Property being illegally listed on Airbnb

[Ac21]

Briefly: I am neither a host nor guest. I am the owner of a property in Virgina that is being rented out without my permission, and in violation of the long-term lease, HOA guidelines, and County ordinance. This is a clear violation of the lease our 12-month tenant signed with our property management company. Adding to the confusion/complexity, the “superhosts” listing the property are *not* our tenant. I have no idea who these people are, nor does the property manager. In the meantime, the HOA and neighbors are angry, strangers are in my house, and I’m potentially liable for $500/day in fees from the County (in addition to the liability risks). 

Contacting AirBnB was useless. They would only tell us to contact the “hosts.” I managed to message the listed “superhosts” via AirBnB - and they did not respond, but the listing was removed. (Their other listings are still up on the site.) However, neither they nor AirBnB will confirm that future reservations already made have been cancelled. (The “hosts” have never responded, period.) Our tenant has also been unresponsive - I don’t even know if he is still living locally. 

My concern is that we will continue to have AirBnB “guests” showing up for the next few months. The house is one of a series of townhouses in a small cul-de-sac with very nosy neighbors and extremely limited parking. There is no way these people will go unnoticed. I (along with the property manager) have already had one stressful encounter with AirBnB renters, who truly believed they had been renting from the owners and were understandably very upset to find out their presence there was illegal. I would like to spare future “guests,” as well as myself, a repeat of this experience. 

Legal action is being taken against the tenant, who must immediately stop or face eviction within 30 days. However, that does not guarantee that the people listing (again, not my tenant - although I assume they are acting with his knowledge) will cancel reservations which have already been made. It’s bad anough that AirBnB doesn’t verify that the people listing actually have a legal right to do so, but it also horrible for their “guests” to show up to a place only to be informed the place they are renting cannot legally be used as an AirBnB. 

Does anyone have any advice or experience with this sort of situation? Is there any legal means to get AirBnB to confirm future listings are removed? We are willing to take legal action outside of the standard civil eviction process, if it guarantees that the people doing this stop. 

Thank you. 

[Christina1775]

I am in Canada (Vancouver) and facing the same situation.  The legal tenant (if not a fraud) may in fact be an American citizen.  We became aware of the illegal use of our property when the City sent us a fine and a cease-and-desist order, with threats of prosecution!  Then we received a notice and fine from our Strata/Condo Board.  But, we are up against the rights of the tenants and all the delays and possible hearings to get the tenant evicted.  

The ‘super host’ has 62 properties listed, all staged to look very similar.  They have 3 co-hosts listed, none of whom are the tenant we leased to.  VERY frustrating.  AirBnB just evades their responsibility in enabling fraud and illegal activity.  

[Rachel2887]

Hi Kayla— I can’t figure out how to direct message through here but are you still taking down a list of owners who have had tenants fraudulently list their properties? If so, my parents just encountered this happening to them.

[Joelle43]

Hello @Rachel2887 

Don't forget to put the @to see the drop down menu and then the name of the person you which to contact on the forum so that they receive a notification of your message😉

If you want to send a private message just go onto a hosts name and or picture and it will redirect you to another page and you'll see "send message".  

[Annahita1]

Our apartment complex attempted to evict a tenant who was renting out their apartment against the lease agreement. However that was seven months ago and they still haven’t vacated 

did you have any luck with making your case?

[Dawn1114]

I’ve just had this happen to me. A new tenant and on day one they have started Airbnb ing my property. The tenancy agreement states no sublet or short term. Airbnb won’t cancel future bookings! They are not helping. They should have strict rules where hosts have to prove ownership. The owners take the risks with wear and tear and insurance and legal issues 

[Joelle43]

Hello @Dawn1114 

Wow, that's awful. It is surprising that Airbnb doesn't ask hosts for proof that the property belongs to them when you list your place on their site or in your case, proof that the tenant can sublet but even more shocking is that your case isn't forwarded to the security team for evaluation.  I presume you've involved the police?

Good luck and I hope this tenant doesn't get away with this.

All the best
Joëlle

[Helen3]

How awful @Dawn1114 

When you referenced these guests what did their employer references and previous landlord references come back like? Can you contact their employers to report them.

not sure how your tenancy legislation works but I would have served an eviction notice as soon as I found out and confirmed to the tenant I would be taking them to court for any fines you receive from your local government and for any income they generate.

