Villagers fed up with bad behavior at rental in their neighborhood

Villagers are fed up with bad behavior at a rental home in their neighborhood.

Longtime residents of the Village of Santiago neighborhood spoke out Friday before the Community Development District 2 Board of Supervisors at Savannah Center about the high-turnover rental home at 1303 Tenerife Lane.

Michelle Swartz and her husband purchased their home in 2011. He has since passed away.

She ticked off a litany of the bad behavior she had heard and witnessed at the home, which was purchased in March 2025 by an investor from Maine.

Swartz was hopeful in the beginning when a lady renter moved in and stayed for five months.

“She was the best renter,” Swartz said.

But soon, the home seemed to have a revolving door, with a constantly changing roster of renters.

Swartz said people have been coming and going at all hours of the day and night at the two-bedroom, two-bathroom home. They are loud, they drink heavily, they bring noisy children and they use bad language. There have also been problems with dog poop.

“I can’t enjoy my lanai,” she said.

At one point, she was trying to swim in her pool and was overwhelmed by the loud vulgarity coming from the rental home. She set up a Bose speaker and started playing “her” music in a futile attempt to drown them out. The renters doubled down on the volume and the obscenities.

She said one group pitched a tent and ran electricity to the tent from the lanai.

“I am struggling, not knowing who is living near me,” she said.

David Barker shares a cul-de-sac with the rental home. He said vehicles associated with the rental home have overwhelmed the limited cul-de-sac parking.

“There are people who are here overnight and they are gone,” he said. “The property is a mess.”

Unfortunately, officials in The Villages have their hands tied when it comes to short-term rentals because local governments generally cannot outright ban short-term rentals or dictate the frequency and duration of stays.

Have you had a problem with a rental property in your neighborhood? Share your story at [email protected].