Disastrous Airbnb Guest/Squatter in Baltimore

[David Johnson]

Hey everyone,

I have a rental property in Baltimore that I have been using as a long-term rental for nurses throughout the pandemic. Long-story short, I decided to stop using it as an Airbnb in the fall, stopped taking new reservations, and planned to wait out the guy that was planning on staying through January to either put the house up for sale or get standard long-term tenants in.

The guy stopped using Airbnb because "his bank wouldn't allow him to pay through the platform" (red flag, I know) and I allowed him to pay me separately through PayPal every month. Once his reservation had ended and the property manager went to the house to clean and change the locks, he was still in the property and asked to extend, which I declined. A couple of days later, the property manager visited the property and the guest had barricaded himself in the bedroom and said "you're gonna need a court order to get me out!"

I contacted Airbnb, but I don't expect them to be of much help because he stopped using the platform months ago. Since he's stayed in the property for about 6 months and Baltimore has very favorable tenant protection laws, I'm sure he has some sort of right to stay, legally speaking.

Does anyone have any advice for how to handle this? I plan to start the legal process for eviction, but I've heard that Baltimore's court system has basically come to a standstill in the midst of the pandemic. The only thing I can think of is to just offer him a payment to leave immediately.

[Jeremie Torres]

Hey there @Julie Hartman. Yeah, I inquired about this before in our local FB group. Very same thinking as you did. But apparently, squatters have some sort of protection especially when they have the keys to the door and have personal belongings inside. If someone is caught in the act breaking and entering a property, that'll be a criminal charge of B&O. But if someone's been living in a property, even without a lease, the police won't kick them out. The best the police can do is to advise the landlord to go through court proceedings which is really irritating for me (And I'm not even in the situation, just thinking what if this would happen to me/my property). 

@David Johnson sorry to hear you're in this situation. I guess just try to start to file as soon as you can. I believe it's called "wrongful detainer". And to the same sentiment, offer to find him another place to stay -the same effect as cash for keys-. 

Good luck my friend.