For people who rent condos/houses on trips

[epcotty]

This is an instructional post with things you really should do, as you will have neighbors who actually live and own right next to you during your trip.
1. Follow all policies of where you are and try to be thoughtful, considerate, and respectful of others in general and of others' safety. If you have dogs with you (especially if it's a condo), try to not let them rush near the door and bark every time they hear anything. With the proximity of the doors in a condo, this can happen if people even enter or exit their place. This is really off-putting, and makes the owners feel uncomfortable and welcome. It also makes them really reluctant to go out of and in their place feel threatened, and feel they have to be really careful and wary when they do as they don't know if the dogs are dangerous or not. This especially applies if your dogs might attack (but really try to not bring attack dogs on trips. It really shouldn't be necessary, especially in a nice area). Otherwise you seem antisocial and paranoid, whether you are or not, and this is really unappealing and people will resent you. Always put on leashes before leaving your door. When you're away, have them behind another door in the place if possible so they can't get to the front door. Try to always go the easiest way out when taking them for walks to minimize walking inside if the place has an inside hall. If you smoke, don't do so outside excessively or that can limit others' use of their patios or being able to walk outside. Try to not be really noisy.
2. Remember that most people around actually own and live in these places. If you're going to be there for a really long time, write a note to those around you when you'll be checking out. This should especially apply if it's going to be something like a month. If you have dogs, this should include telling people if they're dangerous or not. Otherwise if those around you find you or your pets annoying, they might see no end in sight. They might think you're there forever and rearrange their life because of you as much as they can, including making really important decisions based on their annoyance with you like renting out their place or selling it.
If you follow this, you should get along well with neighbors during your trip. Otherwise they might really resent you and it might ruin an otherwise nice complex for them.

 

[EveDallas]

Homestly, as long as I'm following whatever rules the homeowner sets down and not breaking any laws, what the neighbors might think of me doesn't really matter. If previous tenants were annoying, that's nothing I can help.

 

[cschaaf]

Homestly, as long as I'm following whatever rules the homeowner sets down and not breaking any laws, what the neighbors might think of me doesn't really matter. If previous tenants were annoying, that's nothing I can help.

Yeah, I agree. This seems crazy.

Am I to go door to door in the area like I am some kind of registered offender informing everyone of my departure date? Ridiculous.

2. Follow all policies of where you are and try to be thoughtful, considerate, and respectful of others in general and of others' safety.

This should have been #1 and, really, the only rule. Let's face it, if you can't follow these simple things, there's no way you are going door to door to tell people when you are leaving.

 

[epcotty]

Well I meant leave a note or something. But yeah, people who don't care about other things wouldn't care about doing that either. I don't know if the jerks read these forums or any other forums. Just wanted to put it out there. Maybe the worst problem is that places allow rentals without limitation. We live in a place with onsite management and security, and it does have some rules and an allowance for nuisance complaints. However some people can still be a pain in the butt. Thankfully nothing so bad that we've had to complain yet (but then it'd have to be REALLY bad for us to do so). But still some have been really annoying.

 

[missingdisneymore]

(but really try to not bring attack dogs on trips. It really shouldn't be necessary, especially in a nice area).

Is this for real? So attack dogs are ok for crappy areas?

 

[ParkHopperFan]

By far, one of the most unusual and ridiculous posts I have ever read on this board.

 

[epcotty]

