‘Airbnb owes my father, who has dementia, £7,198’
Dear Katie
QMy father, who is in his 80s, and his partner have a holiday property in Madeira, which he lets out on Airbnb. But he has dementia and has lost mental capacity so I am his only voice under a lasting power of attorney.
Up until recently, my dad did everything regarding letting the property but now his partner is trying to manage it and I have left it to her. She is, however, in her 80s too and has recently hit a problem.
Three of the last invoices have not been paid by Airbnb and they owe more than £7,198. We think it is probably because my dad is down as the owner but it is not clear why they are withholding payment. His partner has been trying to sort this out for weeks.
She then came to me and asked if I could help. I contacted Airbnb and tried to explain but they won’t speak to me until I am a point of contact (POC) on the account. I can’t get into the account so I can’t add my name.
My dad’s girlfriend is hopeless with technology so despite asking for her to put my name in as a POC, she hasn’t been able to.
I have an email, which is attached, that states that the helpline won’t talk to me until I am a POC, they won’t escalate it and they won’t accept my legal documents.
Unless I can get someone to go to help my dad’s partner who is 200 miles away with her access to the account, we can’t add me so effectively I have no recourse at all. If my dad was the only person on the account, nobody would be able to have access unless they had been added prior to the person losing mental capacity, which is obviously quite wrong. – RSH, via email
Dear Reader
AA diagnosis of dementia is very difficult news for a family, and I am sorry to hear that your father has become more unwell. A lasting power of attorney should mean that you can effectively manage his affairs, including his property, on his behalf, now that he is unable to. Yet you have struggled to explain your situation to Airbnb. The company has to be careful when allowing others to make changes to accounts, and does not typically grant access to those who don’t have the password. But it does have a specialist team for more complicated cases, such as yours.
It is a shame that it has taken my involvement for this to be sorted, but I am pleased to report that you have been contacted by a more senior member of the Airbnb team, and that they have now profusely apologised to you for the inconvenience.
They have confirmed that you have sent through proof of your LPOA and asked that you add a form of ID to your own account, so that they can perform more checks.
They are working to release the payments to you, and will help you and your father’s partner set up new accounts that both of you can access, to make things easier in the future.
An Airbnb spokesman said: “We apologise for the initial issues experienced with our customer support team, and we are in touch with the host’s daughter to resolve this issue.”