I have learnt this week that my house, without my permission, is being advertised as a holiday let on the airbnb.com website.
I have reported this to airbnb customer services and to the CEO and various members of the airbnb board, but the listing remains....so I'm seeking advice from anyone who's had success in resolving this with airbnb.
The house was rented, under a England "Assured Short-term Tenancy" contract to an individual. The terms of that signed contract very expressly forbid any form of subletting, and were for the use of the home as the primary residence of that person only.
However, I have since learnt that this person provided fraudulent employment references, and has been illegally using my house as a holiday house let for 9 months. Aside from the breach of the tenancy contract conditions, this “holiday house” letting is also in breach of local council authority property licencing conditions and is in breach of national fire and gas safety regulations. In short, anyone staying in this property advertised on the airbnb website, is doing so illegally, and with grave risk to their health and safety.
A “cease and desist” notice in addition to an eviction notice have been served on the “tenant”, the London Metropolitan Police have been notified, and we have legal counsel working through civil actions spanning (but not restricted to) fraudulent employment misrepresentation, profits clawback from illegal sub letting, and property alterations and damage that far exceeds the tenancy deposit (evidenced from online review photos from paying guests and photos collected from my investigative team).
At this point, my next step is to share this with a number of journalists - maybe some media coverage pressure will resolve the situation?
