How do I contact Airbnb to alert them to an illegal listing?

[Daisy181]

Hi, my father in law has a tenant in a property and he realised earlier this year that he is illegally subletting it and does not live there. We instantly approached him and told him that he had to cease this because of insurance purposes and many other reasons, and instead of ceasing, he just stopped paying his rent altogether so now he has paying Airbnb guests paying £500 per night and he owes us £26,000 in arrears. How do I contact Airbnb to try to get them to remove this listing? He keeps taking new guests on! We have issued a section 8 eviction notice and will commence court proceedings but due to Covid this may take up to a year. My father in law relies on the income from his rent and right now his property has been stolen from him. Airbnb please help.

[Anonymous]

@Daisy181  If the sublet is in violation of your local laws, then law enforcement is by far your best route. Airbnb has a reporting mechanism for neighbor issues, but it's mostly just hollow PR:  https://www.airbnb.com/neighbors#:~:text=Call%20the%20Neighborhood%20Support%20team,is%20subject%20t....

They really don't get involved in disputes like yours, and it wouldn't really help your cause much even if they did - there are still dozens of other rental platforms that the delinquent tenant could rent on if he were removed from Airbnb.

If you have the resources, I'd recommend lawyering up. Airbnb is very unlikely to be helpful here.

[Emiel1]

@Daisy181 

You can report the listing and/or the host to Airbnb via the "report" link on the listing (or profile)

BTW For airbnb it is not an illegal listing, but the host is breaches his renting contract with your father in law in more then one way (not paying the rent, illegal subrent/hosting).

Which indeed has to be handled by court.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Daisy181 I am afraid Airbnb are very unlikely to do anything as they won't know who is telling the truth with respect to the property.

If you want to call Airbnb then the number is in the help section of this forum in a pinned post toward the top

[Sarah977]

While it's quite true that Airbnb has been reported by other landlords and home owners not to remove these types of illegal listings, it isn't a matter of them not knowing who is telling the truth. It's a matter of them not wanting to know and not concerning themselves with it.

It wouldn't be rocket science to require anyone who lists on Airbnb to submit either ownership papers or the property, or an agreement with the legal owner for someone else to rent it out. And the fact that they don't do that is simply wrong.

@Mike-And-Jane0

[Helen3]

Actually @Mike-And-Jane0 Airbnb have an email people in this situation can use.

He can prove it’s his place and the tenancy doesnt allow for sub letting. 

@Daisy181  tell your father to do a search on Airbnb Help/post on their social media for the email/contact them on their social media.

Why would he let these trespassers stay in the place. Why doesn’t he evict for sub letting abd change the locks/sue them in court for the money owed and possibly profits made.