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Our vacation rental had surveillance cameras. The landlord used them a lot

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Re: Our vacation rental had surveillance cameras. The landlord used them a lot

#111

Post by ksm1717 »

blankobj wrote: post #89
ksm1717 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You speak about walking a tightrope with your neighbors and needing a special exception and yet blame for any souring of that relationship falls on guests that you invite to your property.

I had to provide letters of support from my neighbors to the county. I have several house rules - mostly on not exceeding the number of guests in the reservation, providing the names of the guests, acknowledging no visitors, and no loud noise at night. So yes, I'd blame the guest if they brought an excessive number of people to my property, were loud, obnoxious, and otherwise annoyed my neighbors.

Couldn’t you just not rent out your property

Re: Our vacation rental had surveillance cameras. The landlord used them a lot

#112

Post by mikeyouse »

nradov wrote: post #110
bradlys wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think hotels don't have cameras? I'm confused.

Hidden surveillance cameras inside hotel rooms are exceedingly rare. There have been a few isolated incidents where perverted creepy employees installed hidden cameras in rooms but it's not legal or tolerated in the legitimate hotel industry. There are certainly cameras in hotel public areas where no one has a reasonable expectation of privacy.

And also hotel employees and third party security companies are accountable to the hotels they work for/contract with and often have a handful of cameras watching dozens or hundreds of guests from reasonable distances. Many AirBnBs have 5+ exterior cameras for the single family staying there and who knows who's watching the videos or what they're doing with them. Not to "think of the children" this too much, but there's no way I would take my family to an AirBnB with a pool if there were any cameras pointed in its general direction.

Re: Our vacation rental had surveillance cameras. The landlord used them a lot

#113

Post by billytetrud »

blankobj wrote: post #109
billytetrud wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we have an author who admits to being busted for breaking the rules? No. If you think the author "admitted" breaking the rules, then we don't agree on how to be a reasonable person while renting someone your property. I don't think anything was in "let it slide" territory. It was in "give benefit of the doubt" territory. It seems pretty clear to me that if what the article said is true, then the author did not in f…

I don't think that, the author states it. Their words - "busted". A reasonable person would not bring a dog to a property where it was already established that dogs are not welcome. What about "no pets" says you can bring a dog, but just for a small amount of time? It's a built-in rule to Airbnb - hosts choose between allowing pets or not. Guests are shown the rules before booking. A reasonable person would message t…

> A reasonable person would not bring a dog to a property where it was already established that dogs are not welcome.

I disagree both that the author "brought a dog to the property" and that a reasonable person wouldn't invite a guest with a dog for a few hours.

> What about "no pets" says you can bring a dog, but just for a small amount of time?

Human reasonableness. Just like like listing says a place can house a specific number of people, it doesn't mean you can't invite more than that number temporarily. The people/animals staying for the night is completely different than guests. That's why.

Re: Our vacation rental had surveillance cameras. The landlord used them a lot

#114

Post by bradlys »

nradov wrote: post #110
bradlys wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think hotels don't have cameras? I'm confused.

Hidden surveillance cameras inside hotel rooms are exceedingly rare. There have been a few isolated incidents where perverted creepy employees installed hidden cameras in rooms but it's not legal or tolerated in the legitimate hotel industry. There are certainly cameras in hotel public areas where no one has a reasonable expectation of privacy.

> There are certainly cameras in hotel public areas where no one has a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Right and the article clearly states that all the cameras they had trouble with were outside in public areas. I don't think I've ever been in an airbnb that had cameras inside the house.

Re: Our vacation rental had surveillance cameras. The landlord used them a lot

#115

Post by codyswann »

fimdomeio wrote: post #8

Well this sounds very creepy, but imagine for a moment that the landlord might only be checking if there's child pornography going on at his house, then I guess it would be ok. Also he pinky sweared not to share those images with anyone else. Now imagine the landlord is not a person but instead a fluffy cloud...

Or checking that their house isn't be destroyed...

Re: Our vacation rental had surveillance cameras. The landlord used them a lot

#116

Post by blankobj »

ksm1717 wrote: post #111
blankobj wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had to provide letters of support from my neighbors to the county. I have several house rules - mostly on not exceeding the number of guests in the reservation, providing the names of the guests, acknowledging no visitors, and no loud noise at night. So yes, I'd blame the guest if they brought an excessive number of people to my property, were loud, obnoxious, and otherwise annoyed my neighbors.

