Airbnb suspected illegal business profits huge people desperate

Absrtact: Over the past two years, the Airbnb model should not and how to standardize, has always been under the table of discussion, but with the housing shortage of the sharp topic became the focus of attention, the struggle has been brought to the sun. From taking legal action to the proposal

Over the past two years, the Airbnb model should not and how to standardize, has always been under the table of discussion, but with the housing shortage of the sharp topic became the focus of attention, the struggle has been brought to the sun.

The heat of the struggle is rising from legal action to legislative norms, to voting for voters, and last week's support for the Airbnb parade in San Francisco.

SAN Francisco: Short-term rent illegal

Jeff, a special education teacher at a school in San Francisco. Ricaz, his salary at school is not high, in order to subsidize living expenses, put a bed in his living room, rent through the Airbnb website to the tourists who want to save the hotel money.

Last week he went home and saw the note on the door, and he fainted. The note reads: "You illegally use this apartment as a hotel and must be removed within 48 hours!" ”

He contacted the Airbnb website and they said they could not help. In San Francisco, where 70% residents are tenants, the powerful tenant alliance has explicitly rejected Jeffrey. Katz's request for assistance, "they made it clear that they did not like Airbnb. ”

The reason why the tenant alliance doesn't like Airbnb is simple. There are more and more homeowners in San Francisco who drive their tenants out and turn the apartment into a Airbnb model.

In San Francisco, which has rent controls plus extreme protection of tenants ' interests, for example, the normal market price is 2500 dollars for a one-bedroom apartment, and in the case of a long-term tenant, the landlord can only charge 1800 dollars for rent control. The average price of 150 dollars per night, one months can enter the bag 4500 U.S., summer travel season's income is even higher.

With the original housing gruel, more apartments were withdrawn from the rental housing market. At the end of April, San Francisco lawyer Dennis. Herela (Dennisherrera) sued two homeowners for violating the "Alice's Eviction Clause" (ellisacts), citing the clause to evict the tenant, but rented the house through a short rental website such as Airbnb, Vrbo. The clause allows the homeowner to ask the tenant to vacate the premises for the reasons of repossession.

Jeffrey． Katz's study found that it was illegal to sublet through the site in San Francisco, possibly facing fines from the San Francisco City Planning Department, and being evicted by homeowners for illegally operating hotels.

The San Francisco law prohibits all apartments under 30 days unless the landlord obtains a special license. The application fee is expensive and the formalities are cumbersome, so few people apply. The ban stipulates that no matter whether the landlord is owned or itself a long-term tenant, whether the tenant is a daily replacement, or only once a year, and whether it is to rent a room or the whole house, as long as the short rent is illegal.

A big profit, a desperate crowd.

Airbnb's landlord now rents out rooms at the risk of being complained about, especially as they are seen in the eyes of neighbors.

"If you live next door or nearby, suddenly a neighbor's house becomes a hotel, and all sorts of strangers come in and out, and most residents have a lot of antipathy," Christine, a law enforcement manager at the city Planning department. Hou said.

Investigating these complaints has also become more difficult. Some sites and landlords will deliberately not mention the detailed address, and some landlords will intentionally place their address in the central or Pacific Ocean of the Golden Gate Park. The exact address will not be informed until the intended guest has written to them.

"Because short rent is too lucrative for the owners, some people are willing to risk the law even if they are law-abiding," Christine. Hou said, "Some people will do anything to keep people from discovering." ”

She said the landlord would fill out a fake lease or tell the tenant that he was a friend of the landlord and not a paying guest. Some people even hire people to pretend to be long-term tenants. More and more people are taking loopholes, of course, the more difficult for law enforcement officials, after all, to catch the tenant with the suitcase check out of the few opportunities.

The landlord forced the tenant to ask for no door

Since 2012, the Ministry of Urban Planning has received a lot of complaints about short leases, mostly from neighbours. The department is now actively investigating the landlord of about 85 people renting rooms on Airbnb, VRBO and other websites.

A lawyer representing the tenant, Joe. Tobaina said recent Airbnb-related eviction notices have reached a level not seen before. And to ask a lawyer to take a lawsuit, the only preparation of court documents and preparation before the court fees will be as much as 15,000 dollars.

"These people are not deliberately flouting the law," Joe. Tobaina said, "They think it's OK to rent a room on Airbnb because Airbnb didn't tell them." Airbnb should help these tenants with lawsuits, or they should publicly state that a short lease in San Francisco is illegal and could cause the tenant to be evicted. ”

Airbnb does tell users on the website that they have to pulled local laws with their own leases. The section in San Francisco also explains the limitations of short-term rentals and publishes links to relevant regulations.

"Unfortunately, we were unable to provide legal assistance or check their leases to each of the 500,000 landlords, but we did our best to help the landlords understand the issues," said David Airbnb, head of global public policy. "We can only do our best to ensure that these laws are reasonable," Landman Davidhantman to the San Francisco Chronicle. ”

Chinese city councillors push for new law

A group of powerful people are pushing for a ballot proposal requiring that short leases be made only in the commercial area, with permission from homeowners or property management offices, as well as additional insurance and bonuses for informants. Proponents of the proposal argue that strict restrictions will help balance the housing shortage in San Francisco.

"Short-term rental market growth, there must be restrictions," the proposal of Kevin. Calvinwelch said to the media, "It's amazing when you find a house next to a home that actually becomes a hotel." ”

In contrast to the draconian ballot proposals, the San Francisco Council chairman, the Chinese-American Chiu, also proposed a compromise to allow tenants, who are mainly residing in the area, to be allowed to rent, but require registration in the city and require three-fourths of the time within a year to be allowed to rent. The proposal has been endorsed by Airbnb and the San Francisco Tenant Alliance.

Airbnb decided last week that it would start charging 14% of the hotel tax from the summer. Airbnb said he hoped the homeowners would be optimistic about the matter and that all activities would be in line with local law.

Airbnb must prove that its business model is workable

Airbnb, estimated to have a market value of 10 billion dollars, faces a difficult crossroads, especially if the start-up wants to go public, and its business model must prove feasible and legal to the public.

Airbnb was also sued by New York State Attorney General this year, asking the website to announce how many landlords were renting rooms in New York and accusing them of illegally operating the hotel industry. San Francisco has something in common with New York: Rents are expensive and housing is not easy, plus a large number of tourists from around the world make short term opportunities flourish. So officials are studying how to regulate a market that has not been in contact before.

Airbnb has openly appealed to supporters to come forward in the face of a ballot bill that could strangle its business model. In an email informing the media that a protest will be held, its spokesman David. "The drafters of the ballot bill wanted to ban short leases in San Francisco," said Owen Davidowen. So we should unite and tell all the people in San Francisco how we are making this city a better place to live, work and visit. ”

Some 150 supporters of Airbnb participated in the protests before the San Francisco government. Many people hold slogans, "Make sharing fairer" (makeitfairtoshare) and "Let Airbnb be Natural" (AIRBNB:LETITBE).

Many of the participating landlords are concerned that homeowners, city governments or neighbours find themselves in short leases and are unwilling to disclose their full names to the media. One mother told Tencent technology that her husband's meager salary as a taxi driver, coupled with the Uber and Lyft's emerging model, had robbed many guests. Her own long time to take care of the leg just surgery four-year-old son, through Airbnb rented downstairs small room, reduce the financial burden of many families. "Airbnb has provided the necessary assistance to the Labour family," she said, "If the house is your own, you should have the power to decide what to do with it." ”