Essential house rules for my holiday apartment

In every community, we encounter the typical annoying neighbour who complains about everything. As the chick from the famous meme would say: “it had to be said and it was said”. But if you have a tourist apartment, the last thing you need is for your tenants to give your neighbours reasons to complain, so you need to establish some house rules.

How to communicate house rules?

At least the most important ones should be reflected in your apartment listings. And we are not only referring to basic instructions such as check-in or check-out times, but also to the elemental rules of coexistence so that your tenants are comfortable and your neighbours too.

Communication is key for your guests to understand the limitations of your holiday accommodation. Take a look at the post on how to inform your guests efficiently.

We already know that, in many cities, hen and stag parties have become a mess. If you want to spare your neighbours the bad experience of enduring drunks, noise, banging, and even urine in common areas, and at the same time save yourself the embarrassment of your neighbours blaming you for what your tenants do, you should consider whether or not you accept hen or stag parties in your property. This information is important, so it should appear in your apartment listings. The same applies to pets or if your establishment is an “adults only”. However, upon arrival at the accommodation, your tenants should have the house rules available. Even better if it is in several languages, so no one has excuses for not complying. What's more, you can even establish penalties in case the rules are not met. For example, keeping the deposit if you have received complaints from neighbours.

What are the most common rules of coexistence?

You can establish whatever you want in your property, but the most common are:

• Indicate the hours during which no noise can be made (generally from 0:00 to 8:00). To ensure compliance, you can use a noise sensor for your accommodation.
• Prohibition of organising parties.
• Do not drag suitcases with wheels through common areas; carry them to avoid making unnecessary noise.
• Obligation to dispose of rubbish at the end of the rental.
• Do not accommodate more people than indicated to the owner.
• Do not accommodate animals if not allowed.
• Maintain the property in good condition.
• No smoking in the apartment or common areas.

It is also important that you inform your tenants about the rules governing the community of neighbours, so you can leave them a copy of the statutes.

The natural place to write all these rules is in a welcome book.

In most cases, your tenants will be polite people who do not need to be reminded of basic rules of coexistence, but it never hurts to leave them visible so that any forgetful person can review them. In addition, over time, you will get to know the different traveller profiles for tourist apartments that exist and you will be able to target only those whom you know will not cause you any problems or bother the neighbours. And so... everyone is happy!

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