I live in a relatively quiet, residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, the house next to me is a year-round property used for rentals that caters to groups of 15+. Oddly enough, this is illegal in D.C., and the absent owner advertises how they use a legal loophole to get past this. The owner proudly states that you can sleep in”peace and quiet” in their rental, and “no parties or events” are allowed.
I am so fed up with the constant parties: the blaring music at 3:00 AM, the fighting, the screaming, and the disgusting lack of respect guests have towards their neighbors. Just last night in the midst of stay at home orders, a group took the liberty of renting the unit for a party and turned the music up. I’ve had to call the police numerous times; they are always prompt, courteous, and handle the situation.
Last night’s group decided to retaliate and begin screaming that the police can’t quiet them down. I’ve had to go to the patio numerous times to politely ask guests to quiet down over the last year. I’ve been cursed at, had beer cans thrown at me, and told that I’m inconsiderate because it’s 2:00 AM on a Monday and their group paid “good money” to be there.
The owner doesn’t care whatsoever. I realize that it was probably of no use, but I called the phone number for Airbnb, and the rep had to ask me multiple times to either move away from people in the room or turn down my music. I was in my bedroom with the windows shut and white noise machine running; it was the partygoers next door. I’m sad that it’s come to this, but I will most likely have to move from the home and neighborhood I’ve loved so dearly.
I am so sorry to hear about this apparently increasingly common scenario. Has anyone tried suing the neighbor (i.e., the home owner, not the renters) directly for the nuisance? You can sue for nuisance in small claims court, I believe, and sue again (and again and again) for each new nuisance event. Each affected neighbor could sue individually.
If you go this route, anyone who sues should be very careful to document everything they’re dealing with … i.e., pics of the garbage left in your yards, pictures of any damage to property, videos (get NEST or something similar so that you have round-the-clock video) of the noise and lights and shouting that you’re enduring. Take these with you to small claims court.
Welcome to the terrible world Brian Chesky created for his OWN personal gain. You can guarantee no executive of AIRBNB live next to one!
California housing crisis is caused by this and Cities who don’t enforce are getting overrun by “hosts” leaving Cities that are finally enforcing.
I live in Encinitas and it’s a TERRIBLE. San Diego is finally changing their rules but the smaller towns get inundated. A majority (if not all) homes are OUT OF TOWN owners or big developers.
It’s just a big beach party town now, with no long term rentals possible and homes bought by folks to just rent them. I know at least 6 long term owners who are moving because of this.
We have the same problem in my neighborhood. An out of state company bought the house behind me and turned it into a ‘corporate retreat and event center’ aka party house allowing up to 22 guests at a time. They bought and converted the 4 bedroom house during COVID and had it rented out consistently to large groups who had no regard for the noise they created, how late their partying kept us up at night and/or the obscene language and music they blasted from the house our small children could hear. The guests in these large groups have also not been wearing masks or social distancing. Us neighbors finally got Airbnb’s attention (we think) and they took their listing down along with all of the party houses in Dallas off of their site. However, Airbnb just let them back on their site. Us neighbors are not looking forward to having the house busy again. Fortunately, it is not legal to run a event center or hotel in a residential neighborhood here in Dallas, TX where we live. Unfortunately, the city has not provided them with a cease and desist order, only noise violations to date.
I hear you. I have the same situation here in Oakland California. The loud parties have stopped, for now because I continued to complain and threaten the owner due to the underage drinking that was going on. No it’s just really annoying thing like someone screaming or fighting in the street at 2:30 am or someone filling up my garbage can with all their garbage. I am ready to pursue legal action against Airbnb for not resolving the issues and ban this host. I miss a good nights sleep and it’s been going on for the past few years.
I refuse to move. I love my home. I am a teacher and I care for my 73 year old mother. I am contacting the City of Oakland to find out what legal options I have and our neighborhood association. I am so surprised someone hasn’t sued Airbnb yet.
I live in California and we have similar situation. It was a very quiet neighborhood, now we have people partying outside the whole night.
I called Airbnb and complained they were very polite, they apologized, collected all the information about the even, but I don’t think they did anything.
Not sure what to do next, please let me know if you found a way to escalate it.
If you know the owner’s name then report this case to the tax office – and keep calling the police, filing complaints, and eventually start legal proceedings for “public nuisance”.