AirBnB is illegal in San Francisco,
 

and some people are losing their residences over it. Beware, if you are renting for vacations.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/articl...ls-5381237.php

I'm certain the local hotel operators are happy, too.

I don;t know why so many people think this is a ploy of hotel owners.

What it really is are numerous complaints from legitimate tenants who find packs of strangers trooping through their private apartment building - creating potential security problems - as well as other unpleasant situations. (Recently in NYC an Air BnB host returned to find his apartment trashed by the renters to the tune of tens of thousands of $. I believe Air BnB is supposed to be reimbursing him (but would believe when I got the check).

But this is why legitimate tenants don't want packs of strangers that have not provided references - either financial or personal - trooping around their homes.

have read several articles in the Chron about people being evicted from their apartments because they rented out rooms. Use VRBO or hotels.....

" Use VRBO"

VRBO doesn't change anything. If it is illegal to rent out a space, it doesn't matter who lists the unit. VRBO, like Airbnb, is just a service that allows those with properties and those who wish to rent such properties to come together.

shar: >> Use VRBO or hotels…..<<

vrbo, airbnb, craigslist . . . same-o, same-o when it comes to legality (or lack there of)

Just to make it clear - it is NOT Air BnB doing anything illegal. It is the people renting out their apts short-term against their lease (contract) with the landlord. Or the condo or the co-op or the local ordinances.

And matching service is the same.

What I object to is that these services do not have a note on each listing in places where this is illegal letting the potential renters know that.

It is interesting, though, that VRBO has operated under the radar for years, whereas AirBnB seemed to draw fire almost from the start...

I would suggest that Air BnB has a lot more members/activity - and is therefore probably irritating a lot more other residents.

Also - they have had a lot of public press based on a couple of lawsuits - esp one renter in NYC who was being fined more than $20K until he promised not to do it again - and Air BnB tried to say they were "negotiating" with NY - only the city new nothing about it. They dug their own grave.

I'll be honest, I definitely would not like it at all if I lived in an apt building and people were renting out their apts to many transients, short-term, that they didn't know at all from internet ads who were coming in and out every few days. In fact, I would probably be really angry and try to stop it, also. Especially if it were a smaller building.

I have rented a few vacation apts myself, though, and I know I'm not a problem as I am very quiet and solo, but I can understand why people wouldn't like it. One place I rented in Barcelona had some apts rented by the building owners, though, so that was legit. it was kind of more like business apts, I think.

nytraveler on Apr 11, 14 at 10:18am
What I object to is that these services do not have a note on each listing in places where this is illegal letting the potential renters know that.

Maybe they don't have to? We rent an apartment, and in our rental agreement it states clearly, how many days a year we can have guests staying with us.

"Staying with you" may arguably be fine. "Staying in our apartment when we are gone" is ifffier. "Unrelated (to us or each other) people staying in our apartment when we are not there and arriving and departing with some frequency" will ring a lot of bells with the neighbors.

The issue is complicated and involves things like lost hotel tax revenue, reduced accomodation available for people looking for a place to live, as well as neighbours not being happy with transients.

Airbnb is only 6 years old. For whatever reason companies like VRBO did not take off as Airbnb has. Airbnb now takes a reservation every 2 SECONDS. That explosive and exponential growth is what has brought all these issues to the fore.

B&B's where you are resident when your guests are resident is not the issue. Nor WAS someone who occasionally rented out their place while they were away. The original premise of Airbnb was to rent out a bed when an event was in town and hotels were full. Seemed like a good win/win idea. However that premise is long gone.

The primary problem is people who now buy or rent properties with the sole intent of renting them out short term for as many nights per year as they can. Opportunists looking to make a buck and who couldn't care less about how it might impact anyone else.

The issue is complicated and involves things like lost hotel tax revenue, reduced accomodation available for people looking for a place to live, as well as neighbours not being happy with transients.

Airbnb is only 6 years old. For whatever reason companies like VRBO did not take off as Airbnb has. Airbnb now takes a reservation every 2 SECONDS. That explosive and exponential growth is what has brought all these issues to the fore.

B&B's where you are resident when your guests are resident is not the issue. Nor WAS someone who occasionally rented out their place while they were away. The original premise of Airbnb was to rent out a bed when an event was in town and hotels were full. Seemed like a good win/win idea. However that premise is long gone.

The primary problem is people who now buy or rent properties with the sole intent of renting them out short term for as many nights per year as they can. Opportunists looking to make a buck and who couldn't care less about how it might impact anyone else.

>>The issue is complicated and involves things like lost hotel tax revenue<<

AirB&B has agreed to start paying the 14% hotel tax in San Francisco & Portland, OR.

Stu Dudley

In NYC the lost tax revenue is just one part of the problem, though. For example, in my neighborhood, a lot of landlords are renting out apartments that might normally rent for $1500 a month at $150 or more per night (very cheap for accommodations in NYC, so they remain filled all the time), which nets the landlords triple what they can rent an apartment for by the month. (And some of these are rent-regulated apartments, making this doubly illegal.) Obviously, this takes badly needed housing stock away from long-term tenants, driving up rents even further. Or rent-regulated tenants sometimes keep their apartments, live elsewhere, and make a profit off renting out their units illegally. This is happening a lot in Stuyvesant Town.

Other people have created unregulated hotels in their homes, with in adequate safety features and no insurance to cover them if something happens. There's such a brownstone hotel around the corner from me, almost always filled with Australian and European tourists. So the owners of the brownstone line their pockets while the city gets no tax revenue and people are at risk. Both are a problem here. And that's really why AirBnB is so objectionable to many New Yorkers.

It seems to me that AirBnB is a glorified Craig's List. The founders' genius was in giving the casual practice of letting out a room in one's home *occasionally* a slick name, which suggests that services and guarantees are in place when they are not. But that genius is also their downfall. I think dulcius' explanation is a good one. Individuals here and there will always try to let out a room if the demand is there, but allowing loads of people to unite under a corporate banner has broken the camel's back.

(Block that metaphor!)

But do you know that AirBnB is valued in the $$$Billions today? Crazy.

One wonders where this leaves people who do home exchange, or house sitters for that matter.

I wonder about home exchange, too. Maybe it's different if no money changes hands?