AirBnB owner threatens to file police complaint - can that hurt FRRO?

5 years ago

I am in India with my family on an employment visa and our FRRO is on Tuesday.

We have a dispute with a former AirBnB host whose place we left because the sanitary conditions were dangerous to our kids' health and the place was also otherwise not as advertised.

Beforehand, we had said via whatsapp chat that we would stay longer and pay 2500 Rs/night for every extra night. But since the conditions were so bad, we had to leave the place to stay elsewhere for a couple of days. I told him that we would have to take off from the rent if things did not improve, to which he did not respond.

We then returned two days later, stayed one more night, but since things had not improved, we picked up the baggage and left. We had paid the AirBnB in full, left half of the rent for the three days after, because we did not and could not actually stay there, informed him about where to find the money and how to allot it (some of what we left was dedicated to the cleaning lady who came twice) and left for a better place.

The former host is now angry that we left and that we did not pay the full sum. He is also threatening to file a police complaint, stating that this could complicate our visa immigration formalities.

Is this to be taken seriously? Is this blackmail? Can we file a counter complaint for unsanitary conditions? What would you advise we do?