what do i do now-Damages

[Pauline723]

Good Morning,

I would appreciate some advice. I rented to a guest for 9 months. She said due to covid-19 she did not want house cleaning. It was my first long term guest so I accepted. She moved out Dec 10 Almost all my furniture was broken. Paint was stripped from the walls. All the furniture was rearranged. Brand new refrigerator(bought while she was in the house) had a broken storage compartment. There is a house in the ceiling. The front door is broken. The garage door is broken. She had pets they destroyed my laminate flooring. She had an inconsistent parent all the beds were stained with urine. All pictures where removed from the walls. The game room was thrashed. All games and items there had to be thrown out. She made changes to a toilet tank and on and on and on.

I took pictures and filed a claim against her. She said i was crazy and she was going to get a lawyer. Airbnb then told me to file a claim with them. I did. She moved out Dec 10th. The damage was so extensive I filed the claim on the final date given by airbnb Jan 11th. That has been over 2 months. Neither airbnb or the adjusters are responding to my emails. What course of action do I have now?

[Emiel1]

@Pauline723 

I wondered: did you never during the 9 months stay have been in personal contact with the guest or checked how things were going ?

For damage claims there is a standard procedure at Airbnb (It recenlty changed because of the new "Aircover"). I assume you followed those procedures.

Did you never received any message for Airbnb after filing the claims ?

[Helen3]

How awful. Personally I would never accept a long term booking of that length on Airnbnb. If I did it would be on the basis that the guest pays for regularly cleaning - Covid or not. 

I presume you've been on the phone every day to Airbnb to follow up on the claim? if so contact your local media and tell them your story. I'm sure your photo and video evidence will make for a good story and will encourage Airbnb to get a move on with processing your claim @Pauline723 

I do hope you left an honest review to warn your fellow hosts (you don't seem to have left reviews of other guests). 

[Sarah977]

@Pauline723  Someone who stays for 9 months is not a guest. They are a tenant under the eyes of the law after 30 days. Airbnb is not an appropriate way to rent to a tenant. You were a landlord in this situation, not a host, and should have used other means to obtain a tenant, using a proper lease, requiring references and a security deposit. You also needed private rental insurance. 

And as Emiel pointed out, not checking on your property in 9 months was a huge mistake. 

I realize that is water under the bridge now, but something to keep in mind for the future.

All you can do now is be persistent about getting your claim responded to. These things take a long time with Airbnb.

[Mark116]

@Pauline723   That's a hard lesson, that you should never let someone stay for almost a year at your property when you don't have a security deposit or any other financial leverage against them.  All you can do is be persistent with Airbnb, it sounds like you documented the damage, so other than continuing to hound Airbnb for a decision, there isn't much you can do.  You should certainly closely read the rules on making claims and on Airbnb's arbitration process, in case your claims would be denied.  You need to understand everything about the process and how it works.  You may also want to consider suing the tenant in small claims court assuming there is good evidence of what state the property was when this person moved in.

Going forward, don't ever let anyone go more than 3 or 4 weeks without some type of 'cleaning'/inspection to ensure the place is being well taken care of.  As you have found, Airbnb is a risky platform for long term rentals because you don't have the same abilities as a standard landlord/tenant agreement such as a real, cash security deposite and other protections.  Good luck.

[John5097]

@Pauline723 In general its always a good idea to read the details of any insurance policy. Airbnb Aircover isn't like traditional insurance. In this case the some kind of commercial rental insurance, or any legitimate insurance, would have the sort of things you might expect like deciding on a deductible which affect the rates. And regardless of the insurance or policy its important to understand what kind of documentation is required to make a claim. I'm sorry this happened. This is why I don't rent long term and have the right kind of insurance. Even then, its somewhat expensive and I still don't have much faith is any insurance and just have it for major claims, like fire, injuries, etc. Instead I try and price in damages and be self insured. Renting long term to random strangers runs the risk of entire place being trashed well beyond even a security deposit.