Tag Archives: airbnb legal issues

Airbnb Hosts Get Guest Arrested After Misunderstanding

Posted on
blankblankblankblankblankblankblankblankblankblank

On Jan. 11, I moved out of my apartment and chose to stay in an Airbnb for two weeks with my three-year-old son until getting a different place. I paid $1,136 for Jan. 11-25. The first four days my son and I were there, 6-7 different men came in and out of the unit fixing and replacing things. The first Friday, our fourth day, the host asked if someone could come over the weekend to fix yet something else. I did not answer this text message as I did not want to be rude and say no.

I just did not want anyone there for the weekend as we had had no peace. On the first and second days there, they locked up the piano that was advertised with the place. This happened while my son and I walked to lunch a block away. On the fifth day, nobody entered, nobody texted, and nobody called. The next day at 10:30-11:00 I heard a knock as I was in the shower. I left the door open to the bathroom because of my three year old.

I was taken aback and yelled “I am in the shower you will have to come back!”

Approximately 2-3 minutes later, I was exiting the shower and I heard “beep beep beep beep waaaahhhhhh!” There he was, standing in the doorway looking at me in the nude, in shock, unable to cover myself. I recognized him as the same man who fixed the shower, and put the lock on the piano. He left very quickly, leaving the door unlocked.

I instantly texted the host saying I had enough, that I was going to Airbnb about the privacy violations. She fed me a sob story about how I would be messing with the income for her family of six and I dropped it and let it go. The next day, her husband along with herself came over to fix the drip under the sink and spray for bugs because that water had brought cockroaches according to the feces left behind.

We began to talk about my personal life and I advised them that I moved out of my townhouse because my ex father in law had just brutally assaulted me there. I proceeded to tell them I recently received an email from the efile system stating I had a warrant for breaking a NOCO. I continued to tell them that I am not a fugitive on the run, that I in fact wrote the judge an emergency statement asking for permission to turn myself in so that I could find a suitable sitter, being I am the sole provider for my son. He agreed.

Less than 24 hours later, I was arrested at the Airbnb while the host had someone video tape the entire incident, take pictures of my guests, and called me in on behalf of the warrant. Upon being released from jail the following morning, I powered my phone on to read a text message sent by the host two hours after my arrest saying they packed up all of my belongings and removed them. I had nowhere to go, and none of my child’s belongings, nor mine.

She has since posted a review on my profile for Airbnb which will prevent me from renting further, including false accusations such as “she has a very concerning record.” When in fact, Airbnb conducts background checks, I sent her my government issued ID before checking in, and I’ve only ever been in trouble for driving with a suspended license.

Her husband just now brought me my belongings, $100s in spoiled food, and ruined toys. Airbnb has turned a blind eye to all of this. Furthermore, the host’s husband offered me permanent residency via their church and exclaimed they only want what’s best for my son and I.

What was deemed an emergency situation two weeks ago has still gone unheard and unnoticed. I have begun contacting legal representatives as a week ago I requested a new case manager and mine is still emailing asking the same questions as on day one.

Airbnb Made Me Homeless After Guests Refuse to Leave

Posted on

I made a big mistake when I used Airbnb. I have had three tenants staying in my apartment for two months. While I know Airbnb is offering a very bad solution and not protecting its hosts when it comes to actual long stays , I took tenants who I made sure needed to leave the apartment within a time frame.

Towards the end of their stay, I was shocked one day to discover by accident that Airbnb cancelled the reservation and refunded the guests $12,000 without contacting me — not a single email. They gave them back the money for their entire stay, despite the fact that they stayed two months without even approaching me.

I went to the apartment to check what was going on, and I was in shock to discover that the tenants were still in the apartment, despite the fact that the reservation has been cancelled a few days ago. They immediately called the police on me and I was kicked out of my own apartment by a team of the police, a complete shock. I contacted Airbnb and have been on the line for hours. Calls are disconnected, transferring me from one representative to another. I realized it is a s%$t show.

Airbnb created basically a situation where I have people using my apartment for two months without paying a dime. I have no protection from this terrible company and I need to take out of my pocket money for lawyers to evict the tenants and rectify this situation.