If you had lived our life in recent months you wouldn't think so. Your opinion should not be the general opinion on this. Take it from someone who knows. We live in a condo and have had 2 jerks stay at different times recently (one currently), both for a really long time. I know it's a vacation rental. At least in both cases they have their dogs on leashes (in the first case they used to put them on outside our door, we had to ask them to do that before leaving their place). In both cases the dogs are really annoying when entering/exiting the only way (the front door which is really close to theirs so the dogs are too stupid to realize that it's not someone trying to break in). It gets oppressive and you end up limiting yourself to once a day leaving and entering because of it. And then other times they start barking for no reason and it's really loud and annoying. Also in neither case do we know if the dogs are dangerous or not. With the current ones they sometimes use the hall and we have to be careful around the corner of it as it's a blind curve and it'd be iffy if they could restrain them in time even on leashes. If they are dangerous, it seems excessive in a place with security, and the owners must be paranoid and antisocial. Attack dogs would be bad in crappy areas too but it'd be more understandable. What I don't understand is if you bring ones that would attack on vacation at all but I'm sure some do. We always seem to have the worst of luck with neighbors. We've only been here for 4 months and it's been a total of a month and 3 weeks of people with annoying dogs. At our previous place we had total jerks who would sit by the parking lot and smoke cigars for hours on end, preventing us from using our patio and near the stairs leading to our entrance (why we moved). If you live in a house you have no idea how these things affect people who live in condos. Never criticize any complaints unless you've lived through something similar. I worded everything in all these posts as nicely as possible. If you still don't like them then you have a problem.

 

[J'aime Paris]

Maybe a communal living situation isn't appropriate for you??

If people are breaking the law call the cops.
If people are violating the rules of the complex, get in touch with the HOA.

 

[ParkHopperFan]

If you had lived our life in recent months you wouldn't think so. Your opinion should not be the general opinion on this. Take it from someone who knows. We live in a condo and have had 2 jerks stay at different times recently (one currently), both for a really long time. I know it's a vacation rental. At least in both cases they have their dogs on leashes (in the first case they used to put them on outside our door, we had to ask them to do that before leaving their place). In both cases the dogs are really annoying when entering/exiting the only way (the front door which is really close to theirs so the dogs are too stupid to realize that it's not someone trying to break in). It gets oppressive and you end up limiting yourself to once a day leaving and entering because of it. And then other times they start barking for no reason and it's really loud and annoying. Also in neither case do we know if the dogs are dangerous or not. With the current ones they sometimes use the hall and we have to be careful around the corner of it as it's a blind curve and it'd be iffy if they could restrain them in time even on leashes. If they are dangerous, it seems excessive in a place with security, and the owners must be paranoid and antisocial. Attack dogs would be bad in crappy areas too but it'd be more understandable. What I don't understand is if you bring ones that would attack on vacation at all but I'm sure some do. We always seem to have the worst of luck with neighbors. We've only been here for 4 months and it's been a total of a month and 3 weeks of people with annoying dogs. At our previous place we had total jerks who would sit by the parking lot and smoke cigars for hours on end, preventing us from using our patio and near the stairs leading to our entrance (why we moved). If you live in a house you have no idea how these things affect people who live in condos. Never criticize any complaints unless you've lived through something similar. I worded everything in all these posts as nicely as possible. If you still don't like them then you have a problem.

I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing a difficult living situation however, what you are describing is not exclusive to vacation rentals or vacation property renters. Unless you're able to afford space you unfortunately cannot choose your neighbors. Just my opinion but using this board to air your housing grievances under the guise of "proper renting etiquette" is a bit misplaced.

 

[missingdisneymore]

“ If they are dangerous, it seems excessive in a place with security, and the owners must be paranoid and antisocial. Attack dogs would be bad in crappy areas too but it'd be more understandable. “ “... total jerks who would sit by the parking lot and smoke...”

Parking lot.

This is so terribly offensive. It’s understandable to have attack dogs in crappy areas??? What’s a crappy area and why is it understandable? People don’t have ’dangerous’ dogs just for protection. Jerks? There seems to be a prevalent tone here.

 

[EveDallas]

OP seems to fairly ooze hostility toward anyone he/she deems annoying. I'm betting people who live nearby pick up on this attitude and are unfriendly in return.

 

[cschaaf]

What is an attack dog? If a dog barks, is it an attack dog?

must be paranoid and antisocial.

Perhaps, you know, it's a family pet. Maybe, it acts like a dog and barks when it hears noises outside of it's 'home'. That's kind of what dogs do.

I think the thought process is more, "We love our dog and want to take him with us. We'd hate to leave him in a kennel for this extended time" and less, "I know this place 'says' they have 'security', but let's bring our 'stupid' attack dog to keep us safe. You never know when someone will open the door 'very close' to ours!"

