Students Trash Airbnb
Frat Party in White House
Sunday night started out with eight cars at the Airbnb next door to my home. I know both the owner and the woman that cleans in between guests. The home has been an Airbnb for a year. It is a two bedroom, two bathroom home on five acres with an in ground pool. The owner lived there for about five months, and then moved out of state. It has been a full time Airbnb since then. Those eight cars had young women in swimsuits and shorts piling out of the cars. This started just before 4pm. I spoke with both the owner and the woman who had cleaned to make sure they were authorized to be there. I had not seen the home cleaned after the previous renters had left. They had permission for nine people to be at the home for the night.
At 4:30, my husband called and let me know that there were 15 cars next door. While I was cleaning at my gym, more and more cars showed up at the home. By 6 pm that evening, when I returned home, there were 69 cars on the property. At this point there were more than 100 college age kids at this home. The sheriff’s department was at the neighbor’s home to the north because the party goers were parking on their property. The sheriff’s deputy put up caution tape across the neighbor’s driveway and left.
I called the property owner and let her know that this was unacceptable, cars were still pulling in, and the sheriff left. She stated that the sheriff had spoken to both neighbors and that both neighbors didn’t mind as long as they were gone by ten. This was not the case. The sheriff’s deputies had not spoken to us. While I called the sheriff’s office, my husband observed students passing a joint, and beer bottles on top of cars in the yard. This party had their own armed security guard who informed my husband that this was a fraternity party.
The cars continued to pour in. Traffic was being blocked on the small two lane country road without shoulders. Many neighbors called the sheriff’s office. The noise was worse down the hill from the Airbnb property. We blocked our driveway with cones, a truck, and our trash cans. Neighbors across the street and up the road started to do the same. The students drove through the caution tape and filled the property to the north with cars. After dark, around 8pm, cars were still pulling in. Cars were parking down the street in the Concord Springs subdivision and walking up the hill. Since they were now also in city limits, I was able to inform the city police about the situation.
After dark, cars were still pouring in. They were parked on the street, turning around in driveways, parking at the subdivision, and finally parking in the horse farm’s pasture.
At 8:40 things got ugly. Shouting and running for cars began. There seemed to be chaos ensuing. People were running for their cars and peeling out of the driveway. A gunshot went off and people began running faster. This panic caused a car wreck in the driveway. The sheriffs and the White House Police had shown back up.
It took an hour for the police and sheriffs to clear the property. They finally came on the property and announced that the party was deemed unlawful and told everyone to leave. One of the men was standing in the property entrance yelling at the officers using the term ni**@# over and over again. (that term was heard all night long) By 9:30 there were only about ten cars left. At 10:30 someone was doing burn outs in the yard. At 11:30 a couple was leaving, but stopped their car in the driveway outside our bedroom window. The young man pulled the young woman by the hair. They fought over her phone. He threatened to leave her there. She was crying he called her names. She jumped in the car and they backed up to find her phone. It was after midnight before it was quiet and we got to sleep.
The next morning there were two cars left and they were gone by 9 am. I went next door to assess the damage for the owner. There were eight trash bags left by the pool. There were boxes of empty liquor bottles in the home. There were trash bags in the home. There was food left all over. The stove top was crusted over. The bathroom was covered in dirt. Swimsuit bottoms and underwear were left all over the home. A scale was found under a cabinet. The sink was full of dishes. The rug was torn. The window was off the tracks outside. The hose had been left on all night in the pool. The pool vacuum was broken. Three of the pool chairs were busted. The pool umbrella was broken. Trash all over the yard and pool area. The grass around the pool was just mud.
This is just a partial list and only a few of the photos. The cleaning alone will take days. Trash was pulled off the property all day, and when the cleaning woman showed up she took out even more. She stated that she hardly made a dent over there today.
The saddest part to me has been the response from the community. Someone made a Facebook post on Sunday about the party. That post was shut down because a woman was accused of being racist. The comment made was that the party looked like East Nashville. I’m not from here, I’ve never been to East Nashville, I had no idea what that implication was. What I learned through private messages is that East Nashville is known for its parties. I posted about this party. I was called “Karen,” a “nosy neighbor,” a “busy body” with nothing better to do. People in White House said they were going to throw big parties and not invite the party poopers who were complaining. There is a big difference between a home owner throwing a party, and a fraternity throwing a party in a rural area at a rented home. The home owner is responsible for their property and will ultimately have to answer to their neighbors. This fraternity will not have to answer to anyone unless they are sued.
There were arrests made after this party. Early in the evening, one young man gave his name and number to my neighbor. He was trying to direct traffic in her yard. She showed me the paper he gave her. He was later arrested.
Yesterday I learned that there were several arrests made, and I would assume there could have been many more.
How do we know these were TSU students? There were cars from several different states next door. Many cars had TSU stickers on them. Other cars had fraternity and sorority stickers on them. The armed security guard told my husband it was a fraternity party. The biggest indicator was this paper that we found on the property.
During the entire event, Airbnb told the owner they could not cancel the reservation once the guest had checked in. Even though the guest had said they would have nine people but had an estimated 350, Airbnb would still not cancel. The sheriff’s department had roughly 5 deputies on, and considered it a safety issue to send them into the party. Several different things are going on here. Robertson County is not equipped to handle situations such as this. There are currently no laws on the books to deal with a situation such as this. Airbnb did not back the homeowner in this situation. This is not the first time Airbnb has had issues here in Tennessee.
As a citizen of Robertson County, I will be contacting my county commissioners to see what can be done about getting laws passed regarding Airbnbs. Private property rights are very important to me, but when the treatment of your property affects your neighbors, a problem has been created. Nashville was having similar issues with Airbnbs in residential neighborhoods and have since changed their laws. The story about it is here. Airbnbs are new to this area. For the past year, we have had very few issues with noise or disturbance. This was the first serious issue that affected the neighborhood. Unfortunately it was a big enough incident that I foresee many neighbors contacting their commissioners to see what can be done to prevent this in the future.
The dean of student affairs has been informed of the incident. He would like to discuss this further, and I will pursue that. This was a terrible representation of his school. While he is unsure as to whether or not these are his students, there was enough proof, including the security guard’s statement, that these were most definitely TSU students. He did assure me that this was not a sanctioned event. I fully believe that, but again, these are representatives of that school, and they did not represent that college well.
We live in Robertson County, White House, because we like our small town and quiet life. This is not what we expect to encounter here. Frat parties should be held on college campuses, not next door to elderly people and people with children. This is not what we want or what our neighbors want. If you feel the same way, please reach out to your county commissioners and see what they can do.
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Looks like the owner of the house should have known better. I would hold the owner responsible for any damages.
Thank you for the updates!
Shocked they did not stop the party!
Unbelievable!!