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So from reading the article, it seems that most hosts don't actually own the apartments, but rent them from landlords and then AirBnb them? That seems more diff
by drpgq 7y ago
So from reading the article, it seems that most hosts don't actually own the apartments, but rent them from landlords and then AirBnb them? That seems more different from North America where most of the hosts own (at least for whole apartment rentals) although for condos at least in Toronto it often is against the condo bylaws.
- rwmj 7y agoYes it seems as if the Airbnb hosts are arbitraging cheaper long-term rentals into short-term, higher rate, Airbnb stays. Rather like WeWork, which is also in big trouble: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-03-18/wework-s-stock-went-down-some-more https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-03-18/wework... In London it's now apparently common for whole blocks of flats to be arbitraged this way. There was an investigation in Wired recently: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/airbnb-scam-london https://www.wired.co.uk/article/airbnb-scam-london There are bylaws about this in the UK too, but enforcement is very weak to non-existant. In fact the government recently refused to renew powers that some local councils were using to enforce registration and minimum standards on landlords (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-51076128 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-51076128).