You have a thriving vacation rental property, you have a place guests love to rent and relax in, you’re living the dream - don’t forget to take some simple steps to foster good neighbor relations, or you are inviting headaches and frustration into the mix. Some neighbors will never be happy that they are living near a rental, and we all get that - but you can adopt some easy practices to do your part in making your rental as neighbor friendly possible.
The most common three complaints about rental properties are parking, noise, and trash. Recurring complaints can not only give you and every other rental property a bad name, it can also involve authorities.
Pave the way to a good relationship with your neighbors. Reach out and meet them, introduce yourself, let them know that you are licensed and pay your taxes on your rental property. Provide them with your contact number if they have problems with your guests. Just giving them this ability to be able to do something and have a sense of involvement if they experience bad behavior from your guests will go a long way.
Many rental property guests are on vacation and want to let loose - but remember that most of the neighbors don’t want to share their merriment and probably have to get up for work the next day and want peace and quiet in their own home. Be sure and set rules and guidelines for your guests and post on your welcome sheet, and around the property. Set clear quiet times and make sure they know the consequences. Consider using a noise monitoring solution such as NoiseAware https://noiseaware.io/ to ensure your guests aren’t abusing noise levels and enraging the neighbors and alerting the authorities.
Clearly spell out for guests what they should do with trash, and where the approved containers are on your property. Understand when the acceptable times for trash to be left out, and figure out a plan how this will be done while your guests are there, and also that the trash barrel will be brought back in.
Depending on your rental property you’ll have different limits of how many guest spaces are available and where they can park. Make sure you have ample space for the number of guests you allow. If not - figure out and inform them of the alternative legal public spots they can use, without blocking sidewalks, right-of-ways, or neighbors’ property.
Use the services of an established Home Watch Service, to help monitor and assist with your rental property responsibilities. Having a home watch service can facilitate relations between you and your neighbors. Coast Home Watch of St. Augustine offers a multi-neighbor discount and referral program. Contact us today for details www.coasthomewatchsta.com
