Hacker News Reader

Comment by Rainymood | Hacker News Reader

While I agree with the tone of the message, I don't agree with how he tries to spin the ball. The constant repetition of 'You need to fix thix' feels really childish and finger-pointy.

Does anyone exactly what AirBnB's legal requirements/jib-jab is on this stuff?

View on HN

Irrespective of legal requirements, Airbnb's messaging is certainly that you shouldn't have to worry about stuff like this.

_The_ barrier to Airbnb being effective in the first place was people being comfortable with frequent, low barrier transactions where they let strangers into their house. I would agree with the poster, Airbnb does need to fix this. It's core to their model.

AirBnB probably doesn't have any.

Now the question is why hasn't he sued the crap out of the tenant who lied to him and decided to have a sex orgy in his apartment?

His problem is being on the NYC tenant blacklist, not finances. How does suing the AirBnB guest take him off the blacklist?

Well, first of all, he allegedly had $80,000+ in damages, and AirBNB has only paied him $20k. So... at least $60k in financing is missing.

I'd say that's a pretty penny. Certainly a non-trivial amount. Further damages to "reputation" can probably be tacked on.

He probably doesn't have legal ground to stand on. I mean, every single place I've ever rented, write in bold that I cannot, without explicit accept from the owner, rent it to other people.

I understand why he was blacklisted, and if his contract is anything like I suspect, it's his own fault. He can buy a place and rent it out instead, but doing it with other peoples property without their concent is asking for trouble.

Your experience matches mine as well. Hell, my current home doesn't allow subletting. (I'm only allowed to lease the _whole house_ as a unit, and it has to be for a full year minimum). Local laws, zoning... and all that good stuff.

  > implying one can file a lawsuit against a pimp and/or      
    any associated prostitutes, and that anyone would have 
    access to their actual lawful identity

You let a complete stranger into your (landlord's) property without verifying their lawful identity?

This is absolutely reckless.

Such is the nature of these new school services like AirBNB and Über, no? Idealistic amateurs and artisans operating with optimistic expectations.

Also, the use of the word "you" isn't quite appropriate, since I've never used these websites. One should use an indefinite article.

THE dildo, never... YOUR dildo.

Fair enough. (I didn't downvote you btw. I'll upvote to balance things out...)

Just because you have a valid cause of action doesn't mean it's worth pursuing in court. Will you be able to inexpensively serve the defendant? Will you be able to win? And if you win, will you be able to cost-effectively enforce the judgment? And even if you can, does the defendant have enough money to pay? Enough to make to make it worth all the attorney and court fees? And it still won't fix his real problem: no one will ever lease to him because it's still public record that he has blatant disregard for the law and his rental agreement.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com