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Comment by oldgregg | Hacker News Reader

We're pretty active on AirBnB and don't worry too much about theft. The fact that they require people's credit cards is a pretty good deterrent. If I was a woman traveling/hosting by myself I would be much more cautious, but no doubt it's safer than something like couch surfing.

The legal issue is certainly the bigger problem. The hotel industry has a ton of political clout and the only reason laws are not more widespread is that it hasn't been on their radar until recently. It will be interesting to see how AirBnB deals with increasing regulation-- if Barney Fife starts kicking in doors it could be PR nightmare for local government.

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Are there any sort of estimates from AirBnB of how safe overall it is? One of the main things keeping me from subletting (I live in a touristy area, so there's plenty of demand) is a worry that the risk/reward isn't that great, since it only takes 1 in 100 people trashing my place to cost me a lot more than the 100 sublets get me. Even for lower-level damage/theft, it seems like it'd be difficult to recoup the costs. If someone steals my stereo system, does AirBnB help out in any way? Or even without malicious renters, if say someone spills something and ruins my carpet, will AirBnB help me bill them for the replacement cost? It seems that requiring a CC isn't much help unless they're willing to charge the CC for me. I guess I could use the information about their identity to sue them, but I'm not sure how sympathetic courts will be to a lawsuit for damages incurred during an illegal sublet (and the lawsuit wouldn't be worth filing for damages in the $1k-$5k range anyway).

Renter's insurance?

My renter's insurance explicitly excludes any damages or theft by a subletter. I think most have a similar clause, though I could be wrong?

I think you may be outside of the target demographic. The people that would sublet their digs through services like these are most likely not worried about a stain on the carpet.

It's like hitchhiking for houses, just like you wouldn't take hitchhikers in your limo you probably won't sublet your fancy apartment. But a basic place with people that are not too nervous about appearances or that trust their sense of character judgment should be a fine way to make this work. You get to meet new and interesting people, life is risky anyway, this sort of thing seems pretty low on the risk ladder.

Also, in Europe the general sentiment is much less litigious than the United States and someone suing someone else here for small stuff like that is practically unheard of. Usually it would be understood that the party at fault would cover the damage.

If you're talking about renting out a room while you also live there, I can definitely see that reducing the risk. The article seemed to be talking about people subletting out their apartments while they're out of town, though. People around here do do that, but incidence of major damage is not that infrequent (it seems to be a favorite topic of the local paper, and comes up every few months). Often, people require damage deposits to mitigate the risk from that, which AirBnB doesn't seem to allow.

In particular, since I'm near the beach, people like to rent out apartments and houses for bachelor parties, spring-break trips, graduation parties, etc., and those can end up causing significant damage, occasionally in the $10k+ range (beer-drenched walls requiring drywall replacement and repainting, etc.).

I don't really have a lot of choice about whether I'm worried about carpet stains or other damage, anyway. If there's damage when I move out that wasn't there when I moved in, my landlord will charge me for it. It's not a fancy apartment by any stretch, but I'm still not allowed to damage it.

If you are renting the property and you leave it to total strangers without supervision then I really understand.

My situation is a small farmhouse, I've given the keys to this place to quite a few people and only one didn't live up to expectations so I ended the arrangement. But for the most part it's been pretty positive, and I would do it again. I think it really boils down to being totally clear about what is and is not allowed and/or expected.

People on Airbnb with these concerns charge a refundable security deposit (which the site does allow).

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