LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – It’s a party that neighbors told 8 News Now they aren’t invited to but are forced to deal with, a vacation rental in a historic Las Vegas neighborhood with a homeowner allegedly threatening those who complain about it.
The historic Rancho Sereno neighborhood near Sahara and Rancho is described by those living there as quiet, with neighbors that keep to themselves. But, it’s the guests at the three-bedroom and three-bathroom home that are bringing the noise.
Daniel Bailey, for one, said he hears the music from two doors down.
“It takes the neighborhood out of the neighborhood,” he said outside his home Wednesday afternoon.
Another neighbor across the street from the rental, who did not want to be identified, says street parking becomes brutal.
“Every weekend, they have a party. They have it going on. That house is poppin’ every weekend,” the neighbor said Thursday morning while looking at the rental. “The parking can be pretty rough at times.”
Kelsey Stegall and Thomas Carter live directly next door to what’s advertised on different short-term rental websites as a ‘Stunning Home w/ Private Oasis.’ But, to them, it’s anything but.
They call the rental homeowner a “harasser” after they say concerns about the guests’ loud parties are brought to her attention.
“She texted me like 10 times, just vile things. Then she said, ‘Stop texting me, you’re harassing me,’” Carter said in his backyard Wednesday afternoon. “I wanted to live here my whole life, and then I came to live here, and then I’ve just been grieved.”
After multiple similar exchanges, they say they turned to the city.
Documents 8 News Now obtained show two code enforcement complaints regarding noise at the rental over the past two years, one of which was from Stegall, and the other, anonymous. A city representative additionally said there is a third one that’s ongoing through business licensing.
Carter shared text exchanges between him and the homeowner after he says she was served the complaints. One reads, in part:
“I’m gonna stop the Airbnb and sue you for millions for losing business because of you.”
Then, the voicemails. Carter shared two from the rental homeowner that says, in part:
“Look at your tattoos. You look so bad. You are junk man. Junkie. I’m going to report you. I’m calling right now, police.”
“(Stegall is) an attorney? I’m calling the bar on you.”
The couple says these were received after the rental homeowner then made complaints about the couple’s barking dogs to animal control. Admittedly, they say while their senior dogs do bark, they have taken measures to limit the noise, like keeping them mostly inside and buying shock collars.
But, Stegall provided two animal control letters to 8 News Now that were received after these measures were taken. She adds animal control personnel have arrived at her door multiple times.
“Even when Amazon comes, I’m just like, ‘who am I going to have to go talk to,’ because I think it’s going to be animal control, or code enforcement, or something from one of her bogus complaints that she calls in,” Stegall said, seated next to Carter.
When 8 News Now attempted to get the rental homeowner’s side of the story, she hung up on Reporter Ryan Matthey during a brief phone call Wednesday evening. This was followed up by a text from her where she denies all of the neighbors’ claims and threatened to sue this station if this story was pursued.
While the couple sees no solution in sight, they also don’t see themselves moving anytime soon, despite a text exchange Carter provided that shows the rental homeowner writing:
“You better find a different house because all of your stay here is gonna be hell.”
“We’ve used short-term rentals when we travel, we get it. But it’s getting to the point that it’s so bad that we really have nothing else to do,” Stegall said. “She’s the one who has a business here. Like, we have more of a right to be here than she does.”
A Las Vegas City representative confirms the rental homeowner does have a license to operate, but the city ordinance states excessive noise, street parking, and special events and parties are not allowed at the rentals. A business licensing representative told 8 News Now that the first violation is $250, with each subsequent violation $500.
