3 ms·

My 60+ year old mother has a neighbor renting on Airbnb illegally. The Airbnb guests have repeatedly scared her late at night by mistakenly trying to open her

by staunch 11y ago

My 60+ year old mother has a neighbor renting on Airbnb illegally. The Airbnb guests have repeatedly scared her late at night by mistakenly trying to open her door, yelling, partying, etc. She doesn't feel safe in her own home anymore. Airbnb support responded to her complaint but took no action. It's wrong to even allow apartments or condos to be rented out, it hurts all the neighbors, but Airbnb chooses to hurt people in order to make more money.

ZeroMinx 11y ago
Is that really Airbnb's fault? Airbnb is the service provider in this case, but there are other companies with a similar service, or the neighbour could let it out personally to other people. Assuming the neighbour is subletting illegally as you state, surely that's where the problem lies.
- XJOKOLAT 11y ago
  It's not airbnb's fault but if found to be true why wouldn't airbnb simply de-list them? It's like being a CEO and finding out that one of your employees or contractors is engaging in illegal activity. They get fired. Simple.
  - ZeroMinx 11y ago
    Sure, if Airbnb have been given proof that the subletting is illegal, they should remove the listing. But my point is that doesn't really solve the problem. What should be sorted is the fact that this person sublets the flat illegally.
Sacho 11y ago
And what did the police say when you reported this illegal activity?
- nothrabannosir 11y ago
  What makes you think she reported it? Betrayal is not as universally popular as it used to be, and some people even believe that two wrongs don't make a right. Crazy, right? I know.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
the_ancient 11y ago
>It's wrong to even allow apartments or condos to be rented out, its wrong to tell property owners who they can or can not allow into their property.
- mschuster91 11y ago
  In case it is forbidden either by rent contracts or by law, AirBnB/Uber are, in this case knowingly, assisting parties in illegal acts and should be punished as such. When I'm e.g. a store operator and knowingly buy and later resell stolen goods, I'm punishable as part of a criminal organization. What AirBnB does in this case, aiding illegal action or in fact actively promoting illegal action, is exactly the same. The only difference between said store owner and AirBnB/Uber is that the latter companies have boatloads of dollars for lawyers and quite possibly for what we call "bakshish".
  - the_ancient 11y ago
    >In case it is forbidden either by rent contracts or by law, AirBnB/Uber are, in this case knowingly, assisting parties in illegal acts and should be punished as such. Forbidden by Contract is a civil matter and AirBnB has no way of knowing this or should care at all I am 100% opposed to laws forbidding property owners from renting out rooms either short or long term In either case this is 3rd party liability which should not even be a concept in American Law. >When I'm e.g. a store operator and knowingly buy and later resell stolen goods, I'm punishable as part of a criminal organization If you can not see the difference in a person selling OTHER PEOPLES stolen property and a person selling THEIR OWN property then I really do not believe we are going to agree on much here. >The only difference between said store owner and AirBnB/Uber No the biggest difference is One company has the complete permission of the property owner to resell/rent the property, and the other does not.
    - DanBC 11y ago
      You've missed the case where a rental tennant uses AirBnB to sublet to a third party. Ann owns the property. Bob rents the property from Ann. Bob uses AirBnB to rent the property to Chris.
DanBC 11y ago
There's probably a niche for "regulatory complaints as a service". It can be tricky for people to know which departments handle which complaints, so being able to send a bunch of evidence and a desired result to a service who then formats that all correctly and reports it to the variety of interested regulators would save time and frustration. If done well it would increase the quality of regulation.

by staunch 11y ago

ZeroMinx 11y ago

Is that really Airbnb's fault? Airbnb is the service provider in this case, but there are other companies with a similar service, or the neighbour could let it out personally to other people. Assuming the neighbour is subletting illegally as you state, surely that's where the problem lies.

XJOKOLAT 11y ago
It's not airbnb's fault but if found to be true why wouldn't airbnb simply de-list them? It's like being a CEO and finding out that one of your employees or contractors is engaging in illegal activity. They get fired. Simple.
- ZeroMinx 11y ago
  Sure, if Airbnb have been given proof that the subletting is illegal, they should remove the listing. But my point is that doesn't really solve the problem. What should be sorted is the fact that this person sublets the flat illegally.

Sacho 11y ago

And what did the police say when you reported this illegal activity?

nothrabannosir 11y ago
What makes you think she reported it? Betrayal is not as universally popular as it used to be, and some people even believe that two wrongs don't make a right. Crazy, right? I know.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]

the_ancient 11y ago

>It's wrong to even allow apartments or condos to be rented out, its wrong to tell property owners who they can or can not allow into their property.

mschuster91 11y ago
In case it is forbidden either by rent contracts or by law, AirBnB/Uber are, in this case knowingly, assisting parties in illegal acts and should be punished as such. When I'm e.g. a store operator and knowingly buy and later resell stolen goods, I'm punishable as part of a criminal organization. What AirBnB does in this case, aiding illegal action or in fact actively promoting illegal action, is exactly the same. The only difference between said store owner and AirBnB/Uber is that the latter companies have boatloads of dollars for lawyers and quite possibly for what we call "bakshish".
- the_ancient 11y ago
  >In case it is forbidden either by rent contracts or by law, AirBnB/Uber are, in this case knowingly, assisting parties in illegal acts and should be punished as such. Forbidden by Contract is a civil matter and AirBnB has no way of knowing this or should care at all I am 100% opposed to laws forbidding property owners from renting out rooms either short or long term In either case this is 3rd party liability which should not even be a concept in American Law. >When I'm e.g. a store operator and knowingly buy and later resell stolen goods, I'm punishable as part of a criminal organization If you can not see the difference in a person selling OTHER PEOPLES stolen property and a person selling THEIR OWN property then I really do not believe we are going to agree on much here. >The only difference between said store owner and AirBnB/Uber No the biggest difference is One company has the complete permission of the property owner to resell/rent the property, and the other does not.
  - DanBC 11y ago
    You've missed the case where a rental tennant uses AirBnB to sublet to a third party. Ann owns the property. Bob rents the property from Ann. Bob uses AirBnB to rent the property to Chris.

DanBC 11y ago

There's probably a niche for "regulatory complaints as a service". It can be tricky for people to know which departments handle which complaints, so being able to send a bunch of evidence and a desired result to a service who then formats that all correctly and reports it to the variety of interested regulators would save time and frustration. If done well it would increase the quality of regulation.