baklobak
New Member
Dear Taxact, yes, having a condo neighbour that runs an AirBnB is that bad. Speaking as a condo owner, here's a small list of what I've seen go wrong with AirBnB and similar short term rentals. NIMBY? You bet your a$$ that I don't want short-term rentals in my building.
- Theft: Keys are often left in flowerpots, next to fountains, etc. Thieves search the locations, take the keys, and now have access to the parking garage and steal bikes, cars, and other personal effects. In my building, this has happened 3 times in the past 4 months.
- Insurance: My neighbour had AirBnB guests stay, they left the water running in the bathroom, flooded their unit, and the water damaged the surrounding units, including my own. I had to pay the deductable, and my insurance covered my unit, but the neighbour's insurance refused to pay for the damage to their unit and to the common elements as having an AirBnB guest was not covered under their insurance. The host is attempting to get the AirBnB's host insurance to cover the repairs, but are having issues resolving that. Now our condo corporation and the AirBnB host are involved in a legal battle to sort out payment. AND we still have to sue the host to cover the deductible since it was caused by their tenant in the first place. On top of all that mess, our premiums are going to rise as a result of having the AirBnB tenant in the building. Feel free to argue that a resident could have done the damage as well - but then it would have been covered by insurance on all sides since insurance is mandatory in Ontario. And theoretically, the resident also would have cared enough about their home to turn off the water in their home.
- More Insurance: Even without the damage to our unit, our insurance company told us that they check short-term listings, and if our building is listed among them, it is considered a liability and the premiums for the entire building go up.
- Damage: Short-term rentals typically don't care about maintaining or taking care of the building, so they don't think twice about damaging anything - I've seen non-residents slam their luggage carts against edges of elevators and residential doorway frames (and breaking them) on their way past individual units without even leaving a note apologizing for damaging people's homes.
- Criminal Checks: Hotels check ID's, Owners renting out apartments long term check ID's, AirBnB doesn't. What's to stop a burglar or pedophile from staying in the building and preying on children in the pool or locker room or breaking into units throughout the building? We have a number of families and elderly folks in our building that would be vulnerable.