House rules & policies

Who handles what during a stay of one to eleven months?

You handle daily living: keeping the home in the condition you found it, following the community's rules, and reporting problems early. Your local manager handles the home itself — repairs, vendors, access when work is needed, and questions about the property. MidStays handles your reservation, your dates, and your quote.

Occupancy and who may stay

• The people listed on your reservation are the people who may live in the home.
• Each home has a maximum occupancy, shown on its listing. It is a limit, not a target.
• Friends or family visiting you during your stay is normal living. Parties and events are not permitted.
• Anyone moving in for part of your stay — a partner joining for the last two months, a child arriving between school terms — needs to be added to the reservation first.
• You may not sublet, reassign, or re-list the home to anyone else.

Quiet hours, neighbors, and HOA realities

• You are living in a residential neighborhood, not a resort. Your neighbors live there permanently and you will see the same people for months.
• Quiet hours are set by the home's community or by local ordinance, so the exact hours vary. They appear on the listing or in your arrival information.
• Noise complaints on a mid-term stay escalate through the HOA or the city. Your local manager will contact you, and repeated violations can end a stay.
• Honest tradeoff: landscaping crews, pool service, and trash trucks run on the neighborhood's schedule, which in the Arizona and California desert destinations often means early morning in summer.
• Some communities restrict street parking, visitor access, pool hours, and use of amenities by people who are not owners.

Smoking

• Smoking and vaping inside the home are not permitted at any MidStays home.
• Cannabis follows the same indoor rule as tobacco, regardless of state law.
• Whether outdoor smoking is allowed varies by home and by community. Check the listing or ask your local manager.
• Smoke damage and odor remediation are charged to you, and on a stay of several months that is not a small number.

Pets

• Pet policies vary by home. Many homes welcome dogs; cats and other animals vary.
• Any pet fee or pet deposit appears on the listing and in your quote before you book.
• Community and HOA pet rules can apply on top of the home's own policy.
• Full detail is on the MidStays pet policy page.

Parking

• Parking is as configured at the property: a garage, a driveway, a carport, an assigned space, or street parking. The listing says which.
• The number of vehicles the home can take appears on the listing.
• Community rules often restrict overnight street parking, trailers, boats, RVs, and commercial or work vehicles.
• Do not park on landscaping or block a neighbor's access. Gated and HOA communities enforce this, sometimes by towing.

Maintenance and access to the home during your stay

• Report anything broken as soon as you notice it. A slow drain in week one is a plumber in week six.
• Your local manager, or a vendor they send, may need to enter for repairs, pest control, filter changes, or pool and landscape service.
• You get notice before non-emergency entry. Genuine emergencies — water, gas, fire, or anything threatening the home — can require immediate access.
• Regular exterior service such as landscaping and pool care runs on the property's or community's schedule without separate notice each visit.

What you are responsible for

• Keeping the home clean and undamaged, normal wear excepted.
• Your own consumables once the starter household essentials run out.
• Taking trash and recycling to the curb on collection day.
• Locking up, and securing the home if you travel during your stay.
• Anyone you allow into the home, including your pet.
• Any utility account or fee configured for that home, exactly as shown on the listing and in your quote before you book. See how MidStays pricing works.

What your local manager handles

• Inspecting the home against the listing before you arrive — the kitchen, the washer and dryer, the wifi, the parking, the condition of each room. That inspection is what verified means on MidStays, and it is explained on trust and safety at MidStays.
• Repairs and coordinating vendors during your stay.
• Questions about the home, the community, and the neighborhood.
• Being reachable when the dishwasher stops draining on a Sunday.

Community and HOA rules

• Condos, gated neighborhoods, and HOA communities have their own rules, and those apply on top of the home's.
• Common ones: amenity and pool hours, gate and visitor access, quiet hours, parking limits, pet limits, trash placement and timing, restrictions on commercial vehicles.
• Violations can carry fines that pass through to you.
• Ask your local manager for the community's rules in writing at the start of your stay, not in month three.

End of your stay

• Whether a departure cleaning is included, and what it covers, is shown on the listing and in your quote before you book.
• Leave the home tidy: dishes done, trash and recycling out, food cleared from the refrigerator and pantry.
• Leave linens and towels in the home. Do not strip beds unless your local manager asks you to.
• Return every key, remote, gate card, and parking pass.
• Report anything that broke during your stay before you leave, not after.
• Staying longer? See extending your MidStays stay. Leaving earlier than planned? Start with the MidStays cancellation policy.

Still deciding what to pack? What's included in every MidStays home and your first 48 hours cover the rest.