How many of you are tenants?

So you know my HOA board!! LMAO.

We are taking our to small claims court, that’s how absurd they are. At least this way we will have a solid answer of who is in right, so we can ALL mover forward.

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It does seem very strange indeed. As a landlord I can’t imagine being forced to allow my tenant to take in lodgers and have to deal with the extra wear and tear of having all those extra people coming and going, flushing toilets, scuffing up the paint, wearing out the plumbing fixtures, walking on carpets and flooring.

Aside from running an Airbnb business, it seems it would be allowable to have an extra person(s) reside in the rental IF the landlord is notified and the prospective roommate’s name is added to the lease. But it all has to be approved by the landlord.

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J-- there is a universe of difference between traditional roommates and Airbnb guests. I don’t know how anyone can even argue they are anywhere even near equivalent.

I think this is the crux of the matter with the OP. I think he’s confusing the two situations. I can’t imagine those sensible Canadians allowing a renter to operate a bed and breakfast :slight_smile:

Do those landlords who are fine with it at least charge more rent? If not, why, why they are fine with it? It just make no sense. Why would a landlord allow such nonsense without somehow profiting from it al least

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I think the issue is the OP is saying that by law a landlord in her area cannot stop tenants from having “guests” stay over. And that the law allows the tenant to rent out rooms to others as long as it doesn’t exceed the rent. My guess would be the intent of the law was to allow a tenant to have roommates to be able to share expenses. I would not think the intent of the law was to allow a couple of tenants to rent a place, and then short term rent extra space in order to cover the entire rent.

I think the landlord is concerned about his insurance, doesn’t know exactly how many Airbnb guests are coming and going, probably doesn’t even want to ask his insurance company in case they drop him right away. And he probably doesn’t want to deal with the stress of a tenant accusing him of violating the Residential Tenancies Act in Canada. So for now, he is just letting it go until he is in the right mood to hire his own attorney, and figure out how to legally divorce his tenant without having a lawsuit filed against him.

And, in the meantime she is pissing him off every time she asks for him to do small maintenance.

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This is a huge issue that Airbnb, landlords and insurance companies face: “illegal” bed & breakfasts set up by tenants. Like all of us, I think we peruse the local AIr listings in our own area. I see so many that are obviously rented apartments.

What I’m worried about is that I haven’t mentioned my place to the insurance company. Would they care? Probably. I need to investigate. I just wonder how involved it is and how costly.
“”

Landlords yes.
Insurance companies and AirBnB really do not give a s****. As long as they get their money.

Insurance companies do not care if you are running an illegal b&b or hotel. As long as you hand over your money on a monthly basis. And when there is an incident, they will be very happy with you doing anything illegal, so they do not have to pay.

And AirBnB, they literally do not care at all. They want you to list, and guests to book.
I saw a documentary this week about how AirBnB is disrupting live in Amsterdam, where AirBnB grew almost 500% last year. 90% of Amsterdams AirBnB’s are illegal hotels. People are not allowed to rent more than 60 days per year, and max 4 guests at a time per listing. It is very easy for AirBnB to check this, but they don’t want to.

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When you call to inquire - just say you are considering renting out a couch on Craigslist, X amount of nights, 1 guest at a time, you will also be living in the same quarters, etc. Just don’t mention “Airbnb” if it concerns you that they may try to find your listing.

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Be really careful if you call. Don’t mention that you already do it. If you are getting concerned, get a quote from comet.com. They are really reasonable.

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@Yana Some of the landlords take a ‘cut’ of the ABB profits, some don’t really understand what ABB is, and others are happy to keep good tenants that pay rent on time and if occasionally renting a room out/house makes that happen they are fine with it. There is also the issue that someone above mentioned, that not all tenants have a ‘can not sublet clause’ therefore the tenant isn’t breaking any law. Having been in SF for almost 10 years, it is VERY common for friends of ours to be in their apartment 15 + plus years. We have friends going on 30 years in the same apartment, and some of these leases allowed sub letting.

I also would not say the majority of landlords are ‘ok’ with this, but here it is not completely uncommon for landlords to be ‘OK’ with ABB.

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I know about sublets, but isn’t Airbnb very different? Sublet is fine, people travel and dont want to pay rent for this period of time, but having people in and out, making profit… i dont know

Sublets and ABB fall into the same category, at least here in SF, which is renting you house/room to someone other than the lease-holder.

So… landlord has no saying?

@Yana my non-legal brian would say that if a landlord allows tenants to Sublet, then it would be hard to differentiate between ABB and another type of sub-letting. I guess the landlord could put in the lease no sub letting for under 30 days. Anyone else out there want to weigh in? @konacoconutz @cabinhost @J_Wang @CatskillsGrrl @sandy2

If I were a landlord, willing to let Tenants do Air, I would make damn certain I had a written agreement outlining it and that I had insurance that covered it. Maybe I would even have access to the account so that I could monitor exactly how much money they were making on my place. I would take a huge cut, at least 75 percent.

But it would never happen because there is no universe where I would allow a tenant to do Air. It certainly falls into a different kind of agreement, don’t you think? It’s more of a commercial use of your property, not your tenant subletting to another long term tenant.

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Check this out. Someone is actually advertising for hosts to work with. At least she’s honest and up front about it.

I agree, but I think ‘subletting’ is a catch all at the moment, since most verbiage in leases were written pre-Air BNB. I would guess that letting anyone stay in your apartment for money, regardless of the length of stay, is considered subletting.

I’m not sure if we would allow it, in the hypothetical situation that we are landlords, I think I would for X amount of days an X% but def not full time.

Right… In actuality, the term sublet is kind of an archaic term that needs redefining in light of today’s sharing economy!

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Completely agree…which is what has lead us down this particular rabbit hole :joy:

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