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How Airbnb Earned Me $20,000 And A Restraining Order From My Landlord

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Re: How Airbnb Earned Me $20,000 And A Restraining Order From My Landlord

#51

Post by noahr »

hack_edu wrote: post #35
zefi wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Come on, the guy lives alone in a 3+ bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. We all know he signed that lease specifically to run a pseudo-hotel business under the guise of an Airbnb profile." Categorically not true. Chris is a good friend, and he had a long term roommate until recently. He took on the lease because he knew they could cover rent whether or not the third room got let out. It is an amazing apartment in an awes…

Thanks, I really appreciate the context; didn't expect it. Though he still has other options... like approaching his roommate about the financial hardship suddenly imposed upon him, leveling with his landlord to get out of the lease, or finding a new (real) roommate.

The NYC rental market is brutal, getting out of a lease is rarely the best option. If you're lucky enough to find an affordable spot in a good neighborhood with decent space, you hold onto it with white knuckles.

Re: How Airbnb Earned Me $20,000 And A Restraining Order From My Landlord

#52

Post by pajmullaney »

btilly wrote: post #45
ed209 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"If your landlord was interested in running a tenement home/boarding house/hotel" - then he would have to staff it himself too, promote it and take the risk of no bookings. With a tenant he has someone making sure the place is looked after + he has a contracted income for the whole 12 months. By the sound of this place, the landlord could probably do quite well out of airbnb. But in that case, why not just approach t…

Read the article, the landlord is getting into AirBnB. Why would the landlord want a middleman in this case?

It sounds like the OP was actually an excellent host, and that's worth something on AirBnB. The landlord wouldn't necessarily be able to consistently pull in the kind of high-quality guests by himself.

Re: How Airbnb Earned Me $20,000 And A Restraining Order From My Landlord

#53

Post by jarrett »

darylteo wrote: post #4

Huh... I thought there are usually clauses regarding "subletting" when signing a rental lease? At least where I am anyway, "subletting" is generally frowned on.

In Chicago, the law says that landlords must accept a "reasonable sublet." So it's not even up to the landlords.

That being said, running a BnB is different from subletting. With subletting, you enter into a long-term (i.e. a month or more) lease agreement with your tenant. With a BnB, you have more people coming and going for much shorter stays. Here's why that distinction can matter.

In probably every US jurisdiction, the law distinguishes between apartment buildings and hotels. If I own an apartment building, I can't just let my leases expire, hire some maids, and starting renting rooms out by the night.

For starters, there's zoning. Hotels generally require a different zoning code than apartment buildings. If the local government catches you in flagrant violation of zoning laws, expect trouble.

Next, there's permits. You need a different set of permits for a hotel vs an apartment building. Again, this would usually be enforced by the local government, and they will come after scofflaws. (Permits are a source of revenue for them, so they have a strong incentive.)

Then, there is the building's mortgage, if any. It's not unusual for mortgages to have restrictions on how the building is used. Will the bank foreclose on you if you start running your apartment building as a hotel? Possibly not, since they make more money collecting their monthly payments than foreclosing. But it's still a risk.

Those are three big reasons why a sublet is different from running a BnB out of your apartment. Will any of those things come into play if you, a landlord, look the other way about one of your tenants who's on AirBnB? Hopefully not. But the problem is that if you show you're willing to tolerate it, and it gets out of hand, then you might have to share the blame. Which is why it might be prudent for landlords to crack down as soon as they find out about this type of activity.

Re: How Airbnb Earned Me $20,000 And A Restraining Order From My Landlord

#54

Post by subpixel »

Crazy: I had the same landlord. I drove by his management office on Box Street last week and saw it was turned into a hotel, and now I see the luxury lofts listed on Airbnb.

He's not a normal landlord, he's a shark. He owns several dozen buildings, prefers paying fines to getting permission, and once had our whole building manned with thugs to prevent a city agency from entering the building and confirming that he was constructing a unit on the roof without a permit.

He even connected several of his buildings' toilets and sinks directly to storm drainage pipes, dumping raw sewage straight into the creek (http://bit.ly/L3f8Ey).

Re: How Airbnb Earned Me $20,000 And A Restraining Order From My Landlord

#58

Post by sixothree »

hack_edu wrote: post #7

Again and again, people who use Airbnb to 'hack' the rental market get little sympathy from me when the chickens come to roost. If your landlord was interested in running a tenement home/boarding house/hotel, they wouldn't sign you into a year-long lease. Also, and I know this has been hashed out before on these comment threads but he's grossing $30k a year on the back of his landlord. The landlord has every right to…

Also, it is unfair to the other tenants who have to deal with the coming and goings of complete strangers.

Re: How Airbnb Earned Me $20,000 And A Restraining Order From My Landlord

#59

Post by tptacek »

nsxwolf wrote: post #32
ig1 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's in your lease might not matter, leases often contain clauses which are completely unenforceable which courts can freely choose to ignore if they believe the term is unreasonable.

I'm pretty sure I can get "you can't charge other people money to live here" to stick. A no subletting clause is pretty standard where I'm from and it seems to apply here.

In Chicago and iirc San Francisco, landlords are required to accept reasonable subletting arrangements; no-sublet clauses are unenforceable --- but requirements to get the approval of the landlord are.

Re: How Airbnb Earned Me $20,000 And A Restraining Order From My Landlord

#60

Post by fraserharris »

benastan wrote: post #50
jsherry wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not even sure he was looking for sympathy. There's very little 'woe is me' in this story. I read it as a cautionary tale more than anything.

It's definitely an interesting story. The author was offering a personal experience that was enjoyable for both the guest and the host. As he said, his guests and he often established a unique connection. On the other hand: "When I delivered my rent at the beginning of the next month, I found the management company’s office under construction. It's now a hotel. The “loft-style” rooms are now listed on Airbnb for $169…

from: Paul Graham

to: Fred Wilson

date: Fri, Feb 20, 2009 at 10:00 PM

subject: airbnb already spreading to pros

I know you're skeptical they'll ever get hotels, but there's a continuum between private sofas and hotel rooms, and they just moved one step further along it.

[link to an airbnb user]

This is after only a few months. I bet you they will get hotels eventually. It will start with small ones. Just wait till all the 10-room pensiones in Rome discover this site. And once it spreads to hotels, where is the point (in size of chain) at which it stops? Once something becomes a big marketplace, you ignore it at your peril.

--pg

http://paulgraham.com/airbnb.html

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