Host is subletting without landlord's permission - will I, the guest, get kicked out?

Host is subletting without landlord's permission - will I, the guest, get kicked out?

Hello

 

I'm currently a guest in someone's AirBnB apartment. Since living in the property, it has become aparent that the Host is not the owner of the property - he has sublet the property without the permission of his landlord and the landlord knows that I'm his 'Guest' in the property.

 

My question is this - can the landlord kick me out and essentially bypass the Host? Also, if the Host kicks me out of the property prior to the end date, can I get a refund? 

Thanks

120 Replies 120

The following is not legal advice.

In the United States,  in many jurisdictions this matter would turn on whether the Airbnb guests are legally transient guests,  or acquire some kind of leasehold.  For instance,  in many US municipalities,   guests staying under 30 days in temporary lodging are transient guests,  and just like an overnight freind or short family stay,  are not a tenant and do not violate lease terms.

I suspect there are similar terms in the UK,  but am in no way conversant with how things work there in regards to this matter.

Good luck! 

David126
Level 10
Como, CO

@Daniel949

 

She might try and have a word with CAB, but just lookin at that wordin she can not short term rent a room.

David

Hi, I have a small house in Las Vegas and rented it out to a tenant who signed a lease. A few days ago the Las Vegas Code Enforcement Division sent me a letter telling me that they found out my house has been advertised and rented out for Short-Term Residential Rentals. I called the number on the letter and was told by the City employee that the fine is $500 per night if all rental activity don't cease without the proper permit, inspecton and license. They even told me the rental is advertised on AirBNB. My property manager informed the tenant to stop and told her that the rental agreement states that short-term rental is not allowed. She ignored the warnings and continue to have the listing on AirBNB. I contacted AirBNB to remove the listing, forwarded the letter to AirBNB's support team but they won't remove the listing. Evan from AirBNB customer experience told me to contact the host and forward the letter to the host. I told them I already did. The Code Enforcement Division told me they cannot help but to hire legal counsel. My question is if I hire a lawyer, what are the chances of me getting the $500 per night fine and lawyer's fees back? The house I am renting out is $1300 per month. At $500 per night fine I simply will not be able to afford it. If AirBNB is taking a fee for this listing, should they be responsible for this illegal activity? Since the tenant is renting out the whole house, if something happens in the house with AirBNB people and the lease is between me and the tenant will I get in trouble with the AirBNB people? I also don't have the insurance to cover the AirBNB people. What should I do? I already contacted the Community Help, Support Team, Called and talked to AirBNB support team with the 415-800-5959 number, talked to the supervisor but they all told me to contact the host (tenant) AirBNB offered no help.

 

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@Dave227 I don't know the laws regarding tenancy in your state/county, but if the tenant is in violation of the lease, are you able to evict them?

At the very least, find out if you can change the locks on the house so that AirBnB guests cannot enter.

 

This would cause AirBnB guests to need to cancel upon arrival, and so the tenant will no longer be receiving any money from listing the property. In fact, the cancellation penalties would cost the tenant money.

This should stop the listing from being active.

 

Stop the tenant from making money off of AirBnB, and they will stop.

Plus, kick them out.

Are you kidding?

Under the URLTA,  "self-help" evictions are criminal acts in almost every US state.

http://realestate.findlaw.com/landlord-tenant-law/illegal-evictions-can-get-you-in-trouble-for-landl...

 

What it will get you,  is possible jail time and a civil liability of tens of thousands of dollars-- plus the tenant can sue for repossession.


OP was motivated enough to post here,  but not motivated enough to answer basic questions about the situation and jurisdiction ...

@Kenneth12 I wasn't suggesting he evict the tenant himself.

 

I assume since he is a landlord he is familiar with the local, legal procedures for evicting a tenant.  I don't always use the long phrase "commence the legal procedures for tenant eviction for your locality" because any experienced landlord should know that following legal procedure exactly is the ONLY way to evict a tenant.

 

The OP had not mentioned starting any eviction proceedings at all, and I was suggesting doing so.

 

Believe me, I understand tenants rights. We live in San Francisco. Property owners here have to pay tenants $60,000 or more to leave just so the owner can move into their own property.

 

 

 

 

Now, now.  You suggested changing the locks so that guests and tenant could not get in.   That is what it is.  Now you're backpeddling :).

@Kenneth12, no, you are changing what I said. Look up above.

 

I said "At the very least, find out if you can change the locks on the house so that AirBnB guests cannot enter."

 

Where did I say anything about making it so the tenant cannot enter?

 

The tenant may have put on a lockbox, or might be using a keyless smart lock to make it easier to do turnovers. These can be removed and a regular lock with an key (that cannot be copied) should be provided and given to the tenant.

 

 

I understand participating on there boards for enterainment value, and that is your right to do so.

 

I am here to try to help people find a solution to their problems.

 

Hi,

Thanks for helping. The tenant is on Section 8 and receiving money from govt, tax payers for housing subsidies to rent my house. Then she don't live in it and rented it out on Airbnb to collect money and put into her own pocket. My property manager told me he warned the tenant once and it's taken care of. But when I got the letter from the City of Las Vegas, I guided my property manager to find the listing on Airbnb and he finally understood that the tennat is taking us all (taxpayers) for a fool. Airbnb is assisting in this Section 8 fraud by not removing the listing. I wonder if the home owners who are screwed this way can get together and sue Airbnb? If anyone has any ideas on how to protect home owners on such issues please advice. 

