City of Chicago Registration

[Suzanne122]

I have been hosting for a year and a half in Chicago. I just got notice from the city that my registration has been denied, due to living in a condo that is on prohibited building lists. Has anyone else gotten a denial and continued to host? The fines if you get caught are pretty steep, but I don't know if they are really policing them yet.

[Nonya0]

With regards to condos, it the condo assocation who may come after you.  Im a host manager (assist) for several properties but also have a large family.  My sister in law has a condo.  Since I run a service at my home, all our friends and family stays in the family condo.  The condo association assumed that she was running an airbnb in the condo.  They took her to kangaroo court.  We told them over and over, these are family members.  Im one of 9 with a boat load of cousins and she one of 13.  Its gotten so bad that I literally have to have every member of my family that even come in to the apartment and sign a waiver to say they are not booking the condo on airbnb.  I even created a video of each person who spent a day, an hour, a night.  We even told the association that all they need to do is that if there is anybody who 'claim' to be an airbnb, simply ask for the confirmation page.  They have nothing.  But that don't stop them.  

There are a few steps  you can take that may be able to help you but you will have to contact me.  My website is [Link hidden].  You can text me thru there.  

[Karen-Sophie0]

Check to see if your association documents disallow short term rentals. If they do not check out an organization called Keep Chicago Liveable or hire their attorney Shorge Sato to represent you to the city.

[Matthew356]

I have the same question as Suzanne. We own a townhome in the Hyde Park/Kenwood area that we have had for twenty years. Since it’s a second home, we decided to ‘Airbnb’ it. We just received a denial from the city code “HS124 = invalid address”. Does anyone know what that means? Thanks! M&J

[Patricia1346]

We also have that issue. Airbnb refuses to tell us what was submitted. I assume the address is incorrect because I did not include the apartment number (I didn't realize it was required). The city and Airbnb will not assist. I really really wish I had any information to give to you right now, but I can say that the city insists we contact Airbnb and then Airbnb insists that we "work it out" with Chicago.

[Carl-and-Miriam0]

hi! see my response to the chain below, its important we all adress Airbnb to solve this problem as the City will not be able to help.

[Sara972]

 EXACTLY!! Same here, Patricia. City says we have to go through AirBNB--and AirBNB says we have to go through the city. Several other owners contacted me with the identical rejection letters from the city--all alleging "incorrect or incomplete" addresses. I can't help but think this is a glitch at the AirBNB "registration" page on their website. There MUST be some sort of work around... Maybe we all show up at the city department at the same time and call the TV station. Local Chicago media is crazy about reporting anything having to do with AirBNB. Lord knows the city is taxing the platform to death. 

[Mitesh2]

Hi I am on the  situation and no help from Airbnb what are we supposed to do. Airbnb  customer rep is supposed to get back to me it’s been a week.

[Gerry31]

Mattew, there are specific restrictions in the City ordinance passed in 2016 for temporary and shared rental housing that might apply to your particular situation, such as if your townhome is legally part of an association. But for stand along properties this letter you received is likely an error in how airbnb submitted the address when complying with the city registration process. My educated guess is that airbnb needs to resubmit the regsitration for all of the properties that recently got the City rejection due to "unrecognizable or incomplete address". A few of us in Chicago are right now dealing with this issue and in contact with airbnb support and/or the City. I suggest you call or email airbnb support. The more cases they get on this topic the more likely the issue will get escalated to the person in their team responsible for dealing with Chicago.

See this other thread in the Comminuty pages:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Everything-Else/Unrecognized-Addresd/m-p/777959#M369

If the link gets removed search the Community for "Chicago Unrecognized Address".

[Carl-and-Miriam0]

thanks! intersting information. I'm not part of an association, i'm the sole owner, yet am expereincing the same. see my post below for more information in how i've approached trying to get this handled.

