claiming that the plaintiffs’ properties were listed, rented, or licensed through Airbnb without consent. As part of the settlements, Airbnb has not admitted any wrongdoing or liability.
This is interesting. I’m curious to see if it goes anywhere.
Personally, I don’t see how Airbnb is responsible for it. From what I understand, this is for incidents prior to there being regulations and licensing requirements in Vancouver. Now they have an agreement with Vancouver to facilitate removing unlicensed listings, but they didn’t before. There weren’t even licenses before.
And it isn’t technically Airbnb’s job (or least not what they say it is). It’s not what their business or role is, they’re not real estate brokers or anything like that.
Not to oversimplify it, but it would be like suing Craigslist for someone selling a stolen bicycle instead of suing the person who sold the stolen bicycle. Though clearly, it’s not worth suing someone who has resorted to stealing and selling bikes.
I went to the suit’s website and it says that they are “alleging their properties were listed, rented or licensed through Airbnb websites without their consent.”
It sounds more or less like a negligence claim. In the US, to prove negligence you have to prove 4 things, in succession: Duty of Care, Breach of that Duty, Causation by that Breach and then Damage.
I can’t see Duty of Care would be proven. So it would end right there. But of course that’s US law; however, I looked it up and it’s basically the same in Canada. Duty is the first element. Though there may be something there that would create or imply duty differently, like business regulations and such.
If you hear anything further about it, I’d love an update.
I will post if I read more about it. It was on Yahoo Canada News, which I look at regularly.
It seemed to me that this was more about renters subletting without permission from owners. Which I think Airbnb does bear responsibility for. I’ve read quite a few posts over the years from homeowners who found their tenants were listing on Airbnb, and even when they contacted them and provided Airbnb with their ownership documentation, Airbnb wouldn’t remove the illegal listing.
That’s not right in my book. I really think str sites should require proof of ownership or notarized permission to list.
At least in the US that is all specifically covered in landlord-tenant statutes. If one of my tenants started subleasing, there is literally a specific document for me to fill out for that particular breach on the court’s website. I’d pay $100.75 (can you tell that I’ve been there, lol) and they’d be out in 28-32 days.
If I went after Airbnb instead of my tenant it would only be because I could get more $$$ from Airbnb. But only if I won the case, which seems 99% doubtful. However, that’s why I’m so interested in this case. Laws are one part of the system but precedent cases are the other part. If these folks win this case, that’s huge.
But what if my tenant isn’t subleasing on Airbnb? What if they are subleasing by putting up one of those ads with the little phone numbers you can tear off on the coffee house bulletin board with a thumbtack? Can I sue the locally owned coffee house?
I can’t help but ask that question. There are clearly criminals that rented out properties that they do not own or control. Who is going after them?
That would seem quite different to me, because the coffee shop isn’t in the str listing business, and aren’t raking in service fees on what someone posts on their bulletin board. And the homeowner wouldn’t have to fight with the coffee house to take it down, they could just walk in and remove the ad themselves.
when I listed VRBO I had to supply a rates / taxes notice to confirm we owned the houses. Wouldn’t it set a cat amongst the pigeons in Airbnb had the same policy!