There are several reasons to love Air BnB if you’re a homeowner – unfortunately, I’m not a homeowner yet and I hate Air BnB. It’s a great way to earn extra income by renting out your unused space – if you don’t mind strangers in your home. It’s also a way to ensure some type of income if you’re a landlord who is unable to rent your apartments on a full-time basis. Finally, Air BnB is what we call an at-will income stream; meaning you have the flexibility to rent out – or not rent out – your space as needed. However, as a tenant, I have to tell you that I really hate Air BnB.
There are five apartments in our building and for the three years, we’ve lived here only two have been rented out. That is until Air BnB showed up in the picture. Now there is a woman who is not a tenant in our building renting out the additional three apartments on Air BnB. As a tenant this is a total nightmare and here’s why.
3 reasons why I hate Air BnB:
Broke and low budget travelers
People rent apartments on Air BnB because they can’t afford – or don’t want – to pay nightly rates at a hotel. That’s a major red flag. What exactly is it that these travelers are doing in an apartment that can’t be done in a hotel? Or here’s a better question, if you can’t afford to travel why are you doing so?
The people who rent out the Air BnB apartments in our building are using them to throw parties. Loud music and a lot of people yelling into all hours of the night are extremely inconvenient for long term tenants and homeowners.
Rental boards have no regulations
I know that some cities have outlawed the use of Air BnB, but unfortunately, my city (Montreal) is not one of them. I called the rental board to file a complaint about random strangers living in our building on a revolving door basis and the response was less than helpful.
The official answer was that Air BnB is a new commodity and therefore there are no rules, regulations, or precedent cases in rental court. The officer advised we could file a complaint in court but wasn’t sure what the outcome would be since there is nothing in our lease permitting or banning the use of Air BnB.
Living with strangers is unsafe
The turnover with rentals in our building is about twice a week and it’s a major reason why I hate Air BnB. This means that any given week there are four to twenty new people coming into and out of our building. When you sign a lease, there are extensive background, credit, and employment checks that need to be done.
That is not the case with Air BnB. These people are here on a temporary basis and therefore have no loyalty to keep the peace with neighbors or take care of the common areas. To say that I’ve been worried about my safety more than once is an understatement.
Do you love or hate Air BnB?