So, my neighbor owns two apartments in our lot (there are five in total, one is empty and the other neighbor really has nothing to do with the situation), and she rents both of them out as Airbnbs. Due to the location/price, they attract rather rowdy and young guests. Our apartments form a rectangle around a gated and locked courtyard – so I know it isn’t drunken passerby vandalizing my plants – and each tenant has a corner of courtyard for themselves; in mine, I have about four dozen different plants – flowers, succulents, cacti, herbs, some small trees.
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Most of the guests come and go without incident, but ever since she started (about 2 years ago) I’ve had plants stolen, I’ve found cigarette butts and condoms in pots and occasionally guests have helped themselves to my herbs, often less than delicately (despite me putting a sign next to the plants saying not to touch). A few months ago, I SAW a guest loading my most treasured plant, a eucalyptus, into his, and I yelled from the window. Unfortunately by the time I had run outside the man was gone. I was heartbroken since I’d grown the tree from a seedling for the last seven years and had a bunch of different oxalis (clover) bulbs planted around it in the same pot, it was gorgeous. I contacted both the real estate management company and Airbnb who basically said “don’t leave your belongings out in the open, what did you expect”, and the owner (who I’ve only seen in person once, she lives in another city) left me on read.
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I thought this was the worst of it, but no – for the past 10 days, a band of friends have been there, and they keep parking in the courtyard (technically not allowed to do so and the real estate company has already been by to warn them they would be towed if they didn’t move their car). Nearly every single day, their car clips pots (and once broke an entire branch of my olive tree off). They have a large dog that I have seen shitting in the yard, and on more than one occasion I’ve smelled pee on my plants. It’s incredibly excitable, and it repeatedly leaps into my garden and knocks plants over. The guests obviously see this, but they have never bothered picking what their dog knocks over back up. I mentioned to them yesterday to be mindful and to please not go into my corner of the courtyard, the person at the door said okay, and this morning I woke up to see every single one of my trees pushed over and my succulent garden entirely dug up and tramped on.
I already took pictures, contacted the management and my insurance and am waiting for the guests to come back so I can confront them. I called the owner of the Airbnbs and she said “oh, too bad, maybe the dog did it, can’t charge a dog.” I’m at my wit’s end – due to the size and number of my plants, it is not possible to bring them all inside at night, and honestly, I pay for this corner of the yard and I should be able to do what I want with it. If Reddit has any suggestions about how to hold the Airbnb owner accountable for her guests’ actions, I’m all ears. Thank you!
12 comments
I’m honestly lost for words because this is really awful. Destruction of private property (doesn’t matter if it’s plants in a courtyard etc…) *could* be a police issue? That would be the avenue I’d recommend if you haven’t tried it already.
Security cameras as well may help, get people on camera doing what they do.
If possible fence off your part of the property. Also, maybe consider security cameras, motion activated water sprinklers and flood lights. With security recordings, you can get the police and court system involved.
Probably a question best asked in /r/legaladvice
you should check your HOA / COA bylaws and see if there is a restriction on rentals and consider trying to change the docs to put in a restriction
I would talk to your local city council rep and get their advice. Personally I’d start making sure their reviews get tanked. Dump water out of the windows onto the guests, make noise late at night, etc. Be the crazy neighbor that ruins the experience for these people.
Report her AirBnB to the city for destruction of your personal property, thefts, noise violations, etcetera.
Oh and that neighbor? Respond with, “Certainly I can’t charge a dog, but I can damned sure charge YOU. I will be filing a lawsuit for cease and desist actions against your Airbnb, since you can’t seem to have the basic respect for neighbors and constantly allow your tenants to ruin MY property, with no compensation or even apology.”
The owner of the Airbnb can recover charges through Airbnb for damages the dog has done. She is straight up lying. Look up aircover through Airbnb. Also, you can report her guests for their dangerous behavior to Airbnb and they will investigate.
>she said “oh, too bad, maybe the dog did it, can’t charge a dog.”
Not your problem. You can charge HER for it.
File a police report about the stolen plant, and sue both the property owner and AirBnB for the damage.
Not a relationships issue, take legal action
Your best bet is the Al Capone route. They could never get him on the “serious” stuff so they got him on tax evasion.
Figure out what the laws are regarding Airbnb for your area. Do you have a neighborhood watch, HOA? Code enforcement?
A lot of municipalities don’t like short term rental’s because they aren’t receiving hotel taxes and they add to the housing crisis.
You should contact her first and ask her how she would like to get this situated. If she blows you off, contact AirBnB and let them know what is happening and you will filing a police report based on the conversation you have. Then I would go and file a complaint with the city and see if the city can do anything for you. You should get a security camera system also to tape all the things that are happening.
Lastly, when she has AirBNB guests over, I would make their life a bit more difficult. I would get the dog poop and place in front of the door, I would make sure I spray their car with water as I’m “watering the lawn”, lots of passive things so they get a bad review day after day.
She will end up getting the message and see where it goes from there…