@Dave227 you should probably concentrate your efforts of stopping the AirBnB guests from getting into the unit. How do they do the key exchange? Is there a lock box? Does the tenant meet each guest? You have a lot of ability to affect how the tenant uses your property. You do not have much ability to affect how AirBnB publishes listings.

 

A lawsuit against AirBnB in this case would not have much chance of success.

I base my guess on the lack of success our local government had trying to regulate AirBnB. The liability of AirBnB is extremely limited; they are merely publishers of information provided by other people. 

 

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act specifies:

"No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider" (47 U.S.C. § 230) In other words, online intermediaries that host or republish speech are protected against a range of laws that might otherwise be used to hold them legally responsible for what others say and do.

 

You can read more about it here: https://www.eff.org/issues/cda230

 

This protection is generally a very good thing. It is sort of what lets the internet function.

If every service was held liable for whatever any user of the service wrote, no service would survive the lawsuits.

 

So AirBnB is not generally responsible for the listing your tenant published.

You will not get very far pursuing AirBnB in this.

Even if you do get the listing removed from AirBnB, AirBnB is not the only way to advertise. There is Booking.com, Homeaway, Flipkey, Couchsurfing, etc.  Are you going to somehow get all these services to not list your property?

 

The tenant is responsible.

Go after the tenant, and secure your property.

That is the fastest and most sure way to stop this.

 

 

Thanks for your time and advice. I will read the info you provided. I am sorry but I forgot to mention that I recieved a warning letter from the City of Las Vegas Code Enforcement Division that if the listing is not removed I will get the $500 / night fine. My house does not have the permit for short-term rentals, that's why my lease agreement between landlord and tenant states "No short term rentals allowed"

 

Even if I managed to stop Airbnb guests from entering the house, the ad will still be on Airbnb and everyday it's on Airbnb I will incur the $500 / night fine. I guess that's why my main focus is for Airbnb to remove the ad. The City of Las Vegas told me they hired a 3rd party company to crack down on property owners that don't have permit but are operating short term rentals, they told me the only listing for my house is on Airbnb.

 

I believe Airbnb have the responsibilty to asked for some sort of proof that the tenant have the authority to sublease. It seems to me that they can do more to protect their interest by doing extra steps to check on listings to make sure that are legal.

 

Regarding the house, there's a lock box on the gate and tenant gives Airbnb guests the code to open box to get key. So if I change the code, tenant can in future tell the judge that I refuse entry to tenant and that's unlawful. So I don't want to open a can of worms for future law suits.

Thanks for the clarification here.  Sounds like a terrible situation,  given what some cities are doing with permitting.

However,  I don't think you have any recourse to Airbnb-- no more than you'd have to a newspaper that lists a classified (less,  in fact).

Your recourse is either to provide the city with a copy of the eleast and say "nothing I can do,  up to you to take action against the tenant" or to begin eviction procedings against the tenant based on their violation,  and provide a copy of that filing to Codes or whatever department is complaining.

In practice,  laws regulating STRPs are largely untested,  and you face a difficult situation.   Unfortunately,   as a third party,  I doubt Airbnb has any obligation to you,  and Airbnb could well incur liability if it were to act on less than a court judgment.

Good luck-- I'd hate to be in your shoes,  and avoid tenants for exactly that reason.

Kenneth ,  How did you become a level 10 and avoid tenants?   I suspect you are an Airbnb plant.   I am a host on various STR sites and have had the situation that the landlords on this bulletin are complaining about.  It is a nightmare when you sign a long-term lease and the tenant is using the unit as a short-term rental.  There are real issues regarding liability and real income losses associated with eviction. Airbnb's terms of service are nothing but a legal figleaf because they do not enforce them against hosts they know are violating them. The only reason I keep my ad on Airbnb is so I can get a call back should this ever happen to me again.  Eventually, this will catch up with Airbnb.  I am an STR host that believes that STR's need to be strongly regulated and that bad actors need to leave the industry. 

@Lee300  The levels here have nothing to do with hosting- they only refer to the number of posts one has made on this forum and the number of thumbs up your posts got.

@Dave227 I know you need the ad off of AirBnB, and you need it off fast.

That is why I am suggesting you go after the guests and the tenant.

 

Whenever I hear a story of a property owner battling with AirBnB to take a listing down, it always take a long, long time. And there isn't even much chance of success.

 

You said "I believe Airbnb have the responsibilty to asked for some sort of proof that the tenant have the authority to sublease." 

AirBnB believes differently, and will fight you for a long, long time about that. They have all the time and money in the world to fight you on that point. That's why I don't suggest that strategy.

 

However, if, as I suggest, you stop the AirBnB guests from being able to check in, the guests will cancel. The tenant will stop receiving money, and will even be penalized monetarily. If you can stop the guests from being able to check in, then the *tenant* will take the AirBnb listing off because it will be costing him money. And the tenant can take the listing off instantly.

 

The moment you make the AirBnB listing unprofitable for the tenant, the tenant will take it down.

The fastest way to get the listing off is to make the tenant want the listing off.

The fastest way to make the tenant want the listing off is to stop the money.

 

Regarding the existing lockbox: take the lockbox off entirely. Get rid of it. Put up a sign that says "AirBnB is forbidden here. AirBnB guests are not welcome to stay. You are trespassing."

Hand the key to the tenant.

Why does your existing tenant need a lockbox? They have a key. They "live" there.

You are not preventing them from entering the unit at all.

Make sure the key is the kind you cannot copy.