Legal issues and Deactivating my listings

[Alison65]

Hello Everyone 

After two years of happily hosting and sharing my home, my coop (in NYC), has made a new rule that says that if anyone is caught in the building hosting on Airbnb they will fine the owner $1000 and after 3 times they will cancel your proprietary lease. I own the apartment and always stayed in my home while my guests were here (if I went away my place stayed empty!)  so I didn't think there is anyway they can do this but I can't afford to get a lawyer and fight it. After losing my airbnb income (and they increased our maintainence by $200 per month!!), I'm back to struggling to afford to live in NYC. So it seems I can't host anymore but I still have my listings up. Some of my guests from the past still get in touch with me and reach out when they are traveling or even just to say hi so I want to be able to still communicate with them. My questions are this:

1. If I deactivate my listing can former guests still find me and message me?

2. How do I deactivate my listing?

3. Does anyone know others who are having trouble in NY and want to share lawyer costs or know if any pro-bono lawyers???

Thanks for any help!!

[Kristen19]

My husband travels a lot and he tells me that someone he has stayed with multiple times has deactivated all his listings.  Since his profile is still active, they can still communicate through the Airbnb messaging system.

[David126]

If they have stayed with you they will have your normal contact details.

[AnneMarie67]

I’m having a very similar issue and looking for legal counsel also. Ive

 also heard you can deactivate or temporarily do so without taking down your profile as it also applies to you as non host/traveller.  

[Kat17]

Question: If you deactivate your listing but continue to take in guests on your own via “word of mouth” —but not specifically Airbnb— does your co-op have any rules against that? Does your co-op also have rules against house-swapping? What about how many times you can have friends and family stay with you? How do they know which is which? Just wondering how they draw the line and how do they enforce it? Are you allowed to have a roommate? 

In in terms of income, have you thought about the other option: “Airbnb Experiences”? I don’t know if it’s available in every market but I’d be surprised if you can’t do it in New York City. Instead of having guests that stay over, you can offer an experience for a few hours and charge accordingly. For instance,  you could offer a three hour experience of touring New York the way only a New Yorker would know how. “New York from the Inside” for $75? 150? What do you think? 

Kat