Tag Archives: airbnb laws

Living Next to an Illegal Airbnb in NOLA

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I live next to an illegal short-term rental Airbnb. In New Orleans you cannot have an Airbnb in a residential neighborhood unless the owner lives on the property permanently. Yet the city of New Orleans does not enforce these laws. Therefore there are many, many illegal Airbnb’s in our residential neighborhoods. I live next to one of these “party houses”. The owner lives in New York and has never lived on the property. He lost his short-term rental permit in 2019, and I have been trying to get the property closed ever since.

The pictures of the property are fake, and the reviews are fake. Attached is a real review of the property which the owner has taken down. When I contacted Airbnb they told me to speak to the owner. He has been very nasty to me. His guests throw beer cans at my house next door, broke my fence trying to climb over it to get a ball, and they have loud parties into the early morning hours.

When a real customer is disgusted with the property and does not want to stay because it is not clean, nor meets any of the description, he does not give them their money back. He has thrown guests out because he has others checking in. He has seven listings on Airbnb when there are only two properties. I live next to one and the other is in the French Quarter, which is totally illegal.

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Airbnb Hosts Get Guest Arrested After Misunderstanding

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On Jan. 11, I moved out of my apartment and chose to stay in an Airbnb for two weeks with my three-year-old son until getting a different place. I paid $1,136 for Jan. 11-25. The first four days my son and I were there, 6-7 different men came in and out of the unit fixing and replacing things. The first Friday, our fourth day, the host asked if someone could come over the weekend to fix yet something else. I did not answer this text message as I did not want to be rude and say no.

I just did not want anyone there for the weekend as we had had no peace. On the first and second days there, they locked up the piano that was advertised with the place. This happened while my son and I walked to lunch a block away. On the fifth day, nobody entered, nobody texted, and nobody called. The next day at 10:30-11:00 I heard a knock as I was in the shower. I left the door open to the bathroom because of my three year old.

I was taken aback and yelled “I am in the shower you will have to come back!”

Approximately 2-3 minutes later, I was exiting the shower and I heard “beep beep beep beep waaaahhhhhh!” There he was, standing in the doorway looking at me in the nude, in shock, unable to cover myself. I recognized him as the same man who fixed the shower, and put the lock on the piano. He left very quickly, leaving the door unlocked.

I instantly texted the host saying I had enough, that I was going to Airbnb about the privacy violations. She fed me a sob story about how I would be messing with the income for her family of six and I dropped it and let it go. The next day, her husband along with herself came over to fix the drip under the sink and spray for bugs because that water had brought cockroaches according to the feces left behind.

We began to talk about my personal life and I advised them that I moved out of my townhouse because my ex father in law had just brutally assaulted me there. I proceeded to tell them I recently received an email from the efile system stating I had a warrant for breaking a NOCO. I continued to tell them that I am not a fugitive on the run, that I in fact wrote the judge an emergency statement asking for permission to turn myself in so that I could find a suitable sitter, being I am the sole provider for my son. He agreed.

Less than 24 hours later, I was arrested at the Airbnb while the host had someone video tape the entire incident, take pictures of my guests, and called me in on behalf of the warrant. Upon being released from jail the following morning, I powered my phone on to read a text message sent by the host two hours after my arrest saying they packed up all of my belongings and removed them. I had nowhere to go, and none of my child’s belongings, nor mine.

She has since posted a review on my profile for Airbnb which will prevent me from renting further, including false accusations such as “she has a very concerning record.” When in fact, Airbnb conducts background checks, I sent her my government issued ID before checking in, and I’ve only ever been in trouble for driving with a suspended license.

Her husband just now brought me my belongings, $100s in spoiled food, and ruined toys. Airbnb has turned a blind eye to all of this. Furthermore, the host’s husband offered me permanent residency via their church and exclaimed they only want what’s best for my son and I.

What was deemed an emergency situation two weeks ago has still gone unheard and unnoticed. I have begun contacting legal representatives as a week ago I requested a new case manager and mine is still emailing asking the same questions as on day one.

Illegal Airbnb Cost Me More Than $1000

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Lesson learned: do not book an airbnb with a host who tells you to not tell anyone in their community that you are an Airbnb guest. I needed a pet-friendly Airbnb for two weeks because my house tested positive for black mold. I found a private room in an apartment. One of the house rules was not to mention that I was an Airbnb guest to anyone, but I didn’t really think anything of it at first.

I told the guard at the gate that I was an Airbnb guest, and he let me in. Apparently he was new and he did not know that the complex did not allow Airbnb guests. The host repeatedly told me to not tell anyone in the community, including maintenance or security that I was an Airbnb guest. I had already done that, and became nervous after the first night. I realized that what she was doing was illegal and that I could be kicked out.

She also didn’t like it when I asked her for her last name or to see her driver’s license, even though she asked for mine. She used a fake name on Airbnb. She was super shady and I could not trust her, so I packed up my things and left. I’m out over $1,000 and am staying in an expensive hotel. Airbnb has been dragging their heels and I can’t even get a straight answer on if I’m getting a refund.

I will take her to small claims court if she doesn’t give me my money back, or if Airbnb does not resolve this. It’s looking like the latter because they have taken over four days to resolve this and have not reached out to me.