Someone is Renting my Home on Airbnb and it Does Nothing

Posted on

There’s this listing on Airbnb for a property of mine. Wait a minute, I am not renting this property. The host is someone else and they don’t have my consent. I have contacted Airbnb support and they told me to write a letter explaining the case and scan it.

At first I was a bit mad. Am I a scribe? What century is this? But did it anyway. Then the operator told me: “Didn’t I tell you? You need to address it to the host.”

I was a bit madder. I told them to just take down the listing and I’d be happy. I can prove it’s my place; it’s easy. Airbnb said they do not validate any document, and the host declared he has full rights on the property by marking a checkbox. For real: two different operators told me this with the same copy and pasted text, so it’s procedural. If only I knew, I would not have bothered to buy a house.

So there I am standing, a bit mad, and I tell them to at least protect the customers. Whoever reserves this place is basically being scammed and, in the best case, losing time. Then they got mad. Two different operators on two different days were very rude and said that I was not collaborating and the case was closed.

There’s currently a listing on Airbnb for a property of mine, and I’m not renting it out. I’m about to call the police, but at this point I’m not sure who is to blame.

blank

Even a Plus and Superhost Place Still Went Wrong

Posted on
blank

We booked a lovely Airbnb Plus with a Superhost for New Year’s. We booked early since this place is very popular. We were so happy to be able to snatch it in time this year.

After we booked, it was confirmed. Later, the owner messaged to inform us about the possibility of future cancellation because the local community was banning Airbnb. Why was this not mentioned in the description?

The owner should also have not put this up for grabs why ahead of time if there are these known risks. We were not made aware of this risk in the description. Now that we are trying to cancel, we will lose some money due to the service fee.

This is neither reasonable nor fair since the owner did not inform customers of this and still put the listing up. We would have sought other accommodations if we had complete information that allowed us to make a sound booking.

After knowing this new information, that our place may be potentially cancelled and we would get our money back, who would go through such risks? I tried to cancel and we couldn’t get everything back because of the service fee. I reach out to Airbnb several times and they agreed with me that the owner should cancel and I would get the fee back as well.

I reached back to the owner who had given no apologies whatsoever until this point. They refused to cancel. How irresponsible. We had to do it. They offered to pay half of the fee which was better than nothing, but it still sucked that we had to cover for something for which we had no wrongdoing. I also told the owner to fix and be transparent in the descriptions so that no one else would have to face this. We just wanted a happy relaxing holiday — it turned out far from it.

Illegal Properties, Two Weeks of Waiting for Airbnb

Posted on

I’m currently dealing with a case where the host is breaking Vancouver’s strict Airbnb laws. All four of her units use expired business licenses. I don’t understand how Airbnb can force their guests to stay at illegal rentals, let alone expect them to go forward with their international travel plans with no resolution to their issue.

I have contacted Airbnb customer support countless times over the last week with no one being of the “correct department” or training to actually just take the moment to call the city of Vancouver and verify their laws. The host is also deceptively listing the units as apartments rather than what it actually is: a house split up into four Airbnb properties. She has no exterior photos and you only find out once you book the unit.

This breaks Vancouver’s strict short term and long term rental laws as it’s not her principal residence. You also cannot rent multiple portions of one home at the same time on Airbnb. Also without a private entrance I don’t see how these units can be safe during COVID-19, especially for someone going through quarantine. Two weeks of waiting for someone to call me back and my trip is now three days away.

Airbnb Superhosts Receive no Help with Fraud

Posted on

Following the fraudulent use of our Home Sharing Certificate number by an unknown Airbnb host, the City of Los Angeles had Airbnb de-list out home for short-term rentals. The city investigated, and reissued our permit when they confirmed the fraud. They notified Airbnb we had been issued the new permit. We were informed that Airbnb simply needed to remove the restriction from its end, to allow us to relist for short-term rentals.

However, Airbnb still will not let us relist for short-term rentals — after two weeks. We have called support, chatted and emailed, but there has been no response other than being told repeatedly that our case has been “escalated.”

We have never heard from any member of this escalation team. We’ve emailed a copy of the new certificate, and even sent them a copy of the fraudulent listing’s page with our certificate number on it. We have exclusively used Airbnb as our rental platform, but will now list on other sources, and more actively solicit direct rentals through friends, and NextDoor. Eventually, we will drop Airbnb.