[Carl-and-Miriam0]

Hi All, 

there is an error on the airbnb side causing people to get the "HS124 = invalid address" information. the one i received (two days ago), is for my garden unit. I have been on the phone iwth Airbnb for a combined 4 hours trying to resolve. They promised an escalation & then closed my ticket. 

Please see the summary I have sent to airbnb Legal team with whom i was finally able to get in touch with. I encourage you all to create a similar message for your situation so we can try to push through a fix ASAP!

*********

After much research (detailed below), it is clear that the decline of my license is actually an error on the Airbnb side - NOT the city's. I have spoken with the city of Chicago (twice today alone), and they informed me that there is an "error on Airbnb" causing this issue. They further statd they've been flooded with numerous other airbnb hosts stating the same problem in the past two days. 

I cross checked this myself, with a scan at the community boards, where it is clearly visible several other hosts have just experienced the same this week.

Below is my summary of the entirety of the situation. I believe this will provide Airbnb what is needed to open a high prioirty systems support ticket with internal Airbnb development to resolve the issue.

1) Airbnb submitted my license request for Unit 1 in December 2017. It was approved within two weeks by the city of Chicago.

2) Aribnb submitted my license request for Unit 2, with the same address in January 2018. It has since stated "Pending", up until just two days ago (8/6/2018).

3) the City of Chicago emailed me the following

"Your City of Chicago shared housing registration application, which was submitted on your behalf by the short term residential rental intermediary internet platform indicated above, contains either an unrecognizable or incomplete address and, as a result, does not comply with Section 4-14-020 (b)(2) of the Municipal Code of Chicago and is therefore  rejected.

-->This notification clearly states that the error is on the Airbnb side in regards to a data entry incorrect. 

4) The city of Chicago also stated to me in the same email 

"Shared housing hosts must register through their internet platform(s). This interaction is strictly between the internet platform and the shared housing host. "

-->this implies that I as a host/citizen of the city can NOT assist the situation and it is Airbnb who is responsible to resolve

4) Based both on my reserach and confirmed by the City of Chicago today, the city of Chicago only requires 1 license PER HOUSEHOLD. Hence it should be acceptable for my license from unit #1 to be copied to unit #2, should it not?

*****

thank you for all helping address this in the same manner so we can find a quick resolve.

/miriam

[Matthew356]

Thank you for your post!  I too had received such a notice rejecting us registering our townhome with the city of Chicago.  I spoke with an Airbnb representative (Jean) who would be passing on my case to the liscensing department.  Though frustrating, I now know that we are not the only ones.  Thank you!  Matthew & James

[Rachel788]

I know this is a couple months old, but we started hosting in September and got rejected for same reasons and are experiencing same run around with Airbnb. Anyone successfully resolve this issue? Thanks 

[Matthew356]

Hi Rachel. We also have experienced the same exact thing. Though we have owned (built) our house over twenty years ago, we have been declined for an "Invalid Address".  We just got back downtown Chicago from a trip to city hall to try to clarify the issue.  Basically, the City of Chicago cannot do anything other than hand us a piece of paper with this information:

"Airbnb customers must contact Airbnb directly to renew/update/change their registrations.  They can contact Airbnb's Customer Service at:  1-855-424-7262.  Additionally, customers can email 'Shared Housing' email box at:  houseshares@cityofchicago.org."

I am hopeful that with the assistance of Airbnb, we will rectify this problem soon.  Matthew

[Matthew356]

To whom it may concern,

We have applied twice through Airbnb to register our home with the city of Chicago for ‘short term’ leasing.  We have been denied due to “HS124- Invalid Address”.  We built and have owned our home for over twenty years.  On the Airbnb community, we noticed that our situation is not unique.  This afternoon, we went to  ‘Business Affairs & Consumer Protection’ at Chicago City Hall.  They advised us to send our inquiry to you. Could you please assist us (and others of the Chicago Airbnb community) in rectifying this problem?  Thank You!

Address in question:

4571 S. Oakenwald Ave.
Chicago, IL 60653

Sincerely,

Matthew Gipson & James Shepherd