INDIANAPOLIS — People living in a north side neighborhood are upset about what they say are large parties and disruptive crowds at an Airbnb home.
People visiting Indianapolis can rent out the home while the person who lives there is away.
Pete Pappas lives in an old historic home on North College Avenue. A place he has called home for nearly 50 years.
Within the last year, a home across the street was renovated after sitting empty since the 70s. Recently Pappas started noticing different people staying there, throwing parties and even leaving trash in the yard.
And on New Years Eve, he says things escalated.
“There were probably 75 or 80 people in the house. They were parking from 13th Street all the way to 16th Street, on both sides of the street,” Pappas said. “The party didn’t break up until quarter until 12 the next day.”
Pappas said he doesn’t believe anyone actually lives there. However, RTV6 spoke to the property owner who says there is someone who lives at the home three months out of the year.
While the person is away, they rent out the home through Airbnb.
They say they screen all of their guests through the company, and communicate there is a zero-tolerance for parties.
In a statement, Airbnb says:
We have zero tolerance for the reported behavior, and we have removed this listing and the guest from our platform as we investigate.
Neighbors like Pappas hope a situation like New Years Eve, never happens again.
“It disturbs the tranquility of the neighborhood. It’s a very quiet neighborhood. To have a party with that many people all night long is very disruptive,” Pappas said.
Airbnb has a special tab on their website, that permits people who believe their neighbor is an Airbnb host, and would like to submit a complaint, they can. It is conveniently called ” Airbnb’s Neighbor Tool .”
There are no laws against renting out your home as an Airbnb in Marion County. On July 1st, a law went into effect in Indiana that prevents local governments from implementing their own regulations on short-term rentals, like Airbnb.