instead of theirs, so essentially they are advertising with the wrong address.
This is very disruptive for us, especially in the middle of the night when guests who have made a booking are constantly pressing our door bell and my new born baby is trying to sleep!
I have tried contacting the lady who manages the apartment, however she was very rude and unhelpful, she said they will look into it and respond within 3 -5 days (which has now passed). I have emailed them again ...

I've tried contacting the websites like expedia.com directly to have the address amended, but they wont change this for me because they need the request to come from the owner themselves.

Ive tried seeking citizens advice who have advised to contact 'Information Commissioners office' and the 'Advertising Standards Authority'. ICO said they cannot help unless they are a licensed company. The ASA have not replied

We've stuck a sign on our door to try and stop their guests from pressing our doorbell, but it still continues.

I am really stressed out and would like to know if anyone has any suggestions :-( or advice please.

And if it's late, just don't answer the door.

(I know it isn't a scam BTW but no one seems keen to correct their error)

just don't answer the door.

They keep ringing the bell and her baby is woken up!

shop them to hrmc and disconnect your doorbell.
poor you. airbnb is such a seedy enterprise.

Otra Pretty sure everyone here knows it’s not a scam. I agree with PPs, either completely ignore people knocking at your door or act all confused and say it frequently happens but you have no idea where he correct flat is or even if there is a correct flat...

I presume your neighbour is not contactable at the moment, probably in the Maldives.

What a pain this is! Obviously human error but you'd think she would have checked when the advert went in.

You're doing all the right things.

Cross fingers the next lot mess up the property and nick their telly?

That’s what happened in our block... I can’t say I was sorry (after a 3 bloody day party that went on all day and night with dodgy men wandering around out of their heads).

Maybe @SavageFenty is the person who listed the property! 😅

Disconnect the doorbell.

Take down the sign.

Tell them you're doing so and will absolutely not be directing guests to the correct property or answering the door, so start expecting fraud accusations, furious phonecalls, and complaints from guests to Airbnb.

Do NOT help them - they will soon step up once they are contacted by irate guests.

Do you have to have booked/stayed to leave feedback? I would get everyone I know to write awful reviews so that nobody books.

Take the air bnb seekers in, charge them well, & think of all the extra profit you are making because your neighbour is paying for the incorrect advertisement ...

Sorry, not helpful, but it would be poetic justice :)

When guests arrive at your address, don't redirect, turn them away. Say that you haven't put your property on the website and it must be a scam. As long as you continue help your neighbour, they will not bother to correct their address details with the websites.

Presumably they've taken the bookings and arranged for people to knock on the door to gain entry. So who answers the right door?

Don't tell any callers where they're supposed to be. Every time you do, you're facilitating your neighbour's fraud and general piss-taking. A few furious clients and some shit feedback might do more to encourage them to change the address

This ^^

If you want to put a sign up at all, just write "this is not an Air B&B property" on a card and tape it over the doorbell

@OtraCosaMariposa
Try re reading people’s posts. They aren’t saying it is a scam, they are saying to tell people knocking that it is a scam.

Can you unplug your doorbell chime at night?

I think a few times answering, pretending to be the airb&b hosts and being really vile rude would help, if you can stomach it. But id also go with pretending nobody is in!

Can you turn your doorbell off at night as well as putting up a sign?

This would drive me certifiably insane.

Can the police help? Isn’t it a kind of fraud to advertise a property you don’t own for rent on Airbnb? That’s what they’re doing if they are using your address. It’s tax avoidance probably as well.
You could dial their nonenergency number and see what they say.

Change the helpful sign to "This is not an AirBnB. You have been scammed"

I would absolutely do that. I'm pretty sure they're doing it to avoid tax and the now national legislation which is that no one can offer a property on the site for more than 3 months a year.

A cease and desist type letter to both the right property and Air b&b might help. You can download templates online.

Just what I was thinking StealthPolarBear. OP, if they have been told that they gain access by knocking on the door, then presumably someone is waiting for them in the correct property? Could you walk round next time and have a word?

Or ask the police for advice as DoctorAllcome says.

Why would it be tax avoidance? And what's this three month rule? If it exists we breach it

What is the 3 months rule?