1731 replies to this topic

[Jackerbie]

Significant policy change announced by Airbnb in response to concerns over house parties and violence in units. Canada will be a test market for restrictions on renting properties listed as an "Entire house." 

 

 

Airbnb has announced that it will begin testing new regulations across Canada this month that will ban local guests under the age of 25 from booking entire homes.

Guests under 25 years old will still be able to book a private room within a host's primary residence listing, but won't be able to rent an "un-hosted home" within a certain geographical distance of where they're living, according to spokesperson Chris Lehane. The company hasn't specified what that distance would be. 
via https://www.cbc.ca/n...oting-1.5452766

[Victoria Watcher]

so the recent toronto air bnb shooting was a double-murder suicide.  plus one more shot.  the three dead were 19 20 and 21 years old.    

 

 

 

Police say initial evidence in the investigation into a shooting that killed three men in a downtown Airbnb Friday was a murder-suicide.

 

“While it will be weeks before a complete narrative of the incident can be determined, given the investigative work that continues, initial evidence does indicate that two men were murdered and one man died by suicide,” police said in a statement Tuesday.

 

“We are not yet in a position to confirm or deny any other aspect of the ongoing investigation.”

 

At around 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 31, gunfire erupted on the 32 floor of a condominium building at 85 Queens Wharf. The condo was being used as a rented Airbnb, where a social gathering was taking place at the time of the shooting, according to police.

 

 

https://www.toronto....ide-police-say/

 

 

 

Young rapper among 3 people killed in weekend shooting at Airbnb, Toronto police say

 

https://globalnews.c...irbnb-shooting/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 05 February 2020 - 11:37 AM.

[Mike K.]

By geographical proximity, do they mean if you live in Victoria, you can’t rent a place in or near Victoria if you’re 24 or younger? I guess their data suggests young people do this to party, primarily.

[Victoria Watcher]

By geographical proximity, do they mean if you live in Victoria, you can’t rent a place in or near Victoria if you’re 24 or younger? I guess their data suggests young people do this to party, primarily.

 

yes.  the shooting in toronto was involving young men from brampton.  wherever that is but i think it's a toronto suburb.

[Mike K.]

Having never seen Brampton on a map, I'm going to guess it's ...west of the city-proper?

 

We hear this names all the time but I've never placed it on a map. I'll report back.

[Mike K.]

Yup, west. I didn't know it was immediately north of Mississauga.

[Nparker]

Having never seen Brampton on a map, I'm going to guess it's ...west of the city-proper?...

More-or-less NW of Toronto proper.

[Victoria Watcher]

alessia cara is from brampton.

[DavidC]

Brampton, it's where you stay at the YYZ airport when, you know, you don't want to stay at the airport.

[Torrontes]

Yes, it's the little city above Mississauga with a population in excess of 700,000, which is about the same population as the City of Vancouver, but with more than twice the area. Think of it as the Surrey of the GTA, just bigger.

 

Sad to think how little people know, or care to know, about Canadian geography.

 

BTW, YYZ is in Mississauga.

Edited by Torrontes, 06 February 2020 - 05:24 AM.

[spanky123]

yes.  the shooting in toronto was involving young men from brampton.  wherever that is but i think it's a toronto suburb.

 

All of southern Ontario is pretty much a suburb of Toronto!

Edited by spanky123, 06 February 2020 - 07:26 AM.

[Mike K.]

Two Men Arrested, Stolen Items Recovered, After Officers Investigate COVID-19 AirBnB Scam

Victoria, BC – Two men have been arrested and several thousand dollars in stolen property recovered after Patrol officers were called to investigate a COVID-19 AirBnB scam.

On Saturday, March 28th, Patrol officers were called to a multi-unit residential building in the 600-block of Herald Street after a unit owner became suspicious of an AirBnB guest’s COVID-19 claims. The guest refused to leave the unit, claiming a positive COVID-19 diagnosis and severe symptoms. The unit owner initially allowed the guest to remain free of charge, but then became suspicious upon learning the man had been observed leaving the building.

Officers attended and located the man. Upon speaking with him, they learned he did not, in fact, have a COVID-19 diagnosis, nor any symptoms. When officers escorted the man to the unit to retrieve his belongings, they discovered a second man in the unit who was wanted on warrants alongside several thousand dollars’ worth of stolen property. Both men denied any knowledge of the property in question, which was seized. Both men were arrested. The man wanted on warrants was transported to Saanich Police Department.

The investigation into this file remains underway and officers are in the process of attempting to reunite the stolen property with the rightful owners.

On Friday, we issued a release warning AirBnB owners and members of the public that scammers were attempting to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Please review our recommendations for keeping your short-term vacation rental unit crime free.

