My Airbnb Biz Got Me Evicted, Here's What I Learned | Hacker News Reader

My Airbnb Biz Got Me Evicted, Here's What I Learned

fastcompany.com

8 pointsolegious11 comments

Sigh.

"all because I turned to Airbnb instead of Craigslist to find roommates--and a chunk of income in the process"

A huge, huge difference between the two. Craigslist is generally used to find long-term roommates, who may even be on the lease of the apartment.

"My landlord thought I was running an actual bed-and-breakfast business [...] In fact I was using Airbnb to find short-term roommates"

You were running a B&B business. Someone staying in your apartment over a weekend is not a "roommate". The title of your article describes it as a 'business'. You were violating the terms of your lease, you were evicted. I have sympathy, but come on.

It sounds like your landlord was right to evict you. Sure he could have given you a warning first but he has legal obligations for his tenants. He becomes liable for your profit making scheme. That isn't fair to him. Stop trying to make it sound like you are the victim.

this article highlights a need I've experienced too: something to replace craigslist. That something is not AirBnB - short-term and long-term rentals are very different.

It's just not the rentals market either, every part of CL is horrible these days.

Some of this sounds like useful info, not just defensive justification or whining. Anyone considering using AirBnB should be seeking out such articles and getting a clue before they risk similar repercussions.

Makes me wonder, though, if couchsurfing will see similar fallout at some point.

> Anyone considering using AirBnB should be seeking out such articles and getting a clue before they risk similar repercussions.

Anyone who doesn't own the space they are advertising on AirBnB. Owners, of course, should be aware of any issues that are relevant to them (zoning? insurance? HOA?) but this won't be one of them.

It could. But I think the addition of money into the scenario is what makes it such a hot issue with landlords.

Maybe the solution is to give them a cut?

Maybe that is fever talking. I don't know.

I think that if landlords wanted an income from a BnB, they'd just run a BnB.

Mm, not necessarily. A bed and breakfast is a lot more work than being a landlord. I think some landlords might be okay with piggybacking on someone else's willingness to do a lot of the work.

Maybe we will see a future where rentals spell out the terms of what you can do in regards to airbnb and what their cut is in such cases.

I think part of the problem is that running a temporary place - like a hotel - is regulated completely differently than running an apartment complex/building. By accepting money from their tenants, they would be implicitly running an unlicensed BnB anyway. Probably not particularly legal.

Funny to think laws might change because of this one website changing the game, so to speak.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com