Call Airbnb out publicly on their socials for refusing to remove a listing they know is being sublet illegally on their platform .

[Kayla92]

I am trying to get a group together of other homeowners who have had their requests to remove a listing denied. If you would like to be involved, please message me. 

[Jenny]

Hi @Ac21 

I'm really sorry to hear about this.

I have elevated your concerns to the relevant team, explaining what's happened so far, and letting them know what information you still need.

Someone will review the case, and reach out to you in due course.

Thanks for your patience in the meantime.

Jenny

[Kayla92]

I am in the same boat. Message me if you would like to be included in a group I am forming to fight for our rights as property owners to have the listings removed. 

[Sammy-L-0]

Book the listing, give it a one-star review, and then call customer service for a refund. That should at least get their attention.

[Frances3408]

@Ac21. I'm a bit late to the discussion but things you could try:

1. After gaining access (legally) to the property put a big sign inside the front window and on the entry door itself stating this is not a short term rental and any guests using it are doing so illegally, then to contact you or your property manager (so you can gain evidence against tenant) AND to contact Airbnb re refunds.

2. Change all the locks. Hopefully you've already served a termination notice on tenant for breach of lease. Dont let the tenant stay after this. You can always get the property manager to notify tenant that due to security risks the locks had to be changed and if they require access theyll need to come and collect them (doubt it). I'm not a lawyer but if the tenant hasnt any property inside then maybe you have a case that they have abandoned the property otherwise youll need to deal with that as well.

3. As for the "Superhosts" your lawyer is probably the best one to deal with them (sue) as multiple listings means they are running a business and didnt do their due diligence, or were complicit.

4. Airbnb although the enablers in this situation will be harder to deal with, but your lawyer can try.

5. County fees. Can you do a statutory declaration to authorities explaining the situation and refer to property manager for verification if concerned. You havent been charged yet.

6. Call a meeting of the other owners, apologise and ask for their help in monitoring the situation, maybe over a glass of wine or coffee and a basket of chocolates 😉 .

Believe it or not but nosy neighbours are your friend in protecting your investment property as an owner or if you ever decide to become a host 🙂

Good luck.

[Jonathan2209]

I'm late to this discussion too but exactly the same thing has happened to my wife and I - our tenant has disappeared (although pays us rent) and someone called Phoebe is illegally subletting out our property on Airbnb. We contacted Airbnb and initially they were cooperative and took down the listing. We even had an acknowledgement that the listing was clearly fraudulent. 

A few days later, guess what? The listing was back up - not a new one - but the same old one with 19 reviews. 

We're UK based and the legal advice we've received is that an eviction of the tenant is possible but it must done by strict adherence to a process known as clause 8, ground 12 of the Housing Act 1988. So no changing of locks or other tactics other than sitting it out and running up legal expenses. 

Our property is in an area where there are many other properties advertised on Airbnb and in many instances we know the property owners. I'm wondering if there's a way for legitimate, local Airbnb hosts to look out for such cases of abuse, indeed any abuse, and report it.  For example if one of our neighbours who is an Airbnb host could leave a review saying they know this property is fraudulently advertised, it would damage the ability of unauthorised hosts to continue their activities. Does anyone know whether it's possible to leave a review even if you haven't stayed there?

Airbnb's success has been built on trust and where's there's a gross abuse of trust, as in these cases, it would be to everyone's benefit in the Airbnb community - hosts and guests, and Airbnb as well  - to alert others. I can't understand why Airbnb would allow such behaviour because the more this happens the more it will undermine trust in its brand. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Jonathan2209  Reviews cannot be left by people not staying in a property. Also local hosts leaving reviews would cause the review to be removed per the Airbnb policy.

If Airbnb removed listings just because someone says they are in contravention of a lease then any disgruntled neighbour could get listings removed.

The perils of renting property in the UK are clear and so sadly you will need to go through the proper process to remove your tenant. The anti-landlord policies in the UK are the reason we are in STR rather than LTR.

[Jonathan2209]

Many thanks. Very helpful. I'm not that familiar with Airbnb policies. 

Fraudulent hosts undermine the businesses of legitimate hosts so it should be of concern to them. But you're right, any system for reporting fraud is open to abuse. The missing piece in all of this is that Airbnb is unaccountable.