Couldn’t you just not rent out your property

I don't have to rent it out, but it is a second/vacation home for me. It's highly profitable and it stays booked. So yeah, I'd prefer to keep renting it (and earning money on it) - the rules/protections I've put in place are to let me keep doing that. My track record so far has kept me on the good side of both my neighbors and guests.

Re: Our vacation rental had surveillance cameras. The landlord used them a lot

#117

Post by blankobj »

billytetrud wrote: post #113
blankobj wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that, the author states it. Their words - "busted". A reasonable person would not bring a dog to a property where it was already established that dogs are not welcome. What about "no pets" says you can bring a dog, but just for a small amount of time? It's a built-in rule to Airbnb - hosts choose between allowing pets or not. Guests are shown the rules before booking. A reasonable person would message t…

> A reasonable person would not bring a dog to a property where it was already established that dogs are not welcome. I disagree both that the author "brought a dog to the property" and that a reasonable person wouldn't invite a guest with a dog for a few hours. > What about "no pets" says you can bring a dog, but just for a small amount of time? Human reasonableness. Just like like listing says a place can house a s…

> it doesn't mean you can't invite more than that number temporarily

We just have a fundamental difference of opinion here :) My own rules explicitly state that I do not allow visitors onto my property (exceptions for service professionals). I also send a reminder to guests within the 48 hour cancellation window on the "no additional guests / no visitors" rule. Insurance doesn't cover them (neither Airbnb nor my STR policy). I have no issues keeping my place booked, and 99% of the guests follow the rules.

Re: Our vacation rental had surveillance cameras. The landlord used them a lot

#118

Post by Symbiote »

mtw wrote: post #102

Cameras & surveillance are a necessity for vacation rentals. People complain about privacy but how would the property manager know that the garbage are placed properly for pickup? Many counties now have automated garbage trucks that won't pickup garbage if the angle or placement is not correct Same for swimming pool or lawn maintenance. The person renting would be the first to demand a refund if the swimming pool has…

None of this requires a surveillance system. The landlord could visit the property before and after the guests stay, or pay someone else to do this.

Cameras achieve a similar result at a low cost to the landlord, but at the cost of the privacy of the people renting the home – I certainly wouldn't want cameras pointed at the swimming pool!

Re: Our vacation rental had surveillance cameras. The landlord used them a lot

#119

Post by emerged »

samstave wrote: post #41
fimdomeio wrote: post #8

Well this sounds very creepy, but imagine for a moment that the landlord might only be checking if there's child pornography going on at his house, then I guess it would be ok. Also he pinky sweared not to share those images with anyone else. Now imagine the landlord is not a person but instead a fluffy cloud...

We got this amazing Airbnb in Tahoe last year, and it had an electric anti-bear fence around it and a lot of cameras. The instructions for getting settled in the house were first how to disable the electric fence then how to unplug the surveillance system during the stay, and obviously how to reenable them all on checkout. This is how it should be done.

Then again the cameras might just remain active, having comforted you into believing all the cameras pointed at you are disabled.

Re: Our vacation rental had surveillance cameras. The landlord used them a lot

#120

Post by inter_netuser »

blankobj wrote: post #117
billytetrud wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A reasonable person would not bring a dog to a property where it was already established that dogs are not welcome. I disagree both that the author "brought a dog to the property" and that a reasonable person wouldn't invite a guest with a dog for a few hours. > What about "no pets" says you can bring a dog, but just for a small amount of time? Human reasonableness. Just like like listing says a place can house a s…

> it doesn't mean you can't invite more than that number temporarily We just have a fundamental difference of opinion here :) My own rules explicitly state that I do not allow visitors onto my property (exceptions for service professionals). I also send a reminder to guests within the 48 hour cancellation window on the "no additional guests / no visitors" rule. Insurance doesn't cover them (neither Airbnb nor my STR…

So if you meet a friend in town, you cannot bring them over to your property for drinks? (the number of guests remains well under 6)

Sounds extremely restrictive compared to hotels or short term rentals.

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