A woman who booked a three-night stay at a rental property says she’s feeling uneasy after receiving an extensive list of rules from the owner.
In a post on the UK-based forum Mumsnet, she explained that she paid around $400 for an Airbnb where she will stay with her 58-year-old husband and their two sons, both in their late 20s.
When she booked, the listing only mentioned basic rules: no parties, no smoking, and a maximum of four guests. But the day before check-in, the property owner emailed a much longer set of instructions for the family to follow.
“Now obviously we’re going to respect their property and be careful (we always do when we go away), but I do feel like some of these rules are a little bit over the top: Rules 5 and 6 particularly,” she wrote, referring to “no eating on the sofa and no food in the bedrooms” and “no cooking of strong-smelling curries or fish.”
She added, “Out of interest, do you think it’s OK to tell people what they can and can’t cook in the property when they’ve paid to stay there? To not let people cook fish seems unacceptable to me.”
The woman included a photo of the 20 rules outlined in the email in her Mumsnet post. Highlights included treating the property “as if it was your own home,” removing shoes when going upstairs, and keeping pets’ feet clean indoors.
The owner also specified that pets shouldn’t go upstairs or on furniture, table mats should be used, and food should not be left out to avoid attracting insects. Other rules included cleaning the kitchen promptly, keeping shoes off the sofa and beds, reporting any breakages immediately, and only using lights when necessary.
The woman argued that such a long list was unnecessary, noting that the main expectation should be that the property is “left in a good, clean condition.”
“I understand the owners want to keep their property in the best condition possible and I will respect their space, but I just feel like I’m not going to relax now and will be overthinking everything we do while we’re there,” she said.
“So AIBU [am I being unreasonable] or are these very specific rules a step too far, especially as they weren’t stated upfront?” she asked.
Responses to the post largely agreed that the rules were excessive and that dictating what guests could eat was unfair.
“You’d think that someone who is that fastidious about the cleanliness of their property wouldn’t allow pets in,” one commenter said. “The ‘treat it as your own home’ contradicts the rules if you like cooking, having curries and dogs upstairs.”
“I once stayed at an Airbnb a bit like this,” another wrote. “The owner was lovely, but I only stayed one night in the end as I was just so tense (had originally booked for four).”
“Those rules are absolutely a p— take, especially sending them after you booked,” a third person said. “The owners sound as if they don’t really want anyone in their home at all.”
“I think the rules are OK apart from telling you what and where to eat—those are unreasonable and I would just ignore them,” another commenter added. “The rest are a mixture of fine and annoying but fine, e.g., no shoes on the sofa—surely this is just normal behavior and doesn’t need a patronizing instruction (anyway, you’ve already removed your shoes if they are dirty!) I do hate this aspect of Airbnb, though—people who fail to grasp that you’re a paying customer and ask you not to do anything they wouldn’t do. Very annoying.”
