Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments • Hacker News Board

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#171

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 5:55 PM UTC

koboll wrote: post #86

freshm087 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article is essentially about tax authorities trying to offload their work on AirBnB. Irresponsible owners will not disappear if it happened.

It's worded very poorly, too, such as "The onus is on hosts, Airbnb argues", as if there's some debate over whether 1099 contractors are responsible for their own taxes. I'm sure local governments would love to collect a big check from Airbnb instead of hunting down thousands of tax-dodgers; but doing local tax collection authorities' work for them isn't exactly Airbnb's responsibility.

[deleted]

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#172

Post by JoshTriplett » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 5:56 PM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #158

koboll wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>In the end it was just a horrible situation to open up what was a hotel, right in the middle of our association / neighborhood. By joining a HOA, you've delegated away to the collective the right to dictate to your neighbors what they can and can't do with their own property. In your case, the system worked - because you are in a HOA. If people want to exert that kind of collectivist control over their neighbors, th…

I have a right to dictate who parks in my driveway. I have rights to a quiet time to sleep at night. I don't object to you running a hotel next door, but I expect your guests to behave themselves well..

This is a completely reasonable argument. You should absolutely have recourse if your neighbors (short-term or long-term) create a disturbance.

On the other hand, if they behave themselves just as well as long-term owners, then no, you really shouldn't have any say whatsoever about who lives in your neighbor's property.

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#173

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 5:57 PM UTC

anoncoward111 wrote: post #69

duxup wrote: post #26

I lived a few doors down to someone who basically ran an ad hoc AirBnB ... before Airbnb. It was pretty terrible. Parties all the time, trash, they parked anywhere (in other people's driveways...) because there were likely no long term consequences for doing so, the folks staying there didn't care because why should they? I was on the association board, it's kinda thankless job as we had to deal with this house. We g…

What you are describing is precisely the same situation I had when I lived in an apartment building next to a long-term tenant . She simply didn't give a shit about the noise and trash she generated and all of us had to deal with it. The landlord didn't care either. The police told me to deal with the landlord, because the noise wasn't at 3AM and wasn't "an event" like a concert. But her music was loud enough to shak…

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Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#174

Post by unknownkadath » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 5:59 PM UTC

bargl wrote: post #170

unknownkadath wrote: post #160

Nashville resident here. A drunk airbnb user tried to break into a neighbor's house around 11 pm last week while the residents were inside. He was lost and thought he was at his rental, but that wasn't apparent to anyone else in the beginning, so my wife gets a call for help from another neighbor and we go to check it out. When we get there, we discover the assailant has been treed on a shed roof by the woman whose d…

This is the USA, I'm surprised he wasn't shot. Not joking at all, your story is actually kinda funny but it could have gone so much worse at so many points. Is that AirBnB's fault? Is it the hosts fault? Is it the cities fault for not regulating this? Is it our society's fault for allowing drinking to the point of forgetting your address? I think in the end it's just a series of unfortunate events, that give you a re…

We're just glad everyone got home!

I don't think Airbnb is a bad thing by any means; it's our go-to for day trips in many cases. I can also understand the need for cities having licencing and/or residency rules!

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#175

Post by gok » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 6:00 PM UTC

dcosson wrote: post #113

duxup wrote: post #26

I lived a few doors down to someone who basically ran an ad hoc AirBnB ... before Airbnb. It was pretty terrible. Parties all the time, trash, they parked anywhere (in other people's driveways...) because there were likely no long term consequences for doing so, the folks staying there didn't care because why should they? I was on the association board, it's kinda thankless job as we had to deal with this house. We g…

I mean, this just sounds to me like a pitch for AirBnB. They managed to solve this exact problem you're complaining about via the rating system and guests being attached to their real identity. The vast majority of AirBnB guests are very respectful and reasonable. As for your tight local control, fuck that. No, you shouldn't get to decide exactly what happens in your neighborhood just because you got there first. You…

The rating system doesn't collect ratings from the victims of bad guests; it collects them from them the hosts. The hosts don't care how bad their guests behave as long as the apartment isn't (permanently) damaged.

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#176

Post by TeMPOraL » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 6:00 PM UTC

jimmaswell wrote: post #167

TeMPOraL wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they just want travelers to sleep in places designated for travelers. This wouldn't even be an issue if it wasn't a real problem - a well-behaved group of transients is near-unnoticeable in a neighbourhood and by definition doesn't disturb anybody. Another problem is that the proliferation of this practice seems to be disturbing the already tense situation on the housing market. Meeting an odd couple from the oth…

Why is this crowd suddenly all for restrictive zoning when it comes to AirBnB, yet zoning is evil NIMBYism otherwise?

Being for AirBnB not driving illegal behaviour != being in favour of zoning. Those two concerns are orthogonal. Empathizing with other people's legitimate issues doesn't imply being pro-zoning either.

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#177

Post by freshm087 » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 6:01 PM UTC

perpetualpatzer wrote: post #146

koboll wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worded very poorly, too, such as "The onus is on hosts, Airbnb argues", as if there's some debate over whether 1099 contractors are responsible for their own taxes. I'm sure local governments would love to collect a big check from Airbnb instead of hunting down thousands of tax-dodgers; but doing local tax collection authorities' work for them isn't exactly Airbnb's responsibility.

>doing local tax collection authorities' work for them isn't exactly Airbnb's responsibility. Not by default, sure, but nothing prevents a local government from creating a law that says, "where an organization takes commissions in connection with its marketing and/or or the facilitation of payment for short-term rentals of property within our jurisdiction, the organization is responsible for collecting any occupancy…

Well, nothing except other laws prevent law-making institutions from creating any law. But, I think, it's not an argument in itself :-)

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#178

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 6:02 PM UTC

jseliger wrote: post #120

flexie wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are not many "corporate-owned mini-hotels" but there are certainly hundreds of thousands of people that buy one or more apartments with the purpose of renting them out through AirBnB (or not sell apartments that they would otherwise have gotten rid off). AirBnB doesn't make the little guy make a few extra bucks renting out a room as much as it makes those who already have money buy up studios and one bedroom ap…

AirBnB doesn't make the little guy make a few extra bucks renting out a room as much as it makes those who already have money buy up studios and one bedroom apartments. The effect is that such apartments get more expensive for those who just need a place to live. If only there were some way of increasing the number of housing units on a given area of land, this problem could be solved and we could have enough housing…

[deleted]

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#179

Post by parthdesai » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 6:05 PM UTC

munk-a wrote: post #157

parthdesai wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>On the other hand I completely understand when people are annoyed about party folk living in the flat above them or when they lack safety regulations or don't pay the same taxes hotels do. Or creating a shortage of supply for actual people looking to rent in the cities desirable areas, which results in increase of rent. That's the biggest one imo.

They do have some effect on pricing, sure, but there is a much larger culprit in local zoning practices at work when it comes to housing affordability.

I'm not talking about only SF though.

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#180

Post by Maken » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 6:06 PM UTC

hannob wrote: post #60

I find it really unfortunate that the airbnb debate is always so polarized. AirBNB has often provided me a better alternative to a largely terrible hotel market that often takes racket prices and makes me pay for services I don't need. On the other hand I completely understand when people are annoyed about party folk living in the flat above them or when they lack safety regulations or don't pay the same taxes hotels…

Well, the problem is that most cities are actually trying to make them pay and getting their lawyers in response.