Airbnb do nothing to assist property owners!

Adrian1995

My first post here, one made out extreme frustration.

My situation:

• I am the legal owner of a property that is being listed on Airbnb;
• The person listing the property had my permission previously, but is now refusing to give me access to the account, show me the bookings, or declare the income being received;
• Therefore I have decided to withdraw my consent for that 'User' to list my property;
• I have provided Airbnb with a copy of the Land Registry showing I am the legal owner of the property.

After multiple exchanges with Airbnb Support, their response is summarised as follows:

• They have a Host notification process for such matters. Which involves me writing a letter to the Host, Airbnb forward the letter on and offer some 'assistance' to the user with their account. That is the full extent of the 'Host Notification Process' (which I have followed);
• In response to me asking for the listing to be removed, Airbnb replied - "In these circumstances we follow our 'Host Notification Process' (which as you can see is a pointless and ineffective process);
• Furthermore, Airbib state: "All users by agreeing to our Terms of Service and when listing a property, agree that they have all rights to the accommodations. Regrettably, we are unable to verify legal ownership documentation including but not limited to mortgages, deed of trusts, grant/warranty/quit claim deeds, leases/rental agreements, By-laws, etc."

So, in summary: Airbnb take the word of their 'Users' as to having rights to accommodations over the legal paperwork provided by an owner.

I have also pointed out to Airbnb that this User is now clearly violating their Terms of Service by the fact that I have declared they do not have rights to the accommodation.

No response from Airbnb.

I cannot believe that I am in a situation where my property is being listed on a 3rd party site. I do not want it listed anymore, and Airbnb are refusing to action my request, hiding behind their useless 'Host Notification Process' and taking the word of a random 'User' over a legal property owner.

My next step will be to access the property, ask any tenants currently in there to leave, and change the locks, but I see a scenario where this User then changes the locks back (Locksmiths rarely ask for proof of ownership) and relists my property, and I cannot spend my life staking out my rental property to prevent this from happening.

Has anyone else encountered this farce? Can anyone advise me on what I can do next to get the listing removed and the Users account blocked on Airbnb?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

davidmcn

I don't see the relevance of the AirBnB listing to your rights to evict the current occupier.

Pixie5740

Adrian1995 wrote: »

My first post here, one made out extreme frustration.

My situation:

• I am the legal owner of a property that is being listed on Airbnb;
• The person listing the property had my permission previously, but is now refusing to give me access to the account, show me the bookings, or declare the income being received;
• Therefore I have decided to withdraw my consent for that 'User' to list my property;
• I have provided Airbnb with a copy of the Land Registry showing I am the legal owner of the property.

After multiple exchanges with Airbnb Support, their response is summarised as follows:

• They have a Host notification process for such matters. Which involves me writing a letter to the Host, Airbnb forward the letter on and offer some 'assistance' to the user with their account. That is the full extent of the 'Host Notification Process' (which I have followed);
• In response to me asking for the listing to be removed, Airbnb replied - "In these circumstances we follow our 'Host Notification Process' (which as you can see is a pointless and ineffective process);
• Furthermore, Airbib state: "All users by agreeing to our Terms of Service and when listing a property, agree that they have all rights to the accommodations. Regrettably, we are unable to verify legal ownership documentation including but not limited to mortgages, deed of trusts, grant/warranty/quit claim deeds, leases/rental agreements, By-laws, etc."

So, in summary: Airbnb take the word of their 'Users' as to having rights to accommodations over the legal paperwork provided by an owner.

I have also pointed out to Airbnb that this User is now clearly violating their Terms of Service by the fact that I have declared they do not have rights to the accommodation.

No response from Airbnb.

I cannot believe that I am in a situation where my property is being listed on a 3rd party site. I do not want it listed anymore, and Airbnb are refusing to action my request, hiding behind their useless 'Host Notification Process' and taking the word of a random 'User' over a legal property owner.

My next step will be to access the property, ask any tenants currently in there to leave, and change the locks, but I see a scenario where this User then changes the locks back (Locksmiths rarely ask for proof of ownership) and relists my property, and I cannot spend my life staking out my rental property to prevent this from happening.

Has anyone else encountered this farce? Can anyone advise me on what I can do next to get the listing removed and the Users account blocked on Airbnb?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

I can't advise you on the Air BnB side but what I can tell you is that is not how you end a tenancy.

Assuming the property is in England or Wales read G_M's Ending/Renewing an AST: what happens when a fixed term ends? How can a LL or tenant end a tenancy? What is a periodic tenancy?

fairy_lights

Adrian1995 wrote: »

My next step will be to access the property, ask any tenants currently in there to leave, and change the locks, but I see a scenario where this User then changes the locks back (Locksmiths rarely ask for proof of ownership) and relists my property, and I cannot spend my life staking out my rental property to prevent this from happening.

You need to properly evict your tenant, using the correct legal measures.

TonyMMM

Who is this person who has access to your property, why, and what contractual or tenancy (or other ) agreement exists between you ?

Browntoa

Standard tenant eviction notice

Get them out

Pixie5740

Why does the Air BnB host have to declare the Air BnB income to you? What involvement in the Air BnB enterprise do you have other than at one time granting the tenant permission to use the property for Air BnB rentals.

Cakeguts

Does the person who is listing the property on Airbnb live at the property?

ThePants999

I may be completely wrong, but reading between the lines, I think the missing piece of information from the OP is that there IS no tenant. Sounds like they previously had an agreement with someone where that someone would effectively act as a sort of "AirBNB lettings agent", managing the letting of the property via AirBNB and presumably doing some sort of revenue sharing. That agreement was then terminated, but the someone in question hasn't stopped doing it - they've just stopped sharing the revenue!

Adrian1995

ThePants999 wrote: »

I may be completely wrong, but reading between the lines, I think the missing piece of information from the OP is that there IS no tenant. Sounds like they previously had an agreement with someone where that someone would effectively act as a sort of "AirBNB lettings agent", managing the letting of the property via AirBNB and presumably doing some sort of revenue sharing. That agreement was then terminated, but the someone in question hasn't stopped doing it - they've just stopped sharing the revenue!

This is exactly the situation. There is no 'tenant' as such to have to evict - these are short term rentals made through the Airbnb platform, and I believe I have every right to ask whoever is in there at the time I visit to leave if it was rented without my permission.

The user is my -ex partner so there was no formal agreement as such, we just used to share the income, now they just keep it all for themselves and refuse to respond to my requests (despite me being the sole legal owner).

I am just stunned that such a situation can be allowed to happen and it seems I, as the legal owner, have no rights to prevent it?

Ozzuk

ThePants999 wrote: »

I may be completely wrong, but reading between the lines, I think the missing piece of information from the OP is that there IS no tenant. Sounds like they previously had an agreement with someone where that someone would effectively act as a sort of "AirBNB lettings agent", managing the letting of the property via AirBNB and presumably doing some sort of revenue sharing. That agreement was then terminated, but the someone in question hasn't stopped doing it - they've just stopped sharing the revenue!

that is the way I read it as well. If so, nothing to do with AirBnB, they could just list it elsewhere.

Change the locks (assuming you haven't got some kind of contractual agreement). Maybe for belt and braces, send them a letter before action as well (get legal advice).