Illegal Airbnb rentals

[Adam1195]

I rent out a house. The renter illegally posted the house on Airbnb and now strangers are living in my house. Airbnb refuses to take down the listing even after I sent proof I own the property and that subleasing is not allowed.  And, my renter isn't paying me rent, and is raking in the money from Airbnb!  

I have been trying to get this taken down for 3 days  The latest answer was:   "I’m writing to confirm that we have shared your complaint with the user responsible for the listing and reminded them of their obligations as an Airbnb host."   

But the host is breaking the law and I own the property! Airbnb is blatantly facilitating and profiting from illegal activity.

I also emailed multiple Airbnb lawyers and no one responded.

Plus: I am in Florida.  The governor has made vacation rentals illegal this month - yet Airbnb still has listings up, inviting more illegal activity.

Does anyone know how to stop this illegal activity?

[Luana130]

It is not a problem for you to take to airbnb. You need to sort this out with your tenant. Get a lawer.

[Mark116]

@Adam1195  Hmmm.  At the very least airbnb should prevent any future bookings by pausing the listing.  If you know any lawyers get them to write something that you can send to airbnb.  Since you, yourself are not a host, you could threaten to go to the media...your renter is 1) breaking the emergency measures against STR, 2) illegally renting your property as an airbnb, 3) making money while not paying rent, and 4) airbnb is facilitating and complicit in all of this because they refuse to take the listing down.

You can also try tweeting them, some say the response is better than through the reg. phone or message system.

[Susan17]

@Adam1195

While it's morally and ethically repugnant that Airbnb effectively shields, harbours and protects countless thousands of illegal renters on their platform - such as your tenant - they are completely within their legal rights to do so, by hiding behind Section 230 of the CDA (Communications Decency Act, which absolves them from all responsibility for content (ie listings) posted on the site by third parties (in this instance, your tenant) 

The company further absolves itself by posting guidelines for hosts to (voluntarily) follow, such as those below, but chooses not to implement any form of sanctions, penalties or bans on those who wilfully opt to ignore them, even when it can be proven that the host is in breach of state and/or housing laws and regulations

"When deciding whether to become an Airbnb host, it's important for you to understand the laws in your city. As a platform and marketplace we do not provide legal advice, but we want to give you some useful links that may help you better understand laws and regulations in Florida 
 

"It's also important to understand and abide by other contracts or rules that bind you, such as leases, condo board or co-op rules, HOA rules, or rules established by tenant organizations. Please read your lease agreement and check with your landlord if applicable"

State of Florida - Airbnb Help Centre

https://www.airbnb.ie/help/article/2371/state-of-florida" 

So while Airbnb do have themselves covered every which way legally, they have also attracted a huge amount of negative publicity recently - in more ways than one - and are in a rather precarious position at the moment. Any further bad news stories leaking out about them at the moment - particularly in the current COVID-19 climate - would be extremely inconvenient, and highly unwelcome.

With that in mind, your best bet here would be to exploit that weakness, and leave them in no doubt that you're about to furnish a report to the Governor's office, and take your story to all the major local and national media outlets and news channels - and do so, if necessary. Doubtful it would come to that though - much more likely your strong and clear statement of intent will spur them into rapidly removing both host and listing from the platform.

Best of luck! 

[Mark116]

@Susan17  Yes, but if the landlord produces documentation that proves he/she owns the unit, and a lease that proves that subletting is not allowed, and the tenant is the same person who is the 'host' then Airbnb should take the listing down, because deeds and leases are all the evidence that anyone would need in a court to prove the listing is 'illegal' and against the terms of the lease, so the fact that airbnb still gives the landlord the runaround is truly pathetic.

Especially since we know that any guest could stay there and claim imaginary cameras, 'discrimination' of any sort, say the host is a drug dealer, say the host made them 'uncomfortable' and bam, the listing is paused or banned with no documentation, legal or otherwise.

[Susan17]

@Mark116

I couldn't agree more. They absolutely should take the listing down, but it's company policy in these instances, not to take it down. I've seen this happen again and again over the years and regardless of documentation provided by the owner, their response invariably is exactly as it has been in @Adam1195's case - right down to the "We've reminded the user of their obligations as an Airbnb host" email.

But then again, when they temporarily remove scamming users that have been reported to them by the media for prolonged and ongoing fraudulent activity on the platform, whose accounts are riddled with hundreds of fake reviews from false profiles, then quietly and stealthily reinstate them several weeks later with squeaky clean accounts with all the incriminating evidence magically removed from them - as I have a ton of irrefutable evidence of them doing very recently - what more could you expect? 

[Thomas2591]

Impossible to get a straight response from air b and b. They knowingly list a property witout regard that the owner does not permit it or that it is in violation of the law because the renter must have a permit for short term rentals in some jurisdictions. Air b  and b will advertise without requiring proof of a permit.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Thomas2591 The simplest thing to do is evict a tenant who is in breach of their lease. Sadly this is one of the risks with long term leasing and is one of the reasons we STR our apartments.

[Adam1195]

@Susan17 @@Thank you for that materially informative pos

[Susan17]

You're welcome, @Adam1195 

[Kelly149]

@Adam1195 Abb will not help you. Eviction proceedings are your likely remedy

[Nanxing0]

I'm sorry to hear your situation but this is really tough to handle during this pandemic time. As the tenant not paying you rent you can absolutely initiate the eviction process however I know that the court might not be working these days to take your petition, or the scheduled hearing date might be a year away... 

It sounds like the tenant knows the law and practice very well and is playing game with you on those things. Airbnb is not likely to help you on this. At this moment I guess if Florida has prohibited short term residential rental you can report the tenant's violation to your local township see what they can do about it.

[Sarah977]

@Adam1195  First thing I'd do is shut off the water and electric. 

[Nanxing0]

I would NEVER do this if there's a rental contract/agreement between the OP and the tenant. In most US cities even if the tenant is not paying rent the landlord is not allowed to disconnect any essential service like water, electricity, etc. And usually it's the tenant paying utilities as well. Doing so will possibly put the landlord in a disadvantaged position for the eviction process.

[Sarah977]

@Nanxing0  As I read @Adam1195's post, the tenant isn't even living there- he's renting the place out.

"and now strangers are living in my house."

If that's the case, those strangers are there illegally and have no rights under landlord/tenant laws.

I've read of several hosts doing this when guests' bookings have come to an end, but the guests refuse to leave. The only thing that resulted from the host shutting off the utilities is that the squatting guests then left.