Regina Airbnb owner who saw police raid on door camera says damage costs not yet covered
CBC
A Regina Airbnb owner got quite the surprise last week when one of her rental homes was raided by a police SWAT team.
When she returned to the building after the raid, the windows were smashed, air vents were removed and cigarette butts were scattered on the floor.
Tara Van Sichem owns Van Show Homes, a local real estate company. She operates Airbnbs through the company.
She said she has previously only had great experiences with guests at their Cathedral neighbourhood property, but this time guests were arrested by police after weapons and drugs were found during the raid. Van Show Homes was left to pick up the pieces.
CBC reached out to the Regina Police Service to confirm that arrests occurred and has not yet received a response.
Van Sichem said that when she first received the Airbnb booking, it was from two guests who said they were visiting Regina to see family. But when the guests checked in on Sunday, Nov. 26, there were more than two people.
"We could tell right away on the door camera at check-in that it wasn't two guests. It was four gentlemen," said Van Sichem.
"We did debate contacting the original guest that booked it … but we also didn't see a benefit in it. We didn't feel that suddenly people were going to leave. We didn't want to stir the pot, I guess. So we just decided we would roll with it."
She said she didn't have any other reason for concern at that point.
Then on Wednesday, Nov. 29, Van Sichem got a call from RPS saying they had a warrant to go onto the property and had reason to believe there was criminal activity happening there.
Police told her to expect damages to the property.
"We were able to see SWAT team later in the evening on the door cam going in, which is pretty wild to say the least when it's your own property."
When Van Sichem arrived at the Cathedral home in the morning, all the windows were smashed.
"SWAT and the police force does go through and basically turn over the entire unit in a search looking for, I guess, whatever they're looking for. So when we walk in couch pillows are missing, vents are off laying on the floor, there's broken glass everywhere There's food remains everywhere."
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