A neighbour complains about my guests: what to do, what can happen and how to avoid it

Short answer: a neighbour's complaint is handled at the time, not the next day: answer, check what is happening, act on the guest (a warning, and eviction if they do it again) and leave a written record for the neighbour or the president of what you did. An association that sees there is someone at the other end of the phone rarely escalates; one that gets no answer can end up in court asking for the activity to stop.

What do I do at the time?

1. Answer the neighbour even if it is the middle of the night: "I'm looking into it right now". It is what calms things most.
2. Call or message the guest in the right tone: remind them of the signed rule (quiet from 22:00 to 8:00, maximum number of people) and warn them that next time means leaving.
3. If they do not respond or do it again, the Andalusian rules back you in requiring them to leave the home within 24 hours, and you can ask the Local Police for help if there is a disturbance. Platforms also have protocols for removing guests and charging for damage.
4. Write to the neighbour the next day: what happened, what you did and how you will prevent it happening again. Keep that message.

What can the association do if I do not react?

• Formally require the owner in writing to stop the nuisance activity (article 7.2 of the Horizontal Property Act).
• If it continues, sue: the judge can order it to stop and, in serious cases, deprive the owner of the use of the home for up to three years.
• Report it to the Junta de Andalucía or the town hall, which can open proceedings if there are breaches (excess places, no licence, repeated noise).
• And since 2025, if the home does not have the three-fifths authorisation, demand immediate cessation.

How are complaints avoided?

Four measures which, together, eliminate almost all of them:

1. Signed house rules before check-in, in Spanish and English, with quiet hours and maximum number of people.
2. Minimum stay of two or three nights in high season: parties are organised on one-night bookings.
3. Booking screening: profiles with no reviews booking for "tonight" and for the maximum number of people are rejected or called first.
4. A 24-hour phone that answers, yours or the manager's, and which the neighbours know.

And complaints about the lift, the suitcases, the pool?

They are the most common and the easiest: solved with information for the guest (how the entrance works, where rubbish bags go, pool rules) and with cleaning at every check-out. A well-informed guest is less trouble than a new neighbour.

What happens if a neighbour reports me to the police or the Junta?

They are two different routes:

• Local Police: attend the call at the time (noise, altercation). It is the most common, and not only for noise: in more than ten years we have been called for parties, for guests who lost their key, for thefts suffered by guests or for someone who arrived drunk. The police check, identify people and draw up a report if there is a breach of the noise or coexistence by-law. That report can end in a municipal fine and, if repeated, in proceedings against the activity.
• Junta de Andalucía (Tourism Inspectorate): receives written complaints (neighbours, association, town hall) and can open an inspection: ask for the home's documents (registration, places, association agreement, traveller registration, complaint forms), make a visit or require you to fix something within a deadline. If it finds breaches, it opens sanction proceedings under Law 13/2011 on Tourism; the amounts are in that law and on its official website. With a home in order, an inspection ends in a request for information, not a fine. In our experience, the Junta has asked us for information on specific homes and it has never gone beyond that.

What really protects you against a complaint: having all the paperwork up to date (What does the flat need to have?), a record of every incident with time and response, and having dealt with the neighbour the first time.

Can I throw out a guest who does not respect the rules?

Yes, and the law backs you more than people think. Two rules:

• They are not a tenant. Tourist accommodation is expressly excluded from the Urban Leases Act (art. 5.e): there are no extensions or tenant eviction proceedings; it is a tourist service contract that ends on the agreed day and time.
• The Andalusian decree gives you the tool (Decree 28/2016, art. 7.5): if the guest breaks the rules of coexistence, you can "refuse their continued stay" and "require them to leave the home within twenty-four hours", and you can "request the assistance of the Security Forces to evict" anyone who breaks the usual rules of coexistence or intends to stay for a purpose other than normal use of the service. With the house rules accepted at booking, that is what you show the Local Police.

What no rule covers is you changing the lock or removing their belongings on your own: you do that with the police present or not at all. And if someone barricades themselves in after the check-out date without violence, the route is civil (recovering possession in court), not an automatic crime; it is extremely rare in tourism and has never happened to us. Our protocol, the same for years:

1. First warning, at the time, by phone or WhatsApp: the rule is recalled and that there are neighbours.
2. If it happens again, we go to the flat and talk to the guest face to face, making clear it is the last warning.
3. If it continues, we call the platform and process the cancellation of the booking for breach of the house rules, with the cancellation and removal handled by Booking or Airbnb, and with the Local Police if order has to be guaranteed.

To date we have never had to reach step 3: the visit in person solves it. What you must not do is change the lock with the guest inside or remove their things on your own: that makes you the problem. For step 3 to be possible, the house rules have to be in the listing and accepted at booking (Parties and noise).

What do we do when a neighbour calls?

We take the call, contact the guest within minutes and, if necessary, go over. Every incident is logged with time and response, and the association's president has our phone number. In buildings with several tourist homes, the relationship with the association is part of the manager's job, not an extra.