Post by High Priestess on Dec 12, 2015 17:43:57 GMT
A story from the new AIrbnb groups:
Karen:
Tenants sub-let my property on Airbnb, legal breach to UK AST agreement
Hi Everyone, I'm relatively new to the Airbnb thing having just started in October this year.
Loving being a host, but I recently found out something that I thought was a bit disturbing.
On doing some research on how to price my Airbnb rooms, I happened across a listing that was put up by my tenants that are renting my other property on an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) in the UK. On looking at that listing I found that they had at least 7 reviews over the period from August 2014 to November 2015 - that means they had sub-let MY property at least 7 times, taken payments of £160 per night, and subsequently been in breach of the Assured Shorthold Tenancy at least 7 times.
If I had found out earlier then I would have informed them of the breach, but as it happens they are moving out of the property in less than a month. Problem is, now they are being very painful tenants and to top that have asked for a reference - now that I know they were in breach I have to be truthful in the reference - as yet I haven't approached them for fear that they will retaliate in some way.
........To add to this I now cannot find the listing on Airbnb - I suspect they may have got wind that I had somehow found out.
I may need to get the information off Airbnb if I follow through with legal proceedings - any idea how to request the information off Airbnb? Anyone out there with any legal advice? Anyone out there who has had the same problem?
I would really appreciate any help on this one. Thanks in advance. Here's to happy hosting!
Clare
This is an unusual situation, but, sadly ,not unheard of. You can read about a similiar situation in New York here:
gothamist.com/2015/12/10/airbnb_queens_hostel.php
I am not an attorney nor am I familiar with AST in the UK, but, that said, did you by any chance write down the listing number(s) of the purloined listings (airbnb.com/rooms/xxxxxxxxx) or their user numbers (airbnb.com/users/xxxxxxx)? If not, it might be difficult for Airbnb to locate these guys in their system. In which case, you might be out of luck.
I would definitely contact Airbnb and explain the situation to see if there is any way they can track down these perps. Keep in mind, they might have used an alias to list the property.
I would love to hear how this turns out. Keep us posted!
Margaret
I know this is probably too late for you but what you can do in the future is take a screen shot of the listing when you see it in case it comes down. Snip will do it on a windows machine of <cmd> alt 4 on a mac. What you can do now is look for their reviews (which are probably still there).
Deborah
It's always worth a try contacting Airbnb customer service to see what can be done. As others have pointed out it is best to get the screenshots and/or listing # or profile # of the individual if you can.
A friend of mine, who is also a host himself on Airbnb, had the same thing happen with one of his tenants -- the tenant had apparently been illegally subletting the apartment by Airbnb hosting in it for over a year. My friend, as most landlords do, had a "no subletting" clause in the rental agreement. My friend was particularly upset because he had spent money doing improvements/upgrades on that tenant's apartment, which were not needed, but which he simply did because he likes to make his tenants happy. It became apparent that the only reason the tenant wanted those upgrades, was so he could profit from my friend's property by violating his rental agreement and doing subletting. In that case, the tenant stopped doing the subletting once the landlord told him to cut it out, but all the tenant's reviews from doing the subletting, remained on his profile. My friend was upset that the tenant would be rewarded with reviews obtained through violation of the rental agreement, and unauthorized use of his property, so he contacted Airbnb, and Airbnb removed all the tenant's guests' reviews that were obtained through unauthorized use of my friend's property.
Karen:
Tenants sub-let my property on Airbnb, legal breach to UK AST agreement
Hi Everyone, I'm relatively new to the Airbnb thing having just started in October this year.
Loving being a host, but I recently found out something that I thought was a bit disturbing.
On doing some research on how to price my Airbnb rooms, I happened across a listing that was put up by my tenants that are renting my other property on an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) in the UK. On looking at that listing I found that they had at least 7 reviews over the period from August 2014 to November 2015 - that means they had sub-let MY property at least 7 times, taken payments of £160 per night, and subsequently been in breach of the Assured Shorthold Tenancy at least 7 times.
If I had found out earlier then I would have informed them of the breach, but as it happens they are moving out of the property in less than a month. Problem is, now they are being very painful tenants and to top that have asked for a reference - now that I know they were in breach I have to be truthful in the reference - as yet I haven't approached them for fear that they will retaliate in some way.
........To add to this I now cannot find the listing on Airbnb - I suspect they may have got wind that I had somehow found out.
I may need to get the information off Airbnb if I follow through with legal proceedings - any idea how to request the information off Airbnb? Anyone out there with any legal advice? Anyone out there who has had the same problem?
I would really appreciate any help on this one. Thanks in advance. Here's to happy hosting!
Clare
This is an unusual situation, but, sadly ,not unheard of. You can read about a similiar situation in New York here:
gothamist.com/2015/12/10/airbnb_queens_hostel.php
I am not an attorney nor am I familiar with AST in the UK, but, that said, did you by any chance write down the listing number(s) of the purloined listings (airbnb.com/rooms/xxxxxxxxx) or their user numbers (airbnb.com/users/xxxxxxx)? If not, it might be difficult for Airbnb to locate these guys in their system. In which case, you might be out of luck.
I would definitely contact Airbnb and explain the situation to see if there is any way they can track down these perps. Keep in mind, they might have used an alias to list the property.
I would love to hear how this turns out. Keep us posted!
Margaret
I know this is probably too late for you but what you can do in the future is take a screen shot of the listing when you see it in case it comes down. Snip will do it on a windows machine of <cmd> alt 4 on a mac. What you can do now is look for their reviews (which are probably still there).
Deborah
It's always worth a try contacting Airbnb customer service to see what can be done. As others have pointed out it is best to get the screenshots and/or listing # or profile # of the individual if you can.
A friend of mine, who is also a host himself on Airbnb, had the same thing happen with one of his tenants -- the tenant had apparently been illegally subletting the apartment by Airbnb hosting in it for over a year. My friend, as most landlords do, had a "no subletting" clause in the rental agreement. My friend was particularly upset because he had spent money doing improvements/upgrades on that tenant's apartment, which were not needed, but which he simply did because he likes to make his tenants happy. It became apparent that the only reason the tenant wanted those upgrades, was so he could profit from my friend's property by violating his rental agreement and doing subletting. In that case, the tenant stopped doing the subletting once the landlord told him to cut it out, but all the tenant's reviews from doing the subletting, remained on his profile. My friend was upset that the tenant would be rewarded with reviews obtained through violation of the rental agreement, and unauthorized use of his property, so he contacted Airbnb, and Airbnb removed all the tenant's guests' reviews that were obtained through unauthorized use of my friend's property.