Dear Anne,
A year ago, someone turned the house two doors down from me into an Airbnb. It’s not owned by an individual owner, but some sort of company that owns multiple Airbnbs, so it’s not like I know them as a neighbour. The Airbnb has a hot tub in the backyard which the guests use quite late in the night–and they are pretty noisy. I’ve reached out to the company that runs the Airbnb, and they’ve promised they’ll make sure the guests are quiet, but this keeps happening. What are my next steps?
-Frustrated Airbnb Neighbour
Dear Frustrated Airbnb Neighbour,
I am sorry the company has been ineffective in controlling the noise. I am hoping they have “house rules” listed for renters that indicate quiet hours, which would usually be after 10 pm. Since they haven’t been successful or haven’t actually tried, I have a few suggestions.
First, reach out to Airbnb’s Neighbour support. I have read, though, that the response can be hit or miss with this (https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/3290). However, I think it best you go through the provided steps for rectifying the situation. I would document when you contacted the company directly, their response and date, and also do this with your contact with Airbnb support.
Next, is there a noise by-law where you live? If so, everytime that by-law is broken, call the local police to report it (311 or your local detachment). Get your other neighbours to do the same, if you can. Again, document the call and the response.
If you are still facing issues, it is time to hire a lawyer to file a cease and desist order. This will give you the teeth to involve the police, but I suspect the company that owns the Airbnb will make sure things change when they see you are serious.
There’s always more clout in numbers, so if you can get your other neighbours to either join you in reporting or at least be willing to sign a document indicating the neighbourhood is fed up, that can also help.
As a last resort, you could ask the company owners to install noise detectors and cameras that they can access remotely, so when you call them with a complaint, they can see the issue themselves.
Of course, there are all sorts of things you can do to annoy back, which could result in the Airbnb getting poor reviews, but that seems unethical to me.
Good luck, be persistent, and remember to document everything!
Anne
