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SF Evictions Surging From Crackdown On Airbnb Rentals

Posted by samzenpus on from the and-stay-out dept.

JoeyRox (2711699) writes "The city of San Francisco is aggressively enforcing its ban on short-term rentals. SF resident Jeffrey Katz recently came home to an eviction notice posted on his door that read 'You are illegally using the premises as a tourist or transient unit.' According to Edward Singer, an attorney with Zacks & Freedman who filed the notice against Katz, 'Using an apartment for short-term rentals is a crime in San Francisco.' Apparently Airbnb isn't being very helpful to residents facing eviction. 'Unfortunately, we can't provide individual legal assistance or review lease agreements for our 500,000 hosts, but we do try to help inform people about these issues,' according to David Hantman, Airbnb head of global public policy. SF and Airbnb are working on a framework which might make Airbnb rentals legal, an effort helped by Airbnb's decision last week to start collecting the city's 14% hotel tax by summer."

12 of 319 comments (clear)

  1. Read your lease... by Kenja · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Do people really not read these things. No subletting is a common clause.

    http://www.sfrb.org/index.aspx?page=1040

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    1. Re:Read your lease... by Rinikusu · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actual value as determined by market distortions (i.e. a lot of people suddenly have a lot of money and are willing to throw money at housing because they realize they want a "cool" place to live. Fuck the guys that made it cool, fuck the guys that have been living in there for 50+ years and can no longer afford anywhere else in the city to live).

      I mean, seriously, talk about picking the shitty side of the argument.. the rentiers are no heroes, but have some perspective.

      --
      If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
    2. Re:Read your lease... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm all for championing the cause of the people you mentioned, but rent control actually increases market rates and leads to underutilization of the existing housing.

      Even rent control, when used for it's intended purpose, doesn't really bother me. But when the below-market renter turns around and rents out at full-market rates, they deserve to be evicted. Rent control gives renters the right to continue living in a property, not the right to profit from a property they do not own.

  2. Hotel tax = soak the non-voting visitors. by Firethorn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's the usual for tourist areas: You want to soak the tourists, who don't vote in your area, for as much tax money as you can. Thus the double-digit tax percentages on things that only tourists normally use, such as hotels.

    Also restaurant taxes specifically aimed at sit-down places that 'tourists' normally visit more often, etc...

    --
    I don't read AC A human right
    1. Re:Hotel tax = soak the non-voting visitors. by hawguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's the usual for tourist areas: You want to soak the tourists, who don't vote in your area, for as much tax money as you can. Thus the double-digit tax percentages on things that only tourists normally use, such as hotels.

      Also restaurant taxes specifically aimed at sit-down places that 'tourists' normally visit more often, etc...

      It's also to benefit the long-term residents. Living in a short-term rental facility (i.e. a hotel) is much different than living in an apartment building with long-term residents. The new guy who moves in down the hall is only going to have to ask you once where the recycle bins are and isn't going to continually dump his trash in those bins because he "didn't know" they were for recycling only, he's not going to come into the building at 1am with his loud talkative family and loads of luggage rolling down the halls, and likely has a 9-5 job just like you so he's probably not staying out late every night to take in the sights.

      Well before AirBnb, I lived in an apartment building where one tenant rented his apartment out for short-term stays (and his tenants were guilty of all of the above) -- the long-term residents complained to the landlord and he put a stop to it.

  3. Completely wrong summary by donutman · · Score: 5, Informative

    The city of SF is not enforcing anything - it's the landlords. In SF, most units are covered by rent control, meaning most people are paying rents far below the market value. Landlord are prohibited from increasing rents or kicking out current tenets unless they violate their lease. So any lease violation, such as subleasing, can be used as an excuse to evict the tenet and get one that will pay the current market value.

    1. Re:Completely wrong summary by JoeyRox · · Score: 5, Informative

      From the article:

      "People who rent out space on Airbnb, VRBO and other markets for temporary housing are facing fines by the City Planning Department and eviction on the grounds of illegally operating hotels."

  4. Hell no... by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 5, Interesting

    the context here is that rental rates in SF have skyrocketed in recent years, and if landlords can evict long-time tenants they can get the unit on the market for 4x rent.

    Irrelevant. You expect your landlord to uphold his end of the lease, why should he not expect you to uphold your end of lease.

    This sounds like predatory landlord practices.

    It sounds to me like landlords enforcing the rental agreement. The agreement is between the renter and the landlord, not some unknown unvetted third party.

    I'm not sure I want to live in a building where other renters are sub renting to random people on a daily basis. Seriously, these people need to get a hotel room, and if they can't afford a hotel room, well, what could go wrong?

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
  5. Re:Airbnb profiting on illegal activity by Rinikusu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have an apartment. I am legally prevented from charging "market value" for my property due to rent control laws, especially for long term residents.

    Now you happen to be a tenant and you got a really sweet deal on an apartment. However, because you're an asshole, you decide to exploit the difference between what I actually charge you and what the market could actually bear*. And now you're bitching about my actions, which are limited by the law with which I must abide by to do business in the location? Nevermind the no-subletting clause in the contract *you* signed. Because, fuck you, I'm getting mine.

    Jesus fucking christ.

    Self-entitlement is strong in this one.

    --
    If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
  6. Re:Airbnb profiting on illegal activity by Skynyrd · · Score: 5, Informative

    I wish I could mod you up.
    As a landlord, I dislike rent control enough that I won't be a landlord in a rent controlled area.

    The city enforces how much the rent can go up, but can't enforce how much property taxes go up. The city won't cover my losses when rent goes down of course. It's a one way street. I keep my places clean, and things in good order. I make repairs, with a licensed contractor, quickly. I have given people a break on many occasions (late rent, giving young renters without a credit history a chance to *start* a rent & credit history, etc).

    My wife was a HUGE supporter of rent control, until we bought a house and she began to understand how much money it costs to keep a house in good condition, and how often the city or state raises some random tax on home owners.

  7. Re:Airbnb profiting on illegal activity by TheGavster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Generally when municipalities go after micro-rental users (particularly en masse), it's not to enforce the main tenants' leases, but to enforce hotel taxes. A reasonable analysis would say it's a typical case of a private citizen unwittingly crossing the line into small business, a cynical one would say that real hotels lobby for these taxes and push for their enforcement to inflate hotel rates.

    --
    "Because Science" is one step from "Because old book". Try "Because of my experiment testing my falsifiable assertion".
  8. Re:Airbnb profiting on illegal activity by anegg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is it possible that there is more going on here than the city protecting the city's revenues? If I were the neighbor of someone engaging in the short term rental of a property that was not in an area zoned for short term rentals, I would be very glad that the municipality was cracking down on them. I like to know who my neighbors are; I don't want new ones showing up every week.