The city just unleashed its biggest ever crackdown on a landlord illegally using Airbnb. Lower East Side building owner Rose King has been slammed with a $1.2 million lawsuit by city lawyers alleging she illegally rented a slew of units in three buildings through the short-term rental service. King has been hiding behind a middle man and at least nine aliases to create a network of transient …
More than 70 percent of Airbnb’s short-term rental listings in San Francisco could soon be purged off the site following a settlement between the home-sharing company and its hometown. Airbnb sued San Francisco in June to block the city from enacting tougher regulations that would slap home-sharing companies with pricey fines and possible criminal penalties if they post rental listings that …
Controversial new rules that effectively ban homesharing services in Miami are being challenged in court by Airbnb and five city residents who say their fundamental rights have been violated. The lawsuit, filed Friday, is a response to Miami’s crackdown on Airbnb and the city’s decision to target enforcement actions against residents who spoke out against the new rules at a public hearing last …
But what does free speech online have to do with any of this? Airbnb claims that it shouldn’t be on the hook for what users put in their listings, and that it isn’t breaking laws, its users who failed to go through a lengthy registration process for renting out their living spaces are. “Further, Airbnb’s argument that the city violated the First Amendment is moot because the ordinance ‘was not …
A judge handed Airbnb a rebuke in a lawsuit seeking to block enforcement of the city’s rental regulations. less Ian Mackinlay registers his short-term rental with the city at 1660 Mission St. in San …
Chicago crossed the line into the privacy of people’s homes — and violated constitutional protections — by imposing sweeping regulations governing Airbnb and other home-sharing services, a federal lawsuit contends. Constitutional rights to “communicate freely and anonymously on the internet,” use your own property, be guaranteed due process and protected against illegal search and seizure are …
A group of Chicago property owners are taking the city to court over rules for homesharing that are “literally incomprehensible.” Chicago’s new regulations for short-term rentals, including those made over web services like Airbnb and VRBO, are scheduled to take effect next month. In the lawsuit filed on Nov. 4 in U.S. District Court, a nonprofit group called Keep Chicago …
An African-American man who sued Airbnb over alleged racial discrimination has lost because of the fine print he agreed to when signing up. Gregory Selden, whose complaint prompted the Twitter hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack, contended a Philadelphia host had denied him a room because of his race. Selden filed what he intended as a class-action lawsuit against the San Francisco-based company.
Today in DC District Court, Airbnb successfully blocked a proposed class action alleging racial discrimination on the company’s platform. The lawsuit alleged systematic discrimination by Airbnb hosts, enabled by various design choices made by the company. But after today’s decision, there won’t be a public ruling on the discrimination itself.
Airbnb Inc. is in talks with New York City and New York state to settle a lawsuit over a new state law designed to curtail short-term apartment rentals. The potential settlement, according to one person familiar with the discussions, would protect Airbnb against fines from the city for short-term apartment rentals that violate the new law, though it might still leave hosts liable for those …