Account Deactivated Over a Dismissed Felony Charge

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I recently started an account with Airbnb for a reservation for my family and myself. I paid for it, got the email confirmation, and was so happy. Thirty minutes later I got an email saying that I did not pass the background check. The problem was they had a DUI from over seven years ago on there three times. The real kicker is, a felony theft charge that was dismissed is what ultimately got my account deactivated.

This is completely unacceptable. This is discrimination and they are treating me as if I was found guilty. United States law states you are innocent until proven guilty. I was proven to be innocent; the charges were dropped yet Airbnb is treating me as if I was found guilty. I’ve called Airbnb and gotten no help. I called the third-party background check vendor and of course they are getting the process started. It will probably take 60 days before the situation with my DUI is corrected. However what ultimately will count me out with Airbnb is a dismissed case.

This is completely prejudiced of Airbnb. I have never been treated or excluded from anything in my life due to that dismissal case, and I do hold a professional license in the medical field. Yet Airbnb does not care to rent to me. This blows my mind. Part of me absolutely wants to contact a lawyer.

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Even a Plus and Superhost Place Still Went Wrong

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We booked a lovely Airbnb Plus with a Superhost for New Year’s. We booked early since this place is very popular. We were so happy to be able to snatch it in time this year.

After we booked, it was confirmed. Later, the owner messaged to inform us about the possibility of future cancellation because the local community was banning Airbnb. Why was this not mentioned in the description?

The owner should also have not put this up for grabs why ahead of time if there are these known risks. We were not made aware of this risk in the description. Now that we are trying to cancel, we will lose some money due to the service fee.

This is neither reasonable nor fair since the owner did not inform customers of this and still put the listing up. We would have sought other accommodations if we had complete information that allowed us to make a sound booking.

After knowing this new information, that our place may be potentially cancelled and we would get our money back, who would go through such risks? I tried to cancel and we couldn’t get everything back because of the service fee. I reach out to Airbnb several times and they agreed with me that the owner should cancel and I would get the fee back as well.

I reached back to the owner who had given no apologies whatsoever until this point. They refused to cancel. How irresponsible. We had to do it. They offered to pay half of the fee which was better than nothing, but it still sucked that we had to cover for something for which we had no wrongdoing. I also told the owner to fix and be transparent in the descriptions so that no one else would have to face this. We just wanted a happy relaxing holiday — it turned out far from it.

Airbnb Not Paying Host After Guests Stayed One Week

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My story is very sad and hopefully can help other hosts and guests to make an informed decision if using Airbnb’s services. I hosted a family of four people in my flat, and after they stayed for one week and I did not receive any payment, the day of checkout, I contacted Airbnb who told me my payment was on the way and would be in the bank within 24 hours. Reassured from this, I let my guests leave the flat without paying.

Obviously the money did not arrive and nobody from Airbnb contacted me any further in regards to it. After creating a new case with customer support, I was told that I had some debt on my account for roughly 800 Euros and that’s why I did not receive the payment. The debt of 800 Euros obviously was disputed three years ago, when Airbnb sent me the money and allowed a customer to cancel a strict reservation asking for the refund of the amount that obviously I never paid.

Being particularly upset with Airbnb, my guest who stayed for six days and effectively not being paid, I decided to go to to small claims court with my guest since the Airbnb contract is void due to the lack of payment. What I have learned is Airbnb support was completely useless after three weeks waiting for the money they just pointed to their terms and conditions. Airbnb is an intermediary and fails in their role; this makes the implicit contract between hosts and guests valid.

As a guest I would think twice before using Airbnb in the future, knowing that host could still take me to court since Airbnb’s terms and conditions is not a legal contract, but just a policy that Airbnb uses to do business ignoring local laws. Once I will succeed in this case, I will then take them to small claims court for recovering the resulting damages for failing in the intermediary role and all the fake advertising that they are doing in UK. An agent who took the money and did not pay the host is a scammer, not an estate agent.

Has Anyone Tried Airbnb Neighbor Complaint System?

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I live next door to an Airbnb that could serve as a case study in everything that is bad and wrong about Airbnb. You name it: late night parties, daytime noise, outdoor speakers, irresponsible fires, trespassing, and so on. It is an illegal operation that the town is well aware of, yet they claim they are powerless to stop them, despite clear violations of town ordinances.

As with many municipalities, the problem here is big and growing and overwhelming to a small town. The police have been useless. All of the neighbors complain about this place amongst one another, yet most are afraid to take any action, both from a natural aversion to confrontation, but also for fear of retaliation by the Airbnb operators, including myself; they have been aggressively hostile to those of us who lived here before they bought their place and turned it into a hotel and “event house” and destroyed the privacy and tranquility of our little corner of the California desert.

It is hard to describe the destruction of a neighborhood and a way of life, but everything we moved here for has been ruined by Airbnb. Many ask: why don’t you just put up a fence? Part of the beauty of the place was the absence of fences. Everyone lived here and respected one another’s property. All that is gone. Some have asked: why don’t you just move? To that I would say: where to? Where can I live without the risk of an Airbnb opening across the street?

It is a great thing for people looking to make money with their second home, but for those of us who live next door, it is a plague. What I’m trying to find out is whether anyone has had any success with Airbnb’s neighbor complaint line. Are they genuinely responsive or are you dealing with a chat bot? How much evidence do they require to take a neighbor’s complaint seriously? Has anyone ever been delisted from Airbnb based on a neighbor’s complaint? what was the nature of that complaint? How long did it take? Thanks for any feedback with a success story.