Airbnb Can’t Stay up to Date on Tax Laws

Posted on

Recently I was contacted by the County of Marin, stating that I owed $2,400 due to Airbnb paying the wrong amount of Transient Occupancy taxes. I was notified by the county after one year, so the mistake was very expensive.

I contacted Airbnb approximately three weeks ago, and I still have not heard back. I have called numerous times. They promise to call back within 24-48 hours but they never do. I spoke with a supervisor who said he would call back within 24 hours, but no success.

I keep getting reservations, and they still are still charging the wrong amount. I have asked at “a minimum” to please change it to the correct amount, which they have verified to be accurate on their end, and they tell me someone from “the appropriate department” will contact me. This never happens.

This is only one example of the horrible customer service received by hosts. I recommend that everyone boycott Airbnb, and go to VRBO. That is the only way this monopoly will learn how to treat their customers with respect. Absolutely horrible customer service.

Airbnb Guest Using my Address to Get Mail

Posted on

Last year I had a guest in my Airbnb and we had an issue. I then Googled his name and found he got his jollies from committing credit card fraud. Six months pass and it was totally out of my mind. Today I just came from the police precinct and am sitting here with mail that is arriving at my house with his name on it. Not only am I pissed because I never gave this person permission to use my address for anything of the sort, I’m pissed because Airbnb said there is nothing they could do, except look for when he pops up again using a different account and hope they can continue blocking him. I’d rather work three jobs to pay my rent after this. I have had serious issues with Airbnb and see that when things go wrong, they go to a dimension of space that is unfit for the Klingons.

Airbnb Giving False Tax Advice to Hosts

Posted on

The matter first began when Airbnb froze payment on my account. I opened a simple ticket to inquire why. First Airbnb said I had to fill out a US tax account form. This was false, as I am in Canada. I spent time and money trying to resolve the matter based on this false tax advice.

Next Airbnb said I needed to become a business and provide my business details. Again, I investigated; this was also false.

Lastly it was a simple matter unrelated to what Airbnb support told me. I then asked to escalate this horrible matter when I was given blatantly false information and to be given a chance to provide feedback on the specific conversation. After wasting my time telling me they’re working on it behind the scenes but can’t talk to me about my own ticket, they had the audacity to tell me I was making a bigger deal out of it than it really is.

Because of how poorly this has been handled I feel very unsafe hosting on Airbnb. Moreover, I have not received any confirmation from Airbnb on what they did wrong. They are sending me cookie cutter generic responses that don’t relate to my issue.

I have an outstanding case with Airbnb. They refuse to give me a ticket number so I can reference our conversation. They have been most unprofessional and unhelpful and keep trying to close the ticket without resolving anything.

Illegal Sublet of my Property on Airbnb

Posted on
blank

I own a $3 million dollar home in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles. I recently moved out of state and signed a three-year lease with a tenant. My lease specifies that subletting is illegal and specially calls out sites like Airbnb for subletting purposes.

In December of 2018, I discovered that my tenant moved out of my property and started subletting the home on Airbnb (my neighborhood watch found the Airbnb ad and informed me). The police have been called multiple times to my property due to large parties and neighborhood disturbances.

I have reported the listing of my property to Airbnb as an illegal sublet and also have flagged the host. I received an email from Airbnb stating that there is nothing that they can do as the host agreed to the terms and conditions of having full authority/ownership to rent out the property.

What? Nothing you can do, Airbnb? They’re certainly making a boat load of money off an illegal sublet. I’m sure that’s why they won’t shut this ad/person down. I now am represented by a very large legal firm in Los Angeles, we are going through the eviction process with this tenant. The ad is still up and my “soon to be ex-tenant” still continues to rent the house.

This is a huge liability to me if someone gets hurt, my insurance will not cover accidents that occur while subletting. I would like to start a class action lawsuit against Airbnb for not vetting out hosts for ownership or authorization that they can rent out properties on the website. This is completely unacceptable and the only thing I can do is hire a very expensive attorney to remedy this situation. Who’s with me?