'Ghost hotels' need to go, neighbour says after 3 years of complaints about Airbnb next door

A Belgravia resident is questioning why it took three years of complaints about an Airbnb next door to get the problem short-term rental shut down.

Devon Beggs and his partner only realized the half-duplex next to their house was divided into two Airbnb units — one for the top two floors, the other for the basement — after they moved in to their home.

They dealt with loud parties, rotting garbage, cars parking on their front driveway and a parade of strangers coming and going at all hours, Beggs said at a recent news conference on housing issues hosted by Ward papastew Coun. Michael Janz.

"To say the situation has been bad would be an understatement," Beggs said. "It affects the livability in our own home and our neighbourhood. There is a constant feeling of invasiveness and endless disruptions living next to a property like this."

He said he struggled to get the attention of the city and Airbnb to deal with the issues. He said he has never met the owner of the problem property but saw online via the platform that the person has many other Airbnb listings in the city.

In a statement, Airbnb said both listings for the half-duplex have now been taken down.

"The reported issues are unacceptable, and following investigation, we have removed one of the listings from the platform," a company spokesperson said in a statement to CBC News.

The main listing had already been suspended and has now been removed, the company said. The basement listing has been suspended while concerns are addressed.

Beggs said Airbnb's actions are not going to solve the problem overall.

"Personally, to me, it's these ghost hotels that need to go," he said in an interview.

At the Sept. 22 news conference, he said having an Airbnb for a neighbour is like living next to a hotel with no security staff.

"There's also no security for the people that are staying there," he said. "So just a couple weeks ago, the family staying upstairs called the police on the people partying in the basement — that's how loud they were."

Beggs described how his frequent complaint calls to police, the city's bylaw officers and Airbnb had not been addressed to his satisfaction.

"We're being invaded by these places," he said, "and the mentality of people that stay there is 'Well, we paid for this place so we can do whatever we want.' And I literally had someone tell me that the other day when I asked them to be quiet."