What house rules are for
House rules do two jobs. Before the booking, they tell guests what kind of stay this is, so the people who book are the people who will respect the home. After the booking, they are the reference you point to when something goes wrong: a party, an extra car, a missed checkout.
On Airbnb, the rules you set appear in your listing, in the booking terms the guest agrees to, in automated guest emails and in the arrival guide. That makes them far more useful than a note on the fridge, as long as they are clear and match what you actually enforce.
The rules every listing needs
Start with the standard rules your booking site offers, then add only what your home needs. A good set covers:
- Check-in and checkout times, plus your rule for early check-in and late checkout.
- Maximum guests, and whether visitors who aren't staying overnight may come over.
- Quiet hours, with exact times.
- Parties and events: allowed, allowed with approval, or not allowed.
- Smoking and vaping: where, if anywhere, including balconies and the yard.
- Pets: allowed or not, any fee, and where they may go. On Airbnb, service animals are always allowed at no charge, whatever your pet rule says.
- Parking: how many cars, where they go, and where they must not go.
- Trash and recycling: where it goes and which day it goes out.
- Spaces that are off limits, such as a locked owner's closet, a garage or a pool after dark.
- A checkout list of five tasks or fewer.
Keep the checkout list short. Guests resent long chores, and every task you add is one your cleaner has to check anyway. Loading the dishwasher, putting trash in the bins, turning off the heating or air conditioning and locking up is usually enough.
Rules that come from your city
Some of your rules aren't yours to choose. Many cities and homeowners' associations set limits on short-term rentals, such as maximum occupancy, quiet hours, on-street parking, trash days, or a permit number that has to appear in the listing or inside the home. Where a local rule applies, your house rule should match it or be stricter.
Rules differ from city to city and change over time, so check your own city's short-term rental rules and your HOA documents before you publish, and read them again when you renew a permit. This article is general guidance, not legal advice. If you aren't sure what applies to your address, your free report checks the rules for your address.
How to write rules guests follow
- Be specific. “Quiet hours 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.” works; “be respectful of neighbors” does not.
- Give the reason when it isn't obvious. “No parking on the left side of the driveway; it blocks the neighbor's garage” is followed more often than “park on the right”.
- Say what happens if a rule is broken, calmly and once, for the rules that matter most: parties, extra guests, smoking.
- Use one voice. A list written as “please” in one line and in capitals in the next reads as angry.
- Keep it short. If a rule has never come up, it probably doesn't need to be there.
No parties or events. The home is on a quiet residential street, and the city limits noise after 10 p.m. If more than the booked guests are at the home, we may ask the extra guests to leave.
Keep one version
Rules drift when they live in five places. Pick one source, usually your listing's house rules, and copy from it into the printed card in the home, your guidebook, your pre-arrival message and your cleaner's notes. When you change a rule, change it in the source first and then everywhere else in the same sitting.
Your check-in rules belong in the same place. If a guest asks to arrive early, you want the answer already written; see how to handle a guest who asks for early check-in.
When a rule is broken
Most broken rules are mistakes, not defiance. Start with a short, friendly reminder that quotes the rule. If it continues, or if the home is damaged, document it: photos with timestamps, the messages, and your cleaner's notes from the turnover. Then use your booking site's own process; on Airbnb, hosts can contact Airbnb and request payment for damages through the Resolution Center. Keep your messages factual. They may be read later by someone deciding a claim.
Work through this once when you set up a listing, and again whenever a stay goes wrong or your city's rules change.
- 1Collect your city's and HOA's rules for the address. Occupancy, quiet hours, parking, trash, and any permit number you must display.
- 2Set the standard rules in your listing settings. Check-in and checkout, maximum guests, pets, smoking, parties, quiet hours.
- 3Write your custom rules, ten or fewer. Specific, with the reason where it isn't obvious.
- 4Write a checkout list of five tasks or fewer.
- 5Copy the rules into the home, your guidebook and your pre-arrival message. Same words everywhere; the listing is the source.
- 6Brief your cleaner on what to check and photograph. Extra beds used, smoke smell, pet hair, damage. Photos are your evidence if you need it.
- 7Write your reply for a broken rule. A friendly reminder first, then documentation, then the booking site's process.
- 8Review the rules after any difficult stay and when your permit renews. Add a rule only for a problem that actually happened.