TheSTRsite General Advice 1 2 3 4 5 Next » A Short Term Rental (STR) Forum Community

[JaKaL02]

I had a guest at the end of January who I had to cancel her stay in the middle of a 2 months stay as she was rude and displaced some troubling behavior as well as broke rules.
After speaking with Airbnb reps on the phone and over message, they cancelled her stay and I asked her to vacate the property. She refused to leave the property and not even Airbnb could persuade her to leave.
 
Because she had been there over 30 days, I had to hire a lawyer and get an eviction process underway. That cost me $2000 to have a lawyer do the filing and the sheriff come to escort her away which I requested through Airbnb’s resolution center once she left. To my surprise they reimbursed me for some damages she caused to my property but not for this eviction fee.
I have been calling and emailing back and forth for months with no solution in sight. And after a week I go back in the message thread and it says the case is closed. This has happened about 3 times now.

Does anyone have any advice at all? I thought something like this would be covered with AirCover?

[ms012288]

I’d never rent for periods greater over 30 days for this very reason- goes from a guest relationship to a tenant relationship.

[boilerup17]

You need to send her to small claims court and sue her for the attorney fees related to eviction. Airbnb isn’t going to take full responsibility for that.
Unfortunately this illustrates the danger of renting beyond 30 days and is why so many people are wary of renting long term.

[DELLAS]

Why would Airbnb refund you though? Their responsibility ended when there was a mutual agreement to cancel the reservation and it was indeed canceled. After the guest refused to check out even though the reservation was already cancelled Airbnb legally does not have a contractual obligation with this woman anymore and unfortunately she is your problem. There are so many stories of squatting with Airbnb out there and unfortunately Airbnb ceases any assistance after canceling the reservation.

[nstull]

File a claim with your insurance...hopefully you have STR insurance.

[rushfan07]

Did you include photo evidence of your lawyer and eviction fees?

[JaKaL02]

Did you include photo evidence of your lawyer and eviction fees?

Yes we sent a copy of the legal bill which has the hours listed as well as clearly states the property address which is the address of the listing.

[pauljeff]

I would keep contacting support and escalate to a supervisor. Did they clearly tell you they will not refund and cite a specific reason? Or are the tickets just being closed with no explanation?

[JohnL]

You need to send her to small claims court and sue her for the attorney fees related to eviction. Airbnb isn’t going to take full responsibility for that.
Unfortunately this illustrates the danger of renting beyond 30 days and is why so many people are wary of renting long term.

Even if OP were to win a claim in small claims court, most plaintiffs never end up collecting. Given this woman has some issues it's unlikely OP would ever see a dime for her. That's just the hard truths of the small claims court "justice" system in this country.

[Soupey212]

It really is wild that if you search for whether airbnb will cover legal fees of the hosts there is literally no information available anywhere on the internet. Perhaps that is by design??