Your Neighbour Just Became an Airbnb

It’s typical in London that neighbours regularly come and go. One set of neighbours go and another move in, nothing really changes. Life goes on and everybody lives merrily. That is until your neighbours decide they hate you, every surrounding neighbour and probably themselves, and then they do it, the dreaded act every Londoner hopes their darling neighbour will never do. They turn their house or flat into an… Airbnb.

The dreaded short let holiday rental people are turning to instead of renting their flat or house to a contract bound tenant. We’re all for finding alternative ways to make money from the space you own but don’t want to live in, not many people really want to live in London. However, the reality of Airbnb is a far cry from their carefree, fun-loving, adventurer adverts for the people who live amongst these dreaded B&B’s.

Airbnb is an online tool that allows house or flat owners to advertise their properties as B&B’s for short lets to people who are on holiday, on business etc. it also allows people from all over the world to view said properties and book them as they please. It was reported on TechWorld by Airbnb’s general manager for the U.K and Ireland that London is “London’s the third biggest city in terms of places to stay, there is a little over 40,000 places to stay and that is growing 75% year on year so we are very happy with how that growth is.” So, London is popular, there is a soaring demand for Airbnb places to stay and the number of said B&B’s in London is growing.

This is bad news if your local Airbnb is driving you to distraction. Gone are the days that the local pub keeps you up at night, the modern equivalent is a noisy stag or hen-do is keeping you up at 2am from the next-door Airbnb. Parties, celebrations, crying children and messy arguments are all part of these new pop-up, short-let B&B’s. Several Airbnb’s in London have been completely trashed and they are known to cause disruption to their surrounding neighbours.

Whilst many Airbnb residences are wonderfully quiet and convenient for both the guests and surrounding neighbours, there is an increase in properties that are used to house guests that wish to be loud and do end up disturbing people living around the B&B’s. After a long day in the office, battling the dangerously overcrowded underground and fighting your way around the Supermarket on a Friday evening is enough to dampen the spirting of even the brightest of souls.

Add on top of that a night of pumping music and general cheer from the next-door Airbnb and you’ve got yourself a truly dreadful mood. Anybody bothered by the wonder that is an overbearing, loud and annoying Airbnb can contact their local council and report a disturbance. Although, in this day and age we should be able to live harmoniously side by side there is a guilty satisfaction in getting a rowdy party shut down when all you’re trying to achieve is more than four hours of sleep.

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