I am sorry that you've had bad luck with random renters lately. Unfortunately, there are some people that don't make good neighbors.

 

[epcotty]

For the record, we always try to be as nice as possible to everyone. We don't complain about anything if at all possible and if so not directly, it would just be to security or the hoa (haven't done that so far here). So people aren't purposefully unfriendly towards us, if they do annoying things it's not to purposely annoy us. I didn't post this to get into a lot of debate with people who disagree, it just was posted to put up good advice out there for people to look at and hopefully follow as otherwise it can really affect people and their future plans.

 

[epcotty]

“ If they are dangerous, it seems excessive in a place with security, and the owners must be paranoid and antisocial. Attack dogs would be bad in crappy areas too but it'd be more understandable. “ “... total jerks who would sit by the parking lot and smoke...”

Parking lot.

This is so terribly offensive. It’s understandable to have attack dogs in crappy areas??? What’s a crappy area and why is it understandable? People don’t have ’dangerous’ dogs just for protection. Jerks? There seems to be a prevalent tone here.

I was meaning if a place truly is dangerous otherwise it'd be more understandable. The parking lot smokers truly were horrible people. They did this for a year and a half before we left because of that, and undoubtedly still do. The whole area literally stunk because of them. I heard people complain by the pool about them. The hoa seemed caring at first but was unable to do anything after we tried to put in some kind of rule about it, so we left. We still think the complex we're in now is much better than that as it has more rules, nuisance provisions (can request something be done about nuisances if necessary), onsite management and security. Of course it's not entirely perfect and some problems can fall between the cracks like the annoying dogs in this case, which aren't bad enough to complain about (not enough noise for a nuisance, and not loose). And yeah, I guess owners could be as bad as renters.

 

[North of Mouse]

For the record, we always try to be as nice as possible to everyone. We don't complain about anything if at all possible and if so not directly, it would just be to security or the hoa (haven't done that so far here). So people aren't purposefully unfriendly towards us, if they do annoying things it's not to purposely annoy us. I didn't post this to get into a lot of debate with people who disagree, it just was posted to put up good advice out there for people to look at and hopefully follow as otherwise it can really affect people and their future plans.

OP, I really can empathize with you. I hope you can find single family housing if at all possible. We had to rent an apartment for 4 months while waiting on our home to be finished, after being company transferred. They were without doubt some of the longest months we have experienced. Neighbors loud, inconsiderate, etc etc. We will never live in that type housing again.

 

[epcotty]

OP, I really can empathize with you. I hope you can find single family housing if at all possible. We had to rent an apartment for 4 months while waiting on our home to be finished, after being company transferred. They were without doubt some of the longest months we have experienced. Neighbors loud, inconsiderate, etc etc. We will never live in that type housing again.

Thanks. We were looking at some houses online in other counties when buying this time. It might have been better. The reason we were willing to still go with a condo this time was it met with all our criteria that we came up with after last time if we went with one, and to be closer to family. This county is pricier than others around so it would've been tough to get a good house here. It's in a nice area that also has houses, but the houses there are too pricey for us. As it is some of the condos are pricey in our complex too. It still has its problems, the main one being it allows rentals without restriction. Also they might be too close to each other. Some people use it as vacation rentals, as the one nextdoor is (it's large so it's a pricier condo and would also be pricier for renting). That might be good in a way though, meaning that if it's a renter that's not good, then they won't be there too long. Still with onsite management and security and it being a nice area, it's probably better than most condos and I think people try more there than in general, and especially more than at our previous complex which didn't have security with offsite management

 

[halfpintpeggy]

Write a note while I’m on vacation to let neighbors know when I’m leaving? Seriously? Just no.

 

[_19disnA]

If you have concerns about transient/temporary/vacationing neighbors, the time to consider that is when buying a condo. Knowing what their rules are about renting will avoid issues later. Regardless of where you live, some of the neighbors might have dogs. Dogs are animals and may bark for lot of random reasons. I don't think one should be reluctant to leave their house because they are concerned the neighbor's dog might bark.