Hacker News Reader

Comment by dudul | Hacker News Reader

Agreed. I actually don't even understand what ground a discriminated guest would have. A host is not a business, as far as I know everybody can decide who enters their house. That being said I'm not a lawyer.

View on HN

In the United States, if you're using your property to derive revenues, you are almost certainly a "business" by the legal definitions of the term that'd put you under the purview of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Discrimination is permitted if you're not renting your entire home.

Key takeaway: "Who you bring in to your private home is a very personal decision that the state has no business regulating. This is the part of the opinion that convinced me."

https://blog.splitwise.com/2012/02/07/court-allows-discrimin...

The court opinion: http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2012/02/02/09...

And your private home is a very personal place that has no _business_ involving in regulatable commerce.

Is your house a "private" house or a public hotel? AirBnBers want it both ways.

I spend more time at my office than at home, why is my home more personal?

This may be how you feel, which I can appreciate. I'm simply pointing out that case law has been established that its allowed. If you have a roommate in your home, AirBnB or not, the law lets you discriminate.

So people getting money from paying roomates, doing private lessons (personal training, music, etc), therapy, working remotely, etc have no business of doing so in their home too?

> And your private home is a very personal place that has no _business_ involving in regulatable commerce

Says who?

That was an interesting read, about an area I'd never really considered before. I'm not sure if I'd accept Airbnb guest == roommate, but the overlap might be close enough that I could see the underlying court decision being at least partially applicable.

I think the question revolves around whether a host is a business. If you're a business, all sorts of rules apply that don't apply if you're not. Now here are people taking money in exchange for service, it might be hard to argue they aren't a business.

The Fair Housing Act makes it illegal to refuse to sell or rent a dwelling to any person because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin unless it is part of your own primary residence and has two or less units.

Tell that to all the people deducting Airbnb expenses on their taxes.

In places like Vancouver all hosts are soon going to be required to have business licenses posted on their AirBnB listings.

That's ridiculous. Government overreach. The government should leave people alone.

A host is absolutely a business. Anyone thinking this is just "sharing" has no idea what they're talking about.

You are arguing against the legality of airbnb.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com