Garnish host's rental wages with court judgement

[Megan152]

I have a court ordered judgement against a Airbnb host (it was a judgement related to the property he has listed, but rented as a normal tenant, prior to Airbnb listing) and he has been unwilling to pay the judgement, running from it at every turn. Since he is a "business", I cannot garnish his wages in a normal fashion and the state of Missouri does not allow a lien on the property for a $4k judgement. Can I have the court send Airbnb a garnishment order to garnish his Airbnb income?

[Clare0]

@Megan152 Interesting question.  I would advise that you ask Airbnb directly about this (no one in this forum is an Airbnb employee except for the moderators).  I'm sure that Airbnb would abide by any legal court order and likely would remove the listing if this host is your tenant and is/was renting the property through Airbnb without your permission. 

[Megan152]

I kind of already asked them about it, regarding whether they would remove the host (the host doesn't even have a business license although is a business in the city limits), but they didn't seem to care about either of those things.  I may reach out to them again about garnishment specifically.  Mostly, I was curious if anyone else had tried to garnish income.

[Clare0]

@Megan152 you're in kind of a catch-22 here.  I presume you want to garnish the Airbnb payouts because the host is renting without your permission, correct?  If Airbnb knows that the host does not have your permission, the listing will be removed and no further payouts would be issued and therefore Airbnb would not be able to garnish any portion of the payouts for reservations.  

If you allow the host to continue renting on Airbnb, then you are essentially giving your approval which I would think would invalidate your claim. 

The only type of withholding Airbnb does is tax witholding when a host does not provide a tax ID.  I have never heard of Airbnb garnishing payouts.  

[Megan152]

I have no say over permission since the business, or guy, is the owner of the property (although I would assume someone would care that they don't have a business license...). But I have a judgement against them which they are not paying. Typically one would garnish their wages at an employer, but they have no employer since they are a business. Garnishing their bank account was fruitless.  I know they are making money off the Airbnb hosting and want to garnish that income.

This is a case of tenant suing and winning against the landlord.

[Clare0]

@Megan152. I see. You will need to speak again with Airbnb about this, sorry!  

[Megan152]

I did. I'll update witih their response for others' future reference.

[Clare0]

@Megan152 Thanks! I would love to know the answer.  If you use "@" in front of my name, I'll be notified that you are directing a message to me.  

[Megan152]

@Clare0 here is the response from AirBnB, which makes no sense.

Unfortunately due to security purposes we are unable to provide any account information of another community member.

I do understand that this a court order, and I apologize for the inconvenience.

I wasn't asking for an account number, nor do I need one, so I think they just don't want to deal with it.

[Clare0]

@Megan152. Thanks for the update.   Keep in mind that Airbnb is simply a peer to peer platform, and Airbnb is very keen on keeping member's information private.  

What Airbnb does is facilitate the process of matching guests with hosts who have a space to rent and processes payments for the service.  

Think of it this way: the relationship that Airbnb has with its hosts is similar to the relationship that Ebay has with its sellers. Likely Ebay wouldn't honor garnishments either. 

Sadly, you will need more legal advice on how to collect the judgement from this person.  

I appreciate your letting me know!

[Megan152]

@Clare0 yeah, that makes sense.  It seems so unfair that this person can avoid paying a judgement by using AirBnB, but it seems that's just how it is since they aren't an employer!

[April--Mike--And-Maggie0]

GOOD FOR YOU, @Megan0!!  It's a shame so few tenants actually pursue landlords who've not followed the law or ripped them off!  Let us know how you make out.  I'll be happy to chip in a few bucks if you need help with legal fees, in honor of my former landlord, Arthur B. C.  He led me to tenant organizing and activism.  Have been a homeowner for more than 3 decades now, but the experience with him made a long-lasting impression on me....which is why I am happy to be an Airbnb host of my single property.  

****

Regards to you both!

April

[Mariama0]

@Clare0 @Megan0 I just spoke with AIRBNB and they directed me to the company privacy policy statement, which says they will comply with a court ordered sharing of an Airbnb host’s activity. So, if a court directs Airbnb to garnish payouts to satisfy a judgment, they should do so. You just need the court to order it.  You can’t present Airbnb with a judgment and expect them to release information to you directly.  Here is the relevant paragraph from the Airbnb policy:

3.7 Safety and Compliance with Law.

Airbnb may disclose your information to courts, law enforcement or governmental authorities, or authorized third parties, if and to the extent we are required to do so by law or if such disclosure is reasonably necessary: (i) to comply with legal process and to respond to claims asserted against Airbnb, (ii) to respond to verified requests relating to a criminal investigation or alleged or suspected illegal activity or any other activity that may expose us, you, or any other of our users to legal liability, (iii) to enforce and administer our Terms of Service or other agreements with Members, (iv) for fraud investigation and prevention, risk assessment, customer support, product development and debugging purposes, or (v) to protect the rights, property or personal safety of Airbnb, its employees, its Members, or members of the public.

We will attempt to notify Members about these requests unless: (i) providing notice is prohibited by the legal process itself, by court order we receive, or by applicable law, or (ii) we believe that providing notice would be futile, ineffective, create a risk of injury or bodily harm to an individual or group, or create or increase a risk of fraud upon Airbnb’s property, its Members and the Platform (collectively, “Risk Scenarios”). In instances where we comply with legal requests without notice for these reasons, we will attempt to notify that Member about the request after the fact if we determine in good faith that we are no longer legally prohibited from doing so and that no Risk Scenarios apply.

[Mariama0]

Airbnb Legal department address in the USA is Airbnb, Inc., Legal Department, 888 Brennan St., San Francisco, CA 94103.  Outside the USA it is Airbnb Ireland UC, Data Protection Compliance Officer, 8 Hanover Quay, Dublin 2, Ireland

[Russell141]

This post interests me. However I'd like to know the situation if it was opposite... What if a host has a Final Judgement order due to not paying a credit card, medical, debt , ect.... Would the "creditor" with a Court Judgement be able to seize their airbnb pay outs? Just as the would garnish wages from a real job...