What you will do when host (tenant) rented a house to you and now the landlord want you to leave

[Z-2]

My daughter's friends rented a house in Seattle long term (doing internship there) for summer. The host is a tenant (lease with landlord). They reserved the house from middle of May and supposed check out middle of Aug. But now, the landlord (owner) come directly to them and told them they have to be out on July 31, otherwise, they will call the police or go to court to evict them and damage their credit. My guess is that the lease between landlord and the host will end on July 31. They asked the host about it and the host just told them he is working on it. But this really bother them. The host should know the lease not renewed long time ago (normally 60 days before to notice if renew or not). But he didn't told my daughter's friends. They contacted Airbnb, Airbnb just told them they (Airbnb) will contact host. But the thing is the host can just told the Airbnb what he told the guests (he is working on it). But the landlord is threating them to call the police, go to court,... How can that be a good living there?

[JJ48]

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@Lorna170 wrote:

@Z-2   The landlord has requested that they leave.  They do not have his permission to stay.  The host is not helping and is apparently ghosting the guests.  It does not matter if the host has other listings.  The landlord says leave.  

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It doesn't matter what the landlord (owner) wants in this situation, it's more complicated than that. Especially in Seattle.

@Z-2 The owner cannot evict them because they are not his tenants. They are subtenants of his tenant who is their sublessor (the host). I don't know if the owner does not understand the law or if he thinks the guests do not know the law, but his threats are empty. He can call the police but they will not do anything without court papers. He will not even be able to get a court date against them because they have no agreement with him. They should not worry about him. 

It's not to say that they should fight it or stay beyond their welcome. I don't doubt that they could make it until their original checkout date but it will be a whole extra project. It is probably not worth it, it's too much trouble and they should be concentrating on their internship instead. 

However, they do have rights (and a lot of them and yes they are tenant's rights). And that means that neither the owner nor the host can come to them and threaten them.  No one should be coming over to their rental at all without 48 hours notice. And if there's any threatening then they, your friends, should be the ones calling the police.  Seattle will protect them even if Airbnb doesn't. 

In the meantime, it would be wise for them to find other accommodations.  I do hope that Airbnb will assist them.  They should keep reaching out to Airbnb until they get a hold of someone helpful.  

[Z-2]

@JJ48 Thank you. I understand they do have tenants right, but they really don’t want to live like that. They have Airbnb reservation. Airbnb should give them refund plus makeup the difference of their rebook. I have told them what’s I think and most of hosts here think, it’s up to them to handle it themselves (it’s learning experience for them too). Hope they can get the support they needed from Airbnb.

[Z-2]

The landlord will inspect the house tomorrow, so they will try to push the landlord to contact Airbnb to help their situation 

[Helen744]

@Z-2 the only person you can reliably push is yourself . They are in the Airbnb driver seat only as long as they contact Airbnb and stop trying for side hustles .Sort one thing at a time my old granny used to stay . This situation is as clear as mud. H

[Helen744]

Unless they paid that landlord and had a tenancy agreement then they have no arrangement or right to stay as far as I know.Otherwise in Australia they are classed as 'squatters; if they have inadvertanly fallen into this situation then I think it would be wise to extricate themselves a s quicly and easily as possible , while the airbnb agreement is still in place and to get a refund and use it H

[Huma0]

@Helen744 

Laws around tenants' rights vary from place to place, so whatever is the case in Australia doesn't necessarily apply to this situation. Here in the UK, even if someone is classified as a squatter, they still have rights.

To evict squatters here, you would have to go through a legal process and get the equivalent of an eviction order. If you try to force them out or threaten them instead, you are the one breaking the law and can be prosecuted.

In this situation, the guests would not even be classified as squatters but as sub-tenants and that's an even more complicated scenario.

That's just how it is here. It sounds like it's even stricter in Seattle. That is why a lot of US hosts do not do long term stays.

[Helen744]

@Z-2 at the moment they are covered for the extra by Airbnbs insurance i would hope and that is where thye should put some pressure They have already spoken with thye host and he has disappeared apparently so the landlord is giving them the boot , one way or the other . Airbnb must assist them because they are just waiting out the period of time when they might be covered. How many more warnings do they need .The calvary are not coming . Get on to Airbnb.H

[Helen744]

@JJ48 so are you saying that in Seattle ,an Airbnb stay  actually makes people tenants ?Have you read the original thread ?H

[Z-2]

@Helen744 @JJ48  is right, In most of US cities, if you have stayed in a house more than 30 days even you didn't sign any lease, you have the tenant right. But I don't think they want to do that. They will try to get the Airbnb find the replacement house for them without paying extra. 

[JJ48]

@Helen744  Of course I read the original thread, lol. I was also surprised at what you said. My suspicion is that your laws in Australia are wildly different than the laws in the US. 

What makes someone a tenant in the US is dependent on how many days are paid for (e.g. monthly) and/or how many days the person stays. The law does vary by state as well as sometimes by city; however, there is nothing about booking on Airbnb that prevents anyone from being a tenant (or any host from being a landlord).

Airbnb policies do not outrank the laws. In fact, the Airbnb policies, when it comes to long term stays, are go against the laws in most locations in the US. The only reason that more hosts (landlords) and guests (tenants) don't end up in local courts is because most hosts don't know their landlord-tenant laws because they think they're hosts. I feel that Airbnb has been remiss in their presentation of long term stays to US hosts. 

The most common qualification to be a tenant in the US is paying for and/or staying for 30 days or more (in some places it is as little as staying 2 weeks within 6 months). It doesn't matter where one finds the rental, whether it be Zillow, Craigslist, the coffee shop bulletin board or Airbnb.  In Seattle, anything for 30 or more days is not a short term rental, it is a tenancy. 

[Helen744]

@JJ48 I think some laws at least are exactly the same , have you seen 'The wolf of Airbnb H

[Helen744]

@JJ48 I think this is overblown truly. The amount of money paid to an airbnb host is probably two or three times the amount of 'rent ' paid by a true renter , but if a court case ensues because a tenant overstays then they are still responsible for the same rental amount until such times as a court case turns the home into a 'long term ' rental . I think this is basically only likely to occurr when someone sets out to do this deliberately but are able to pay an inflated price. As money is taken up front.H

[Brenda328]

Not 100% relevant to the above situation, but please be aware that Airbnb will probably do little or nothing in this scenario.  I have a fully furnished apartment that I rented to a tenant on a six month lease.  I subsequently found out that the tenant had listed the property on Airbnb several months into the lease. 

I contacted Airbnb, 'reported the listing', and told Airbnb that the tenant did not have the authority to list the property on Airbnb.  I received no response at all from Airbnb, even though I am a Superhost with active listings under my name, and Airbnb did not remove the listing.  I'm guessing Airbnb is just going to wait this one out and hope the issue goes away on its own.

[Helen744]

@Brenda328 and did you allow that tenancy to continue ? I would have visited every Airbnb guest and asked them to leave . Something , anything and confronted the supposed 'host ' and taken them to court to get them out .This accomodation was being sublet ,not used for housing someone in need of a residence. It should have stopped before it started.i am sure plummetting reviews would soon have attracted Airbnbs notice .H

[Brenda328]

@Helen744   Actually the listing had only one review which was a one star review for the host canceling on a guest the day of the guest's scheduled arrival.  Once again, Airbnb took no action at all against the host even after I reported them.  

I am working to resolve the issue on my side because I have to go through the appropriate legal process to remove the tenant.  To address the issue in the meantime, security at the gated community has been instructed to not allow access to anyone other than the tenant.