Apparently airbnb has hired Eric Holder to help them with their anti-discrimination policy. We use both airbnb and vrbo. On the one hand, I think the “providers” should be subject to the same basic business laws that apply to other businesses, but OTOH, you are talking about people coming into your HOME. As individuals, we can decide who we allow into our own homes, so this seems sticky.
Full disclosure: I recently arranged all the lodging for S’s cross country trip home (day 4!) and was rejected at an airbnb location which was showing space available (“we’re totally booked”). Likely, they were not enthusiastic about two 23-year-old males staying at their residence for the night. All good, as the boys are probably living it up in one of the few bars in the nearby town, where they are lodged in a hotel.
Thoughts? Experiences? Anyone rent out space using either site?
Some airbnb properties are stand alone homes, cabins or apartments. OTOH, At B & Bs the innkeeper lives on the same property in many cases. The discrimination rules should apply to all these businesses the same. As far as young people, many hotels won’t rent to those under 21.
I have been an Airbnb guest. I also am an Airbnb host, and I have hosted approximately 100 guests. In fact, my listing has a feature called Instabook, which means someone can book my place immediately without even contacting me first. I have never turned down a guest.
If people are going to participate in air bnb, then they should be subject to the same rules that hotels and other places have to follow. Some kinds of discrimination are legal, for example businesses have the right in many cases to discriminate based on age (not renting to those younger than X) but for example blanket refusing to rent to people based on religion, sex or national origin would not be allowed. I have heard it argued that these are private homes and apartments, which is true, but if you are squeamish about renting it out, then don’t rent it out if your squeamishness violates the law, this isn’t someone inviting someone to stay with them, it is a commercial transaction.
I think we are going to add a clause to our apartment rental leases to the effect that tenants cannot participate as providers in either airbnb or uber, or equivalent. I’m hoping it will be legal to do so.
@sylvan8798 It absolutely is legal for an apartment lease to specify that tenants cannot be AirBnB providers. The large apartment company I worked for does not allow tenants to put their dwelling on any short term rental site and this is a nation wide policy. Not sure about the Uber thing though (any reason why you don’t want your renters driving for a car service?).
I’ve been an airbnb guest several times, love it. I have friends who rent their spaces on it, they have all had good experiences.
I think you should allow anyone to rent with certain caveats built into the system - an age minimum, being ID verified, having good host reviews. If a person has all that, then they should be able to book.
We have rented to a couple of cab drivers in the past and that did not end well. They are at high risk to bring in bedbugs. The last guy had the worst infestation the exterminator had ever seen. It spread to a second apartment and we are still trying to get rid of those. Extermination is extremely expensive. We’ve resorted to exterminating the cab drivers, so to speak. I would think that driving for Uber poses a risk as well.
D has used it in Europe, and S just moved out of an Airbnb place he used for temporary housing while waiting for an apartment-- it was a good experience. He is a 20yo student. The host only does 15 day+ rentals, and did a background check. She and her young D live in the house with 2-3 male tenants.
I have mixed feelings about the “discrimination” issue. If a property owner feels that a particular person poses a risk (risk of bringing in bedbugs/poor hygeine/odor, risk of leaving a mess, theft, noise, drug use, assault, etc.) that the owner isn’t willing to take, I don’t see why he/she should be required rent to anyone he/she doesn’t feel comfortable with. Don’t some specify female guests only? If a female owner only wants female guests (which is reasonable, imo), how is this not discrimination against all males? But if she feels that taking in male guests increases her risk of everything from mess to rape–even though all males aren’t messy/rapists–can you blame her for “discriminating?”
As a private citizen I can choose who I allow to stay in my home but once I venture into the commercial rental world I should abide by arbnb rules. If I don’t like the rules no one is forcing me to rent out my home.
The part about airbnb would be no different than common clauses in many apartment leases or condo/co-op agreements I’ve read prohibiting tenants or sometimes even condo/co-op owners from subletting their rented or renting out their apartments.
The part about banning tenants from certain occupations may be more legally problematic depending on the jurisdiction.
Even though it’s technically legal even in areas with strong tenant right protections such as NYC to not rent to folks of certain occupations such as lawyers according to a friend who handles real estate/housing cases, he often advises homeowners/landlords to avoid explicitly putting the occupational bans in the lease to avoid potential legal/PR issues.
Not if it’s being facilitated as a commercial transaction through a third-party transaction site like airbnb. Then, they are likely to be held to the same standards as hotels and rentals.
Moreover, there are situations when roommates can be regarded as landlords and treated as such by local housing laws depending on jurisdiction and housing situations such as in a sublet situation. Sometimes this applies even if it was not approved by the original landlord depending on jurisdiction.
In NYC and Boston, I’ve read of cases where roommates who were primary leaseholders or subletters and acting as effective “landlords” were treated as such by the housing courts when there were disputes/issues between the primary leaseholder/subletter and the other roommate(s)/sublet renters. And when that happened, all the laws which applied to bona-fide landlords including anti-discrimination laws applied the same to them.
For the record, federal fair housing regulations don’t apply to owners of four or fewer housing units. It is actually perfectly legal for these people to discriminate on any basis they wish, although there may be restrictions on their advertising of discriminatory preferences. I do understand how from a public relations and legal liability standpoint Airbnb can’t allow or facilitate discrimination, however. Most people are just in business to do business.
I’ve rented my house out a couple of times, and I will not rent to students or people under 25. That’s a form of age discrimination which I think is still permitted. I think one can still prohibit children. In reading the rules, it suggests that one cannot discriminate against people based on marital status. Does that mean that one can’t discriminate against adulterers? Must one let one’s premises to those carrying on illicit affairs, or merely shacking up without the benefit of the preacher? It’s not that big a deal for me, but it is for some people, and it doesn’t seem to me to be a proper avenue for government or Airbnb intrusion.
Some will say if they act as a hotel they should have the same rules. The trouble with that short-sighted opinion is that Not having the same rules is what has led to its success, and the desire of so many customers to use the service and make it a success. If we impose all the regulations(and related Costs that go with it), on someone that leases a room, or their home or their vacation home for example, then at much higher prices this service is much less attractive, hurting the bargain seeking potential guest, and hurting the potential host. No doubt some hosts would close their service, and that would hurt too.
Those in the hotel business and those that like to tax everything are strongly in favor of more regulations and more taxes. Let’s don’t forget there already is an excellent “check” on poor guests or poor hosts. The review section would weed out the undesirables not by force of big brother government but by the power of the purse as guests could simply choose not to patronize a lousy host.