Post by High Priestess on Dec 20, 2015 17:07:28 GMT
In New York city, when a tenant illegally rents out their apartment as a short term rental, it's the landlord who is responsible for paying the fines! INcredibly unfair and insanely ridiculous but true. And so, the landlord facing $250,000 in fines is now suing the tenant to recoup those fines.
Excerpt:
AN ALLEGED Airbnb host in New York City — where renting out one’s apartment can be illegal — is in big trouble with her landlord.
The owner of Madaline Iacob’s five-floor Midtown walk-up is looking to recoup the $250,000 in city fines for turning his property into an illegal hotel, plus $50,000 in legal expenses.
He has accused his tenant of repeatedly flouting building rules by renting her apartment to Airbnb travellers.
“We were unaware of the rental scheme,” said Lawrence Silberman, lawyer for the owner of 357 W. 54th St.
“We did not participate or profit from it. But this is now a policy of the city. The tenant does not get named or fined. The landlord’s strictly liable.”
Silberman says his client has been playing a “cat and mouse game” with tenant Madaline Iacob, who allegedly claims the Airbnb guests were actually friends and family.
City inspectors issued violations to the building owner in May after finding Iacob was charging $200 a night for a stay in her $2000-a-month, 1-bedroom apartment.
When a second inspector caught Iacob in July and issued more $1000-a-day penalties, she told the landlord the guests were “friends and relatives,” according to Silberman.
But the inspector’s report identifies the people staying in Iacob’s first-floor unit as a family of five from Colorado who had rented the pad from “Ramona” on Airbnb.
Silberman said his client has had trouble catching Iacob because the walk-up building doesn’t have a doorman.
A city administrative-law judge in November found Iacob “was indeed involved in a short-term-rental scheme and as a result the court imposed a substantial penalty based on chronic bad acts,” the suit says.
A city judge slapped the Midtown landlord with a $61,250 fine. The building owner expects to pay quadruple that for another eight violations related to Iacob’s alleged Airbnb hosting throughout the summer.
Iacob told The Post she is not an Airbnb host and claimed she wasn’t aware of the lawsuit.
See the news story here or here
therealdeal.com/blog/2015/12/19/tenant-hit-with-300k-lawsuit-for-using-airbnb/
My two cents: In cases like this, one needs either a nanny cam in the hallway outside Iacob's apartment, pointed at her apartment door, or a private investigator. THe nanny cam would cost a fraction of the price. I hope the miscreant lying tenant gets into deep doo-doo. IT's just incredible to me that a landlord would be held financially responsible for the misdeeds of his tenant! That doesn't seem legally just in any way.
Excerpt:
AN ALLEGED Airbnb host in New York City — where renting out one’s apartment can be illegal — is in big trouble with her landlord.
The owner of Madaline Iacob’s five-floor Midtown walk-up is looking to recoup the $250,000 in city fines for turning his property into an illegal hotel, plus $50,000 in legal expenses.
He has accused his tenant of repeatedly flouting building rules by renting her apartment to Airbnb travellers.
“We were unaware of the rental scheme,” said Lawrence Silberman, lawyer for the owner of 357 W. 54th St.
“We did not participate or profit from it. But this is now a policy of the city. The tenant does not get named or fined. The landlord’s strictly liable.”
Silberman says his client has been playing a “cat and mouse game” with tenant Madaline Iacob, who allegedly claims the Airbnb guests were actually friends and family.
City inspectors issued violations to the building owner in May after finding Iacob was charging $200 a night for a stay in her $2000-a-month, 1-bedroom apartment.
When a second inspector caught Iacob in July and issued more $1000-a-day penalties, she told the landlord the guests were “friends and relatives,” according to Silberman.
But the inspector’s report identifies the people staying in Iacob’s first-floor unit as a family of five from Colorado who had rented the pad from “Ramona” on Airbnb.
Silberman said his client has had trouble catching Iacob because the walk-up building doesn’t have a doorman.
A city administrative-law judge in November found Iacob “was indeed involved in a short-term-rental scheme and as a result the court imposed a substantial penalty based on chronic bad acts,” the suit says.
A city judge slapped the Midtown landlord with a $61,250 fine. The building owner expects to pay quadruple that for another eight violations related to Iacob’s alleged Airbnb hosting throughout the summer.
Iacob told The Post she is not an Airbnb host and claimed she wasn’t aware of the lawsuit.
See the news story here or here
therealdeal.com/blog/2015/12/19/tenant-hit-with-300k-lawsuit-for-using-airbnb/
My two cents: In cases like this, one needs either a nanny cam in the hallway outside Iacob's apartment, pointed at her apartment door, or a private investigator. THe nanny cam would cost a fraction of the price. I hope the miscreant lying tenant gets into deep doo-doo. IT's just incredible to me that a landlord would be held financially responsible for the misdeeds of his tenant! That doesn't seem legally just in any way.