Maybe you've used the app to nail down that perfect vacation hideaway, but if you plan on dipping your toes into that landlord life yourself, you may want to think twice- or at least have some lawyer friends on speed dial.
If the fates aren't on your side, you may end up as baffled as New Yorker Nan Doyle and her tenants when the NYPD came knocking with four civil summons for illegal property listing and lack of automatic sprinklers.
Legislation meant to protect the hotel industry and affordable housing by targeting "bad actors" who are using sites like Airbnb and VRBO to take permanent housing off the market is also impacting plenty of average Joes who only sought to make a few extra dollars on temporary tenants.
Though plenty of actual "bad actors" have been fished out by these initiatives, including a Lower East Side owner who'd been Airbnb’ing units in three buildings and a Dumbo landlord who'd illegally constructed residential roofs in manufacturing zones, many innocent renters have ended up caught in the crossfire.
[anad]
Another unsuspecting victim ended up spending $1,050 on legal fees to get the wrongful charges against him dismissed, making a significant dent in his savings.
We can see both sides of the story, but there's gotta be a better way of working things out!
[via Quartz]