
San Fran couple illegally rented 14 units on Airbnb, hit with $2.25M fine - moonka
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6356775/Airbnb-landlords-agree-pay-San-Francisco-2-25-million.html
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dumbfoundded
Airbnb also needs to face punishment. It's crazy that they can actively
support people breaking laws. Silk Road gets shut down because they helped
people buy illegal drugs but when Airbnb helps sell illegal hotel rooms,
nothing happens.

Uber, Airbnb, and many of these other 3rd wave tech companies are more legally
inventive than technologically innovative. They all make money because they
lower costs by circumventing laws. Hotels have to be ADA-compliant and their
fire systems are tested.

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shados
It always baffles me how many units in big cities are on Airbnb.

Virtually every lease I've signed had clauses about subletting, with
precedents on those clauses being enforced.

Virtually every condo building have bylaws against short term rentals.

Pretty much all towns have zonings that would cover these things.

While the applicability of some of these is up in there air, at least SOME of
these rules apply and would drastically reduce the feasibility of some of
these rentals...but Airbnb makes it so easy in comparison with how hard it is
to do something against it.

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dumbfoundded
A lot of these tech companies don't recognize laws unless they see
enforcement. An important part of a civil society to remember is that laws
don't exist if they only exist on paper. Zoning doesn't matter if it isn't
enforced.

We're starting to see some enforcement but it almost always goes against a
small guy. Airbnb isn't getting fined, the small family business is. Uber
drivers with criminal records, driving drunk, assaulting passengers, and
without commercial insurance don't get Uber in trouble either.

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bruceb
For those who see the headline and think wow a bit stiff, this wasn't their
first time cheating:

The city first sued the Lees in 2014 for evicting tenants, including a
disabled person, from one of their properties to rent the spaces on Airbnb.
The Lees settled that case for $276,000 and agreed to an injunction against
further vacation rentals in their 17 properties.

Basically they got caught before paid small fine, and then just got back in
the business.

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bruceb
Mods: maybe replace this source with a better article from the Chronicle:
[https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/SF-fines-
Airbnb...](https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/SF-fines-Airbnb-
landlords-2-25-million-for-13364513.php)

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nuguy
What a fantastic story. This is only the tip of the shady real estate iceberg
probably.

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paulpauper
i wonder if they will have to pay it or how they can avoid paying. it seems
these big fines are seldom paid in full if at all

~~~
shados
From the article: > The couple was forced to put up their real estate holdings
as collateral to ensure that they pay the fine

So there's at least SOME teeth involved.