If you have information about this incident or another AirBnB COVID-19 scam, please call our non-emergency line at (250) 995-7654. To report what you know anonymously, please call Greater Victoria Crime Stoppers at 1-800-2220-8477.

[grantpalin]

Airbnb asks government to bail out hosts in Canada

Airbnb spent the last decade ruthlessly going after all levels of government to remove or water down housing rules that stand in the way of long term rental units being turned into irregular hotels.

 

Airbnb hosts labelled government attempts to regulate short term rentals as government trampling on “individual property rights”.

 

But as bookings collapse amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the short term rental is asking the government to bail out hosts.

 

And no, that’s not an April Fools joke.

 

Airbnb Canada’s public policy director Alex Dagg wrote a letter to Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland requesting government handouts for “regular Canadians who share their homes to earn extra income.”

 

Airbnb is asking the government to make employment benefits available to Airbnb hosts.

 

 

Direct link to the letter [PDF]

 

While the linked webpage is dated April 1 and may smell of stale April Fool's jokes, the letter itself is dated March 17.

Edited by grantpalin, 01 April 2020 - 05:28 PM.

[Rob Randall]

This story out of Vancouver is insane:

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...tings-1.5710174

A Metro Vancouver man who claims to run a lucrative short-term rental business with about a dozen properties in B.C. is being accused of fraud as he continues to pile up lawsuits over failed listings, claiming millions of dollars in damages.

Tong "Heintz" Sun has filed claims against the owners of at least three homes he says he leased with the intention of listing them on sites like Airbnb.

...

Sun and Zhao allege the owners are to blame for a state of disrepair at the building that led to so many complaints from guests, Airbnb shut down their account, according to the 2018 claim. They allege the loss of their Airbnb account cost them $23,000 a month in revenue from a separate listing in Richmond.

...

[A] document alleges the Vancouver Police Department confiscated a Mercedes-Benz van that Sun was leasing after Sun "deliberately broke a number of vehicle windows at one or more auto dealerships and then fled from the VPD in the vehicle" in April 2020.

The company says it has taken the vehicle back and now considers Sun and his father, who cosigned the lease, to have defaulted. Mercedes-Benz is asking for Sun to pay back the remaining balance.

 

[Jackerbie]

^ An insane story, but there's a surprising number of AirBNB hosts who use the same tactic of renting apartments or homes and then listing them for short term rentals. There were a few stories early in the pandemic about hosts having their revenue stream suddenly dry up with all the cancellations and being on the hook for eight or more monthly lease payments.

[Victoria Watcher]

^ An insane story, but there's a surprising number of AirBNB hosts who use the same tactic of renting apartments or homes and then listing them for short term rentals. 

 

and the unit owner usually loves the rent that the host person pays compared to regular long-term rental money.  if you are a host that's willing to hustle then renting a place makes sense.  not every host has the good fortune of owning.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 03 September 2020 - 11:21 AM.

[Rob Randall]

and the unit owner usually loves the rent that the host person pays compared to regular long-term rental money.  if you are a host that's willing to hustle then renting a place makes sense.  not every host has the good fortune of owning.

 

Does that happen though? Where an owner charges a tenant more because he knows his unit will be sublet through Airbnb? You would think the owner would just eliminate the middleman and market the suite himself, hiring a management company if needed.

[Victoria Watcher]

Does that happen though? Where an owner charges a tenant more because he knows his unit will be sublet through Airbnb? You would think the owner would just eliminate the middleman and market the suite himself, hiring a management company if needed.

 

it happens a lot especially with foreign investment units.  or any unit where the owner can't or won't be able to check in guests and attend to all the stuff like cleaning and turn-over.

 

a management company is basically what the subletting host is here.

 

there are some people especially hard-working immigrants that love to do all this work.  and often have a connection to the unit owner via their ethnic networks.

 

of course it all goes well in normal times.  everyone makes money.  pademic hits and someone feels cheated.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 03 September 2020 - 11:48 AM.

[Rob Randall]

There is money to be made. A desirable suite could make twice as much on Airbnb compared to a standard lease.

 

That is, if you have guests year round. If you can't fill up that suite in November your summer profits will have to subsidize your winter deficits.

 

Being close to a hospital, university or major transportation hub helps with year-round bookings.

 

You would be surprised at the number of BC residents coming here for surgery. You may have seen the story this week about the same-day joint replacements the Jubilee is trialling. They discharge you the same day but you might not feel up to travelling all the way back home. 

[Mike K.]

I know people who open up AirBnB for 3-4 months, then leave the unit vacant rather than go through the hassle of managing it year round. They would sell if they had to rent it out to a tenant, though.

What they’ll do is set the minimum stay at something like 2 or 4 weeks outside of their target listing window, and if there’s a bite there’s a bite, but they’re not interested in generating more revenue than the cost to carry the unit per annum.