My biggest problem with business models like AirBnB and Uber are that they don't solve the inefficiencies in the existing industry. Instead They transfer the risks inherent in the operations of those industries from businesses who understand, and therefore price according to, those risks, to individuals who don't. When the downsides of those risks happen, as in the case of the OP, the individual, who didn't understand or price according to that risk, is screwed. This is no different than the businesses who sold sub-prime mortgages to people who couldn't afford them, and then turned around and passed that risk off as bundled investments.
A Warning for Airbnb Hosts
111–120 of 186 posts
Re: A Warning for Airbnb Hosts
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your premise is flawed. Transient accommodation laws and zoning rules exist throughout North America, Europe, and Australia. I am left to assume they exist in many other places I am less familiar with.
I'm unaware of any such law covering short-term subleases in Canada. By "transient accommodation laws", are you speaking about hotels with hundreds of guests, or on an individual short-term sublease level?
Under the BC Residential Tenancy Act, a sublet requires the permission of the landlord though the landlord cannot refuse without good reason. I suspect there are minimum lease lengths, however, or you will indeed fall under transient accommodation (hotel) laws. Regardless, even if I am wrong about that, if you sublet your apartment on anything more than a casual basis, you are running a business. Then, you will almost certainly fall afoul of zoning rules and probably be subject to hotel rules as well.
Alberta law is similar; I don't know about any other province, but I would be surprised if there were substantial differences.
Re: A Warning for Airbnb Hosts
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
"...If you take AirBNB to its logical conclusion, you end up with landlords renting apartments on AirBNB instead of to actual residents, because they can make more that way..." This is exactly what happens in Paris. Housing market there is skewed due to exactly this behavior. People buy apartments and sit on them to rent them out short term. Over time it created a situation where people who I would classify as "worki…
> This is exactly what happens in Paris. Housing market there is skewed due to exactly this behavior. Under any sane market, untapped demand creates its own supply. Big cities, though, have big governments that forbid new construction. This works very well for those who already own property (they have their rental prices driven up), and works very well for the politicians (who get donations from the existing property…
I'm pretty sure the construction contractors have some skin in the "donating"-to-local-politicians game as well. Its not just one side that gets to hire lobbyists.
Re: A Warning for Airbnb Hosts
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
>"When laws protecting Taxi monopolies claim to be for consumer protection, nobody here buys it." If I rent a room from you, and stick my hand in your meat grinder, who gets sued? Are you personally insured against such events? Is your landlord insured against temporary tenants? These aren't unsolvable problems, but are why the laws exist as they do. The hotel pays money for insurance, which protects the consumer. Mo…
These laws don't require AirBnB hosts to purchase insurance. They outlaw renting out their homes. An argument based on the need for insurance doesn't justify the laws.
>"They outlaw renting out their homes"
For what reason? I'm not engaged enough to do the work, but I bet the word "liability" comes up if you look into why these laws exist.
My point is, that there is more to the story than greedy hoteliers.
Re: A Warning for Airbnb Hosts
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the article it mentions neighbors not having to deal with ever changing tenants.
This does sound a bit tenuous, what difference does it make if your neighbours change? You don't like people carrying luggage in the lift?
In addition to bcbrown's comment, trust/security is a factor. Neighbors may allow their kids to play in the hallway or go down to the lobby and check the mail on their own. But if there's a sense that the neighbors aren't known, then parents may feel uneasy about it.
Re: A Warning for Airbnb Hosts
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if there would be a new hotelier who might emerge who builds 'hotels' solely to rent out rooms via ABB to avoid some of the regular hoteling regulations.
Yes--this is already happening. Entire apt blocks (say 6 -12 units) set up to short-term-lease. The next-door property owners hate this (ie, short term = vargrants, if you are a snob) that is why they lobby for 30 day min-stay laws on sublets.
Interesting. I imagine if courts decide that ABB+lessors do not run afoul of housing/renting regulations and establish some precendence, it might make economic sense for someone to build an ABB hotel where only people booking via ABB and its decendats are booked, thus avoiding the regulation which runs up the price of other hoteling models.
Re: A Warning for Airbnb Hosts
#117I'm wondering if anyone can illuminate us on the ostensible purpose of these types of regulations. I'm assuming it's to maintain some sort of control and regulation over those who would establish unlicensed hotels on a commercial scale? For the welfare of the guests I suppose? I imagine in a world before the internet, this kind of thing was actually quite necessary. It would have been much harder to know any sort of…
> I'm wondering if anyone can illuminate us on the ostensible purpose of these types of regulations. Adam Smith is useful here. All regulation is created on behalf of business interests and is justified through the public interest. Business Interest: If everybody rented extra unused "space" and the market was fluid, this would substantially impact the profitability of the hospitality industry. Public Interest: Who wa…
lmao if you misread Smith
Re: A Warning for Airbnb Hosts
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or jail time, as in the case of an SF cyclist who was an avid competitor in Strava's ap comunity: http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2012/06/chris_bucchere_c...
Uh, he killed someone. That's just plain negligent.
It's criminal because he disregarded traffic signals (I believe he recently pleasded guilty BTW). It's also negligent when he gets sued by the decedent's relatives in civil court.
That's not the app's fault, but it's not the only case where people have got into accidents because they were pursuing the status of fastest rider on a particular route. Where rewarding people (even intangibly) encourages them to push up against the limits of safety/legal restrictions, there's an argument for proximate causation, eg 'but for Appmaker's reward of an exclusive title (King of the Mountain) to the fastest cyclist on that stretch of road, Cyclist would not have habitually ridden at such high and dangerous speeds.'
It's not a million miles away from prosecuting people for organizing street racing: http://twitdoc.com/upload/onaccel/san-diego-illegal-street-r...
Re: A Warning for Airbnb Hosts
#119This is especially ironic in light of the post-Sandy NYC-AirBnB "partnership": "Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Airbnb today announced the launch of a new platform to help connect victims of Hurricane Sandy with free housing options. Airbnb is now providing a platform to connect those who are eager to offer free housing to those who have been displaced by the storm." http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.c093…
I don't see any irony. Allowing someone to stay in your home as a guest is not the same as being paid for lodging. If AirBnB was there to facilitate people to open their homes for non-paying guests, none of this would be a problem. Although renters who rent out rooms outside of their landlord's permission are just asking for an eviction.
That was very much not the idea. People renting their apartments were in charging.
Re: A Warning for Airbnb Hosts
#120The rules serve a lot of purposes: 1. To protect hotel owners and operators. 2. To protect consumers. They are guaranteed that the hotel has proper insurance, for example. 3. To protect neighbours. You can't open up a hotel in the house next door for much the same reasons that you can't open a pub or an aluminum smelter. 4. And yes, there is some rent seeking behaviour. I'll just mention transient accommodation taxes…
>You may agree or disagree with the various laws to various degrees, but you must admit that they exist for a reason. By all means discuss reforms that can be made, but please stop with the "these laws are stupid" or "serve no purpose" sort of sentiments. How about this: "These laws do not exist in most places and those places haven't descended into anarchy, nor have they suffered any visible damage because they don'…
This is highly specious reasoning. I would guess the vast majority of American municipalities have far fewer regulations in gun possession that NYC, and despite the number of tragic stories that you hear, virtually all of these municipalities are quite civilized and pleasant.
So by your reasoning, the gun laws in NYC aren't needed.